I am the Bread of Life

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35) His statement called the people to remember their past, look forward to their future but also challenged their faith that day.

Throughout His message, Jesus reminds the people that God had provided them life-giving bread in the past – manna. For forty years, God fed His people in the wilderness with manna that they made into bread each day (Exodus 16). The miraculous manna sustained their natural lives, but the people still died, “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died” (John 6:49).

Jesus instructed the people that like manna, the Father sent him from heaven “I am the bread that came down out of heaven” (John 6:41). Jesus was different from the manna. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst” (John 6:35). Further, He was “the bread of God … which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world” (John 6:33).

The manna addressed people’s physical needs. The “bread of life,” the “living bread,” “the bread of God” would provide for their salvation giving them eternal life. “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51). The “living bread” satisfied the people’s “hunger and thirst” for a relationship with God, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6).

In the midst of Jesus message, He challenged their faith. Jesus knew He had to die to bring salvation to the world, “the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh” (John 6:51). Jesus said, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life” (John 6:33-34).

This is an absurd assertion. The Torah forbids eating human flesh and drinking human blood (Leviticus 26:29). Jesus was not condoning cannibalism He was testing their faith. God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Human sacrifice is a violation of God’s law (Leviticus 18:21).

In both cases, God is challenging them to trust that He has a resolution to the apparent conflict between His direct command and His sacred law. God resolved the conflicts in an unexpected manner. When God saw Abraham’s faith, He sent a ram to replace Isaac (Genesis 22:13). To the disciples that remained with Him, Jesus showed that the elements of communion were His body and His blood (Matthew 26:26-29).

There are many other instances in the Bible of God challenging our faith by testing our human reason. Will we trust God or walk away, as many did after hearing Jesus words (John 6:66)? We are called to “Trust in Yehovah with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).