John 6 Notes: I AM the Bread of Life
I’ve been reading a classic Russian Fiction called “The Brothers Karamazov” and it is a DEEP story. I’m seeing things in it that go way beyond a normal novel.
We would all agree that there are good stories and bad stories and not necessarily good because they make us feel good, there are stories that are very good that make us cry and rethink our lives, so it’s not obvious what we mean by good right away. There is a measure of depth in a story that we can all fundamentally understand. There is a hierarchy of depth to stories and you could say that the deeper the story goes, the more fundamental truth and meaning it holds, the more it shows us what we already knew to be true but we just couldn’t articulate, [I feel this way when I read CS Lewis, which is why we named our second son after him when I read CS Lewis its like yes, finally, the thing that I have been struggling to put words to, there it is!] the deeper the story the more it undergirds our own consciousness and even subconsciousness.
CS Lewis and other writers have been able to pull from their lived experience and their perspective on the world to write deep works of fiction, that can draw us to a place of better understanding the real world through the lens of their made-up worlds.
But God, He wrote the deepest thing ever and it was non-fiction, He was and is able to write with lives, write with miracles, in the real world, throughout history, I believe that the Bible stories are true, they are not-fiction, in the classic sense of the word true AND that they also have the most depth and value of any story ever written. In fact, the way we reason, our systems of government, our deeply held beliefs about justice, and the value of human life is all based on the story that God wrote through lives in the Bible.
The Apostle John wrote part of that story, these things really happened and it is his own eye-witness account… it is not contrived to be deep, and yet it is deeper than we can go in a lifetime of diving deeper…
Continuing in John chapter 6, John is telling a story, a story that really happened, that has a deep significance for Him, for you, and for me.
I’ll warn you: It’s extremely easy in our scripture today to do the classic sermon-listening technique of “oh this applies to so-and-so” You know what I mean? Oh, if only the Catholic Church would study this passage, or oh this applies to the American Church, or oh this group or that person, well shocker. The Holy Spirit wants to speak to you today. This is for you. This is for me. Let’s point the finger at ourselves today and say “oh this applies to me.”
John 6:22-
22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
Jesus the Bread of Life
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
We say that we are following Jesus. Are we just there for the bread? You can take that literally: Are we coming because we like the potluck or the cafe, or more figuratively the bread is life fulfillment, are we coming because the people are fun and nice, it fills up our lives with friends, and something to do, it’s good for our kids, it keeps the wife happy… it makes me look good in the community, it’s what the rest of the crowd is doing…
Jesus says “do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”
So, what is that food for you today?
Because all those things spoil.
So, they want more food and they want to crown Him king of the World and have him constantly giving them food.
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[c]”
What I hear in this is people saying, ok what can I do then. I want to DO what God requires and Jesus says believe in me. Ok, then what sign will you give us? And they bring it right back to why they are after him in the first place, their own gain, in the physical, it’s like a guilt trip, soooo… our ancestors ate manna OVER AND OVER in the wilderness, MOSES gave THEM bread from heaven to EAT sooooo…
You know, we used to have a food pantry here at the church, and we found over a long time of having it that it wasn’t actually that effective at reaching people for Jesus. Not everyone was doing this, but many people were coming for food, but would come in and get out as quickly as possible, didn’t want anyone to talk with them, certainly didn’t want a bible, or a prayer, or to think on the things of God, and they were off to hoard food at multiple other food pantries throughout the area, now that is not everyone, but it was surprisingly common. There is a spirit of grabbing for ourselves that is trying to get all of us, a spirit of envy, like Cain in the book of Genesis. So they effectively try to manipulate Jesus into giving them bread again
Again, I ask, what is that bread for you? Is there a program at the church that makes you feel good, that gives you the warm-fuzzies? I love our worship team, so don’t hear this wrong, but you can be on the worship team for all the wrong reasons, it can be bread that will spoil for you. And when it spoils, what then? Are we following after Jesus because it gives us something in the physical? Do I come up here to speak because I like the encouragement of people listening? Is that bread to me?
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, 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. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
They sound suddenly like they get it, but don’t get too excited for the people in this story. They really don’t get it. You can say “yes, always give us this bread.” and you can call Jesus “sir.” but that doesn’t mean you’ve really let him in. It’s not like calling Him Lord.
You know, this is another thing that I’ve been thinking about alot lately. We take “becoming a Christian” too lightly. We call it “accepting Christ” or “getting saved” or believing in God. It just feels weak compared to what’s really going on. It makes it sound like we are accepting something and we could find in a few years that we don’t want it anymore and we could grow out of it or give it up whenever.
Well Jesus likens really believing in Him to a violent act of dying and being BORN AGAIN, coming into the world as a totally new creation, the picture of baptism is crucifixion and resurrection, the true story with the deepest meaning of any story ever written or spoken in all of history. We are no longer who we were. We are made new. That’s so much more that “accepting.” That’s being born-again. But, even in being born-again Jesus wants to add to our understanding here because there isn’t just a single word that describes what’s happening and so He gives us this picture in verse 35:
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
A shocking day at the synagogue in Capernaum. The most compelling statement around which all of this is built: “I am the Bread of Life.” By the way this is the 1st of 7 “I AMs” in the Gospel of John, where Jesus our Lord takes the tetragrammaton YHWH, the verb “to be” in Hebrew, the name of God who is the I AM that I AM, and applies it to Himself. “I AM the Bread of Life, later He says: I am the Good Shepherd, I AM the Vine, I AM the Way, I AM the Truth, I AM the Life, I AM the Resurrection and the Life. He is making clear that He is one and the same as God, and on all these occasions he applies a metaphor to explain something about His nature and His work. He’s talking to Jewish people at a synagogue and this is a powerful claim that He has come down from Heaven, and they have to EAT His flesh and DRINK His blood.
36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
For those that believe, the beauty in this statement of Jesus is so profound, so filled with HOPE, so glorious, but for those who are blind to what He is saying, it makes them grumble. You see, Jesus is not making a flashy church service to bring in more weak acceptors of the Gospel. He wants real change in real hearts who will be filled with the Holy Spirit and will be BORN AGAIN into what’s real, what’s permanent, what’s eternal.
41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 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’?”
43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’[d] Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.
Verse 45 is a very important verse, often overlooked I think. It’s a quote from Isaiah, Isaiah 54:13. “It is written in the prophets and they shall all be taught of God.” The only way anybody can come to the truth is if God is his teacher. “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” People don’t come to God under the powerful sway of human reason. The preacher is not the means. The preacher is only a tool to present the truth. The drawing is divine. The Father is the true teacher. The Father is the instructor of the heart and the mind. My prayer every time I get to speak up here is that The Father will Speak to your Heart. NOT, that you’ll hear what I have to say, I would so much rather you hear from The Father, that He Draw you in to Him, that He teach you.
46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
I have to tell you, this is so shocking for the Jews in the synagogue that day that I’m surprised there wasn’t a riot. Leviticus, first of all, Leviticus 17, Deuteronomy 12, Deuteronomy 15 all forbid Jews drinking blood. So this is just – this is, if nothing else, really insensitive. But He’s not really talking about drinking blood. This is, of course, a chapter that has been mutilated by the Roman Catholic Church, and they have used this to develop the Mass where Christ is re-sacrificed again and again and again. And you eat His flesh and drink His blood, just exactly what He’s not talking about. Blood is simply a metonym for His death, as it is throughout the New Testament. So what is He saying? You must accept the person that I am and the death that I died.
You can believe in Jesus as the preexistent Son of God who came into the world and is the source of eternal life, but unless you believe in His sacrificial death, you cannot be saved. You cannot possess eternal life.
As bread, He nourishes. As blood, He cleanses.
Blood, then, speaks of His death. These Jews had a big, big problem with this issue. The idea that their Messiah would die as a sacrifice, a huge problem for them. They were utterly unwilling to accept that. Even the disciples struggled with that, right? When Jesus said, “I’m going to die,” no, no, no, no Lord. Peter says, “No, no,” and Jesus said, “Get behind me, Satan!”
54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
The Father had a plan all along for this demonstration. Jesus is not confused. He is saying exactly what He means to be saying and it might be the deepest thing that you could ever hear. The deepest story. Really think through what happened in the feeding of the 5000.
The people were hungry for physical food. He spoke a blessing over some loaves and fishes that were nowhere near enough and GOD multiplied it to feed everyone there with overflowing leftovers. Now, He is saying HE is the bread of life. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was With God and the Word Was God. He was in the beginning, Jesus. He is the Word and He is the Bread of Life. The People are hungry and in need of spiritual food. God SPOKE and Jesus, is sent by the Father as a simple carpenter to the World to somehow feed the whole with Spiritual food. This Bread will multiply in you and through you because it gives strength and vitality to the Spirit of Christ that is In YOU and you spread that bread of life to all you can share it with, until there are baskets full of leftover Bread of Life, leftover WORD, leftover Jesus. This is the Gospel Message. The Feeding of the 5000 is not just a story, it really happened, but it is also a story of deep significance. But, sometimes people don’t want the deep truth, they want to be fed in the physical, with fun, and food, and ease. The “followers” in the story have grappled with His depth long enough…
Many Disciples Desert Jesus
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[e] and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
Jesus says, does the Gospel offend you? And many people left. Should Jesus be sad about this? Maybe if I’d put on a better show, maybe if I’d gone around and met people better or just made more food for them, the food thing worked great, give the people what they want.
NO.
Give the people what they need. The Bread of Life. The Blood Shed on the Cross.
67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
I don’t have a huge amount to say about Judas other than that my family has been watching The Chosen series and it feels like they are doing a really good interesting job of fleshing out Judas. He’s not this utterly evil Nazi of a person, he’s like you and me. Which is what’s frightening about Judas. He wants Jesus to be King of the World and Jesus wants to be the Bread of Life.
There’s a lot to think about here and I don’t want to do this passage an injustice by recapping it necessarily with what you should take away. It’s got a massive depth to it and I just want it to sit with us for a bit. If you’d like prayer, come up front during the last song. We are here to stand with you before the throne of God.
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