Jn 6:41-51 The Bread of Life
In today’s passage the term “the bread of life” may be familiar with many of us. In our daily life, ‘bread’ is a very good symbol representing the necessity for living. However, no matter how good is our diet, how tasteful is our food, in the end, we still have to die. Only the bread of life is different. If we eat it, we will live forever. That is what Jesus told us in today’s passage: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” In simple words, the necessity of an everlasting life is Jesus, Jesus Himself.
The term “the bread of life” may lead us to think of Holy Communion. Is it simply by taking the bread in the Holy Communion then we will have eternal life? It is not that mechanical. By taking the bread, there is one underlined yet essential pre-condition. As what is written in today’s passage, you have come to Jesus Christ first, and the action of coming to Jesus implies faith. Both of the two actions of “coming to Jesus” and “eating” involve faith. Without faith in Jesus, taking the bread in the Holy Communion means nothing. Without confessing my own sins with a repentant heart, and without acknowledging that Jesus as the Son of God has died for my sins, participating in the Holy Communion means nothing. Only those who come to Jesus Christ with faith, can he receive the promise from Him, as what he said: “I will raise the person up at the last day” and “he will live forever”.
Let’s look into the passage a deeper way. Actually we can find out several ideas in today’s passage, which help to enrich the meaning of “the bread of life”. The first couple of ideas come from the Old Testament. Nowadays we have both the Old and New Testaments, and I do hope that we all read our Bible regularly and diligently. But in the old days they had only the Old Testament. And our author, the apostle John, is also very sophisticated in the knowledge of the first part of our Scripture. With his deep knowledge, the Holy Spirit inspired him to write down the words about the bread of life. So, the first we can see in this passage is manna. In V.49-50, “Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.” Here Jesus is compared with manna. Same as Jesus, the manna which helped to sustain the lives of the Israelites in the desert also came from heaven, but unfortunately, those who ate it died. No one could break through the curse of death, which is the wage of sin. But now Jesus, the bread of life, brings to us the eternal life. He blots out our sins, breaks the curse of death, and returns to us the real glory of humanity through his death and resurrection. This eternal life is ours, only if we come to Him with faith.
The second idea from the Old Testament is grumbling. We know from the books of Exodus, Numbers and some other places in the Old Testament that one of the popular spiritual diseases of the Israelites is grumbling. They grumbled throughout the journey in the desert for forty years. Grumbling about the leadership of Moses, and in the end grumbling about God their sovereign king. In today’s passage the apostle John also described the Jews’ words about Jesus as grumbling. V.41-42, “At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"” Did the Jews grumble with a good reason? Apparently yes. They knew about Jesus’ past history. They knew that He was an ordinary man before His ministry. Therefore they didn’t believe. Here John uses the word ‘grumble’ to compare their disbelief to that of the Israelites in the desert. Both apparently with a reason, but deep in heart, the real reason is because that they rejected what Jesus had claimed, and also rejected all other evidences which point them to the reality of Jesus. Had God done so many miracles before the Israelites could leave Egypt? Of course, He had. Did Jesus do a lot of miraculous signs in front of the Jews? Yes He did, and much more than that, He died and resurrected later. Has God told the Israelites His words? Yes He had. Did Jesus tell the Jews the words of God? Yes He did. In the ancient time the Israelite rejected God and Moses in disbelief, and in Jesus’ turn, the Jews rejected Jesus with the same kind of disbelief. That’s why the two generations all grumbled. Grumbling is a symptom of disbelief and rebellion. How did Jesus answer them? Look at V.45, Jesus said: “It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.” What Jesus said was that everyone who listened to the Word of God, the Scripture, would have faith in Jesus. He would believe in Jesus because all the messages in the Scripture pointed to Him. Rejecting Jesus was the same as rejecting the words of God, and thus rejecting God Himself. If there is no faith in Jesus, then how can the benefit of the bread of life belong to the disbelieving person? How can he receive the promise of the eternal life?
The third idea from the Old Testament begins with the authority of Moses, and then Apostle John tells us that Jesus is greater than Moses. It begins with the introduction of Moses in V.32, “Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.” God was not only giving the bread, the manna from heaven to the Israelites in Moses’ time, but now God gives the people the true bread, the bread of life. This bread of life is greater than the manna. The other thing is in V.46, Jesus told us something about Himself: “No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.” Here Jesus proclaimed, no one has seen the Father, the transcendent and holy One, the totally different other, except the Son of God, because He was with God and was sent to the world from God. In the Old Testament Moses was said to be able to talk to God face to face. Here Jesus is much greater than Moses. He really knows God, because He is the Son of God. So, here is an appeal to faith about Jesus: Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?
From the last ten minutes we have heard about the importance of faith. The pre-condition of receiving the eternal life, is to have faith in Jesus. This is the only way to receive Him as the bread of life. Therefore, as we celebrate the Holy Communion together, when we remember Jesus through the bread and wine, it is also the moment to reflect on our faith in Him. In the end, through participating in the Holy Communion can our faith be strengthened. In fact, that is all we can do for our eternal life. We can’t earn it by our works. Faith is the only way. That is why when the Jews asked Jesus (V.28-29) “"What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."”
The term “the bread of life” may lead us to think of Holy Communion. Is it simply by taking the bread in the Holy Communion then we will have eternal life? It is not that mechanical. By taking the bread, there is one underlined yet essential pre-condition. As what is written in today’s passage, you have come to Jesus Christ first, and the action of coming to Jesus implies faith. Both of the two actions of “coming to Jesus” and “eating” involve faith. Without faith in Jesus, taking the bread in the Holy Communion means nothing. Without confessing my own sins with a repentant heart, and without acknowledging that Jesus as the Son of God has died for my sins, participating in the Holy Communion means nothing. Only those who come to Jesus Christ with faith, can he receive the promise from Him, as what he said: “I will raise the person up at the last day” and “he will live forever”.
Let’s look into the passage a deeper way. Actually we can find out several ideas in today’s passage, which help to enrich the meaning of “the bread of life”. The first couple of ideas come from the Old Testament. Nowadays we have both the Old and New Testaments, and I do hope that we all read our Bible regularly and diligently. But in the old days they had only the Old Testament. And our author, the apostle John, is also very sophisticated in the knowledge of the first part of our Scripture. With his deep knowledge, the Holy Spirit inspired him to write down the words about the bread of life. So, the first we can see in this passage is manna. In V.49-50, “Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.” Here Jesus is compared with manna. Same as Jesus, the manna which helped to sustain the lives of the Israelites in the desert also came from heaven, but unfortunately, those who ate it died. No one could break through the curse of death, which is the wage of sin. But now Jesus, the bread of life, brings to us the eternal life. He blots out our sins, breaks the curse of death, and returns to us the real glory of humanity through his death and resurrection. This eternal life is ours, only if we come to Him with faith.
The second idea from the Old Testament is grumbling. We know from the books of Exodus, Numbers and some other places in the Old Testament that one of the popular spiritual diseases of the Israelites is grumbling. They grumbled throughout the journey in the desert for forty years. Grumbling about the leadership of Moses, and in the end grumbling about God their sovereign king. In today’s passage the apostle John also described the Jews’ words about Jesus as grumbling. V.41-42, “At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"” Did the Jews grumble with a good reason? Apparently yes. They knew about Jesus’ past history. They knew that He was an ordinary man before His ministry. Therefore they didn’t believe. Here John uses the word ‘grumble’ to compare their disbelief to that of the Israelites in the desert. Both apparently with a reason, but deep in heart, the real reason is because that they rejected what Jesus had claimed, and also rejected all other evidences which point them to the reality of Jesus. Had God done so many miracles before the Israelites could leave Egypt? Of course, He had. Did Jesus do a lot of miraculous signs in front of the Jews? Yes He did, and much more than that, He died and resurrected later. Has God told the Israelites His words? Yes He had. Did Jesus tell the Jews the words of God? Yes He did. In the ancient time the Israelite rejected God and Moses in disbelief, and in Jesus’ turn, the Jews rejected Jesus with the same kind of disbelief. That’s why the two generations all grumbled. Grumbling is a symptom of disbelief and rebellion. How did Jesus answer them? Look at V.45, Jesus said: “It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.” What Jesus said was that everyone who listened to the Word of God, the Scripture, would have faith in Jesus. He would believe in Jesus because all the messages in the Scripture pointed to Him. Rejecting Jesus was the same as rejecting the words of God, and thus rejecting God Himself. If there is no faith in Jesus, then how can the benefit of the bread of life belong to the disbelieving person? How can he receive the promise of the eternal life?
The third idea from the Old Testament begins with the authority of Moses, and then Apostle John tells us that Jesus is greater than Moses. It begins with the introduction of Moses in V.32, “Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.” God was not only giving the bread, the manna from heaven to the Israelites in Moses’ time, but now God gives the people the true bread, the bread of life. This bread of life is greater than the manna. The other thing is in V.46, Jesus told us something about Himself: “No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.” Here Jesus proclaimed, no one has seen the Father, the transcendent and holy One, the totally different other, except the Son of God, because He was with God and was sent to the world from God. In the Old Testament Moses was said to be able to talk to God face to face. Here Jesus is much greater than Moses. He really knows God, because He is the Son of God. So, here is an appeal to faith about Jesus: Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?
From the last ten minutes we have heard about the importance of faith. The pre-condition of receiving the eternal life, is to have faith in Jesus. This is the only way to receive Him as the bread of life. Therefore, as we celebrate the Holy Communion together, when we remember Jesus through the bread and wine, it is also the moment to reflect on our faith in Him. In the end, through participating in the Holy Communion can our faith be strengthened. In fact, that is all we can do for our eternal life. We can’t earn it by our works. Faith is the only way. That is why when the Jews asked Jesus (V.28-29) “"What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."”
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