What is the meaning and implication for us of Jesus’s statement in John
6:35?
By Oyinlade Oladipo
Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me shall not hunger,
and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
John 6:35
I know how to cook, at least my own meals. And since the pandemic, I
had done what I could to ensure that I take heed to what goes inside my
body. You are what you eat after all. I grew up on a diet of home cooked
food, we didn’t have much in those days and so we did not have the
luxury of eating out or consuming junk food. We ate healthy and today at
almost 80, my mum is still very careful about what she eats and honestly
if I have her type of body when I am 80, I will be grateful to God. You are
what you eat. Eat well.
In our Gospel reading today, after having fed the multitude in John 6:1-
15, Jesus and his disciples went to the other side of the lake (they rowed
whilst he walked on water, a discussion for another day). True to human
nature, the people He fed started looking for him. Eventually they found
him and they asked in verse 25 “Rabbi, when did you come here?” to
which Jesus replied “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me,
not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
27 Do not work for the food that perishes,
but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will giv
e to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.
Jesus knew that they sought him because he fed them, and they wanted
more. Their response to Him in verses 28-33 shows this. They simply
wanted more food. And beside that, In Jesus they saw a Moses figure, a
physical leader who would be their king and lead the, to kick out their
Roman colonisers.
Their needs were genuine, make no mistake. If I was in that crowd,
perhaps I would have asked for the same. Don’t we all do that. Do we
not tend to like Oliver Twist come, plate in hand asking, ‘please sir can I
have some more’? Children do it to parents, spouses to each other and
the people to the government. Verse 34 of John 6 hits the nail on the
head the crowd said to Jesus ‘Sir give us this bread always’ We want
this ‘bread of God
who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’.
They wanted physical bread. The staple food of their day, an unending
source of sustenance. Food sustains life, isn’t it? We earn an income or
farm to put food on the table. Food is life, where there is food or water,
life ceases. Their needs were genuine, give us food!
And indeed, Jesus wanted to give them food, after all he fed over 10,000
of them the day before, but the feeding of the 5000 men was just a sign
pointing to something else; Himself as the real food, the spiritual food.
The bread of life!
Physical food gives our bodies nutrients which after a few hours is used
up and needs to be replenished, so we eat again and again and again,
we eat to live and, in a way, live to eat and the circle continues.
But the message that Jesus was passing on to them was that He was
and is the food that once eaten, one will have no need to eat again. I am
the bread of life!
Jesus used their desire for physical food to reveal Himself to them as the
spiritual food! The one who satisfies their real hunger, their hunger for
God.
The Human condition: Thirsting after God
The psalmist explains the condition of the human soul in Psalm 42, I’ll
read verses 1-3
“As the deer pants for streams of water,
so, my soul longs after You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, the living God.
When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?
My tears have been my food
3
both day and night,
while men ask me all day long,
“Where is your God?
The fall of humanity created a chasm between us and God. There is
something in us that long for transcendence, for wholeness, for
something bigger than us, to complete us. Some seek it in drugs (the
kick and high of narcotics), others in human relationships, in things that
thrill us. Yet we are not satisfied, we want more. There is a deep, very
deep hunger for something more. I am the bread of life! Said Jesus. I am
He who comes down from God. I want to give you more food, Oliver
Twist. I am willing and able. I am all you need. I am your sustenance.
Verse 51 of John 6 ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread,
he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is
my flesh’
The crowd were surprised and might I say deeply disturbed at Jesus’
words. Eat your flesh? Drink your blood? We are not cannibals, Jesus.
We are Jews and it is against our law to consume blood, let alone chew
on your flesh, a human flesh.
Jesus explained further in verses 35 and 47 ‘whoever comes to me shall
not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall not thirst.’ He goes on
‘Whoever believes has eternal life’. In this unfolding drama, Jesus was
saying to them ‘Believe in me, I am the one who has been chosen by
God to give you eternal life, God’s own kind of life. This life has
with it the promise of resurrection. I will raise you up on the last
day’
In our text, the way to chew, to consume, to eat Jesus the bread of life is
by believing in Him. Those who believe in Him as God’s Son, as the
Saviour of the world will have eternal life. Just as the nutrients in our
food goes into our bodies and nourishes our bodies, so does consuming
Jesus the bread of life nourish our spirits. We become what we eat,
when we believe in Jesus, we become like him. We have eternal life; we
have passed from death to life. We shall rise again to live with God in a
renewed heaven and earth.
Application
- Do you believe in Jesus? Please do. Believing in Jesus is not just
a ‘head thing’, it is a heart thing. It’s got nothing to do with coming
to church or being baptised as a child. It must be an active act of
the will. Believe! - The Eucharist. The Church for most of its history has also
interpreted John 6 in the context of the Eucharist. As we come to
the Lords table and receive the body and blood of the Lord in the
form of bread and wine, we are in a mystical way physically
receiving the Lord into our bodies. ‘Take eat, this is my body’
(Matthew 26:26). Think of the positive effect of ingesting Jesus in
your body. We shall continue this thought in due course, God
willing. - The evangelism imperative. If Jesus, since Jesus is the bread of
life which gives life, the onus is on us to invite others to believe in
Him. Outside of him is no salvation, all stand condemned (John
3:15-16). But believing in Him we have eternal life. So, tell others
about Him. Pray for them, give them an opportunity to receive this
Christ into their heart, to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the
saviour which He gave for the salvation of the world.
Let us pray.
