The Bread of Life

I don’t know how often you think about hunger. I don’t know how often you see the appeals to end world hunger on television. The fact is that hunger always has been and probably always will be a problem rooted in sin that plagues humanity. It is ironic then that Jesus calls Himself the solution to hunger in our Gospel lesson for today. Jesus says in the text that those who come to him will never hunger (v. 35). All of John, chapter 6 presents Jesus as the true and satisfying bread given for the life of the world. In a very real sense, God wants us to see His Son as the Bread of Life that feeds us in all of our needs, even in physical hunger.

The Bible is filled with references to bread, food, nourishment, and so forth. The most obvious example is the one Jesus refers to in v. 49: “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.” Many places in the Old Testament refer to food and drink and hospitality offered at meals. From “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8) to the “give us this day our daily bread” of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:11), there’s much said in Scripture about food and daily sustenance.

Not only did God provide manna for the Israelites in their journey in the wilderness, but he also provided careful instructions to his people regarding proper eating and diet and laws regarding the same like in Leviticus, chapter 11. Luke’s Gospel is full of the discussion of God’s ability to provide for our physical and spiritual hungers, and the Greek physician provides nine examples of Jesus teaching the Gospel in the context of food and table fellowship.

The question is not how many times does the Bible refer to food, but where does the Bible not speak of food? The answer is, “Not very often!” But more important, and to the point of John 6, what is Jesus referring to in his reference to himself as “the bread of life”?

New Testament scholars have long debated and discussed among one another whether or not John 6 is a Eucharistic text. I believe that as any Christian who values the Lord’s Supper comes to this text, he or she cannot help but see it as such, but this sermon will not attempt to define or defend this. Proclamation speaks for itself in this regard. But there is a question regarding John 6 that begs to be raised. The first three Gospels depict Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper in the context of His death through the shedding of his blood on the cross the very next day. Paul’s references to the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 10–11 corroborate the first three Gospels by connecting Jesus’ death to the Eucharistic meal and to Jesus’ second coming with these words: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). The late Roman Catholic scholar Raymond Brown points out that this poses at least one difficulty, or raises an interesting question: “Is the Eucharist so attached to Jesus’ death that it is unrelated to what he did earlier during his public ministry?” (Raymond E. Brown, A Once-and-Coming Spirit at Pentecost [Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1994], 39).

Jesus’ language here in John 6 provides an answer to this vital question. Just as Israel was sustained on a daily basis by partaking of the manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16:35), Jesus points to Himself as the bread of life—an interesting contrast to the association of the Last Supper with His death. Furthermore, this bread is associated with and connected to everyday life.

This also is obvious in the Old Testament Reading for this morning. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah finds himself having to flee from Queen Jezebel. As he literally runs for his life, the text tells us that he wants to die (19:4). But instead of permitting this, God sends an angel to his side. Immediately, the angel invites Elijah to rise and eat and drink. Elijah does so, falls asleep, rises, and the angel invites him to eat a second time (vv. 5–8). God was right there for Elijah—to nourish, sustain, and protect him from the murderous queen.

Another problem is the issue of unbelief. Many times in the Gospels, Jesus is being opposed by the religious leaders. Surprisingly in John 6, His words are directed to the struggles and unbelief of His own disciples (vv. 36, 60), as well as “the Jews” (v. 52). As a result, many abandoned Jesus, not because they didn’t believe He was referring to himself as the bread of life and that the literal eating and drinking would provide ultimate satisfaction for his hunger and thirst, but precisely because they did understand that this is what He meant, and many turned away.

There are many today who seek spiritual sustenance in other forms precisely because they don’t believe in the one that Jesus presents to us as He tells us He is “the bread of life” (vv. 35, 48). The Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood is available to us today even as it was to the disciples and those who heard Jesus speak these words. But these words are rejected by many now as they were then. They are still very much “a hard saying” (John 6:60). Instead of believing that Jesus is the bread of life and that He nourishes the Church and individual Christians through the Sacrament of His body and blood, many look for more “exciting” and “dynamic” ways of being spiritual. There are numerous sects and cults that do not believe the Lord’s Supper brings the true presence of Jesus.

John’s Gospel calls unbelievers to a confession of faith. In John 20:31, Jesus says, “But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Elijah trusted God in the wilderness; Israel relied on the promises of God in order to reach the Promised Land; the disciples who did not abandon Jesus cried out, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). So also it is today. Jesus presents Himself to an unbelieving world as the bread of life and as the very life of the world. It is true that we are called by God to feed the world with bread and to clothe them against the elements, but the most vital mission of the Church is to continue to communicate to a dying world that here is a bread and a drink that will bring new and eternal life. This bread and this drink is Jesus Himself, who is present as He has told us that He is (John 6:51).

Today, may we all be awakened and revived just like Elijah was to recognize the work we’ve been given to do. Let us be faithful in tending to the physical cares of those less fortunate in the world because our Lord loves them too, but let us more importantly, In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, tell people about the Bread of Life that feeds and nourishes the spirit and the body forever. Amen.