I Am The Living Bread John 6:41-59
This week we’re back in John’s gospel. Just a little back story; Jesus just fed 5000 with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. When he left and went across the sea, many of these people followed him. And now, many of these same are here in the synagogue where Jesus is teaching. And surprisingly, many of these people who heard him preach and witnessed his miracles are asking Jesus for a sign so that they may believe. What do they want?
What do men today want? Today people say I don’t believe because I don’t see anything that proves God exists. What do they want? What signs do they want to see? The world is full of signs; miraculous healings, lives completely changed for the good, people going into war zones and other dangerous areas just to give comfort and aid regardless of what their risk may be. When is it enough?
Let’s go through these verses and see what they are saying to us. Verse 42, “They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph…How does he now say I have come down from heaven?’”
Jesus is God, I am not. But I was known by some before God called my life to him. I’ve had people say to me, “How can you be a minister, you went decades without stepping into a church.” When God touches your life there will always be those who don’t believe it. Like with Jesus, there will always be those who look to your past instead of seeing the signs in your life now. I believe this is another reason Jesus was born in a manger to human parents, to show us our lives change, that God is always working in you, and that you should not push away God’s hand in your life, you should dedicate your life to him in spite of the naysayers.
Verses 43-44, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” No one can come to me, why? Romans 3:10, “No one is righteous, no, not one.” No one can approach Jesus alone because as God, our sin cannot stand before his holiness.
Unless the Father who sent me. Jesus didn’t just decide to do these things, God the Father sent him to pay the price for God to justify men.
Draws them. God draws us to Christ, and God opens our minds and hearts. And then we have the free choice to decide whether or not to call Jesus Lord.
I will raise them up on the last day. This is our greatest blessing. As followers of Christ, he will raise us from our graves and we will stand before the throne of God on Jesus record of sinless perfection.
As we read these verses, we can also see the triune God in Jesus’ words. Jesus says no one can come to him unless the Father draws them. In Mark’s gospel it says Jesus saw Simon and Andrew fishing and he said to them, “Follow me.” Jesus called them to himself, so it follows that Jesus is God. In John 10:30 Jesus makes this conclusion concrete, “I and the Father are one.”
And if we move down to verse 45, “And they will be taught by God.” And then in John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the father will send in my name, he will teach you all things…” The Holy Spirit teaches, God teaches, Jesus is God; conclusion, God is God, Jesus is God, Holy Spirit is God, three in one, one in three, the triune God.
So again, here is this assembly who have seen Jesus, heard Jesus, witnessed his miracle, and they’re questioning. So Jesus says it as plain as possible in verse 17, “Truly I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” Whoever believes has eternal life. Can it get any clearer than that.
But Jesus knows their hearts, so he does what he’s done before, he says things to shock them, things to make them think, things to separate the true believers from the hangers on.
In Matthew 5:30 Jesus says, “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away…” This shocked people and many left because they couldn’t see the real meaning for us is to remove from our lives those people, things, and habits that keep us sinning.
Today Jesus reminds them how God saved their ancestors by giving them Manna, but he explains how that bread kept their physical being alive, but now God is giving living bread which will keep their spiritual selves alive forever.
Verse 51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Those with closed minds and hearts toward God took this literally and they were shocked by it, verse 52, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” And then Jesus goes farther; verses 54-55, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life…For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”
Bread and water are necessary to sustain life. This is why God gave the Israelites Manna and sweet water in the wilderness. Manna and water sustained their earthly lives. But now God doesn’t just want this. He wants to sustain our spiritual and eternal lives, and he does this through Jesus. As God once sent Manna and water, he now sends Jesus. And the flesh and blood Jesus gives at the cross is the food and drink that will sustain our eternal lives.
Verse 56, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” If you believe in who Jesus is, if you understand Jesus died on the cross so you may live, if you have faith in his sacrifice and accept it as your own you are saved. Believing in and on the whipped flesh and spilt blood of Jesus is nourishment for your soul, this is what Jesus is saying. And those who are open to the Holy Spirit see this truth in the words of Jesus when he talks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood.
In this passage Jesus tells us everything we need to know. He was sent by God. He is God. He comes to earth to offer us the nourishment we need for our eternal life, and it is nothing other than the sacrifice of his flesh and blood. He explains that anyone who partakes of his flesh and blood, that is, anyone who believes and has faith in his sacrifice will be saved and will live forever in heaven.
In Romans 3:22, Paul sums it up this way, “the righteousness of God is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”
Believe and have faith and your spirits will feast and be satisfied.
Amen.