The Bread of Life
Today, we come to the end of John 6, the discourse on the bread of life, in the gospel readings in this Easter season. The last couple of weeks we have heard Jesus proclaim that he is the bread of life, the manna God the Father sent to all of us. We see a transition of four key events in this chapter.
First, Jesus feeds the multitude. The disciples are concerned about how to get food for so many people. Sometimes we need God to shake things up, so we can realize that his ways are not our ways. In John 6:11-13 we read, “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.’ So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.” The people immediately understood, this was a miracle.
Next, we see the disciples take off to cross the sea of Galilee, but Jesus is not with them. They had been rowing, since it was a few miles across and Jesus shows up walking on the water, “When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid. But he said to them, ‘It is I. Do not be afraid.’” (John 6:19-20) Again, not only does Jesus do something extraordinary, but as soon as they want him to get in, they arrive at the shore to which they had been trying to get to.
Now we come to the bread of life discourse starting in verse 22. Here the crowds who had seen the miracle and others realize that Jesus and his disciples are not around. They recognized that he is the prophet and they want to know and hear him more. So they all get into boats to go find them. When they do, Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life,* which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
A discussion between Jesus and the crowd takes place and they ask him, after he tells them to believe, what can you do to show up that we should believe in you. They tell Jesus that God gave their ancestors manna, but Jesus reminds them that he is this bread of God that gives life to the world. In this telling, Jesus begins to tell them they do not really believe that God has sent him and they begin to murmur, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus then makes it very clear to them, that he is the bread of life. He goes so far as to say in verse 51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” This was hard for the Jewish people to accept. In fact many of his disciples left him because of this.
In the fourth part, he finally said to his own disciples, “will you also leave?” Peter speaks up and says, “Lord, to whom else will we go, you have the words of eternal life.” We should all take note here. Though others will not believe and leave Jesus, his disciples, know he is the one who gives eternal life. What do we believe in this scripture. Jesus would go on to show this reality during the last supper just before he would go to the cross. He took bread and the cup of wine and told his disciples to take this as his body and blood and do this in remembrance of me (Luke 22). I will let you read the following reflection from Catholic Answers, “https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/evidence-christ-offered-the-last-supper-as-a-sacrifice”. We also see in 1 Corinthians 11:23, that St. Paul reminds the Corinthians of the importance of this sacrifice and even goes so far, as to say that one must look at their life and the receiving of the body and blood of Christ, as something they should not do, if they have unconfessed sin in their lives. He says he received this from the Lord.
Again, as I have said many times, it goes back to belief in Jesus and what he taught and what the apostles, through the Holy Spirit, have given us in the sacred scriptures. Do we really believe and are we allowing the Spirit of the living God to transform and change our lives in such a way, that others see this and are convicted by the way we live and speak. Are we becoming what we receive, so that the very life of Jesus lives in us reaching out to others? May God continue to show you the reality of who he is and his plan for your life.