When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" 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. 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." Then they asked him, "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." So they asked him, "What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" 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. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." (John 6:25-33 NIV)
Jesus is a masterful teacher. Often times he will take part of their normal everyday experience, like the 5,000 eating loaves of bread the night before, and uses that experience to begin teaching a spiritual truth. Here, he moves from physical food to spiritual food that "endures to eternal life." He also begins to talk about the "Son of Man" again, which has become code for the Savior/Messiah. He begins a metaphor.
Metaphors are word pictures that use something we do see and experience to describe something we do not see or experience yet. In this case, bread is a metaphor for something spiritual. As with all teaching tools, there are places where the picture lines up well and places where the metaphor "breaks down." Jesus starts expanding on the metaphor showing the places where it explains what he wants it to explain as well as the places the picture does not match the spiritual truth.
Here are some of the spiritual truths he's pointing out with this metaphor:
- We should work for spiritual "food" that will endure to eternal life
- The Son of Man will give us that food - God has sent him and approved of him
- We must believe in the one God has sent, this Son of Man
Instead, Jesus continues the metaphor and points out:
- Moses didn't bring the bread from heaven. The Father (God) did.
- The same Father (God) gives us "true bread" from heaven - the bread that brings eternal life.
"Sir," they said, "always give us this bread." 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. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 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. 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." (John 6:35-40 NIV)
Jesus now claims to be the "bread" that The Father sent from heaven. He's claiming to be the Son of Man, the Savior/Messiah. He has come down from heaven to do the will of The Father. It is The Father's will that everyone who believes in the Son will have eternal life. Jesus is the one.
At this the Jews there 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'?" "Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 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." (John 6:41-51 NIV)
They start struggling with his teachings here because they know Jesus. They know his parents. They watched him grow up. How can he say he has been sent from heaven? Jesus doesn't back down. He simply says that some will believe and others will not. We will believe in Jesus if we allow ourselves to be "taught by God." Then Jesus reaffirms his point. He has seen The Father and was sent by Him.
Then he returns to the "bread" metaphor, calling himself the "bread of life." He expands the image a little further, now, saying:
- Whoever eats this bread will live forever (which he already said).
- This bread is his flesh
- He gives his flesh for the (eternal) life of the world
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 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. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 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. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." (John 6:52-58 NIV)
Perhaps his word-picture makes you uncomfortable, too. Jesus took us from eating miraculous bread the night before, to miraculous bread (manna) in the desert, to eating his flesh as the bread of life. He even adds drinking his blood, calling them "real food" and "real drink." Here's where the sayings of Jesus get hard to interpret and understand, even for the people of his day.
Please note, though, what did not happen. Jesus did not pull out a knife and begin cutting off pieces of his skin to feed to people. He did not cut himself and begin dripping blood into a cup for people to drink. His teaching style was still a metaphor (word picture) that tied salvation to one and only one place: Jesus.
The metaphor doesn't break down at this point. It just kind of grosses people out. Not only that, the Jews of the day would have been completely shaken. Cannibalism is clearly prohibited by God. How can someone claim to be sent by God and then tell them they must eat his flesh to have eternal life? Simple. He was getting their attention with a metaphor that they would never forget - then pointing them to the work he was about to do.
This "bread" metaphor would not stop on this day. He would pick it up later and explain the "rest of the story" to the twelve when they had a special meal together. We often call that meal "the last supper." Jesus' difficult teaching would have them thinking about this metaphor as an open question in their minds that had not been resolved. That's exactly what Jesus was trying to do. When he gave them the bread and cup of the New Covenant, another piece of this teaching would make sense to them. When they watched him being crucified, the final piece of this teaching would click into place.
He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you--they are full of the Spirit and life. 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. He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them." (John 6:59-65)
An unresolved metaphor (picture) or story can be a powerful teaching tool. It keeps the listener thinking about what they discussed that day. It works much in the same way as a cliff-hanger at the end of a chapter or television episode. You think about it all week until the next episode resolves the conflict in your mind.
Part of the conflict set up here would be resolved at "the last supper" when they are given bread and wine as his "flesh" and "blood." Part of it would be resolved when he died on the cross, where his flesh and blood brought eternal life to the world. Finally, part of it will be resolved when he ascends into heaven as they watch. They asked for a sign like manna from heaven. Part of his sign will be the opposite: rising into the sky to return to The Father who sent him.
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God." (John 6:66-69 NIV)
Many people walked away from Jesus when his teachings got tough. They liked it when he healed them of their ailments. They even enjoyed the free meal when Jesus paid the tab. Hanging on long enough to see the "rest of the story," though, was too much investment. They walked away.
How about you? Do you walk away from Jesus when the investment is too much? Do you only stay around when Jesus gives you something quick and substantial like healing or food? Do you stay with him even when his teachings get difficult to understand? You won't be disappointed if you do. When it all resolves itself, you will like the ending.
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