I am the Bread of Life!

I am the Dough of Life!

John 6:29–36 NLT

Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me.

Jesus did not come to fill stomachs with food, but to fill lives with the very presence of God,

Whitacre, R. A. (1999). John (Vol. 4, p. 152). IVP Academic.

Their focus is on physical food, which is temporal. Like the manna in the wilderness, it does not last long. But more profoundly, the life it nourishes is also all too brief.

Whitacre, R. A. (1999). John (Vol. 4, pp. 152–153). IVP Academic.

John Jesus Teaches About the Work of God (6:25–29)

Our physical lives of flesh and blood are given by God, and they are significant, but they are not the whole story; this life is transitory. There is a food that endures to eternal life

John Jesus Teaches About the Work of God (6:25–29)

They appear to be trying to get on board with Jesus’ teaching, for they are talking about the work of God. But they are still missing the main point: they do not pick up on Jesus’ revelation of himself and of his role in giving them the food that endures to eternal life. Instead of looking to the giver and the gift, they look to their own role.

John Jesus Teaches About the Work of God (6:25–29)

Somewhere in the midst of trying to please God it is easy to lose sight of, and lose trust in, God’s own sovereign graciousness.

John (Jesus Teaches About the Work of God (6:25–29))

Jesus’ work is to reveal the Father (cf. 4:34), and our work is to receive that revelation and align our lives with it.

John (Jesus Teaches About the Work of God (6:25–29))

Many Christians, as John Wesley said, have just enough religion to be miserable. They are like this crowd, missing God’s gift of life in his Son.

John Jesus Reveals the Source of Life (6:30–40)

The scope of God’s concern is not just Israel, as it was in the wilderness, but the whole of the world (cf. 3:16). And the need is not just for sustenance, but for life itself. The world, apart from God, is dead.