By Peter Amsterdam
January 30, 2018
In Part One, we read how Jesus declared that He is the bread of life,1 the bread of God who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world,2 and that whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.3 Some of those listening to Jesus had been present when He fed the five thousand; they had eaten the loaves and fish that He had multiplied, and while they understood that Jesus wasn’t speaking of physical bread, they were uncertain as to what He meant. However, once Jesus said that He was the bread, some clearly did not believe.
You have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.4
The people had asked for a sign, and Jesus replied that He was the sign. He explicitly stated that He came down from heaven, and that His purpose was to do His Father’s will. We see this expressed again when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.5
He explained that the will of His Father was that He loses none that the Father has given, and that He will raise them up on the last day. He repeats the phrase “I will raise him up on the last day” three times in this discourse.6
The Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”7
The people began to grumble among themselves, probably confused and/or disagreeing with one another as to what He meant. Knowing who His parents were made it difficult for them to accept the concept that He came down from heaven.
Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”8
Earlier He said, All that the Father gives me will come to me,9 and here He makes the same point in a stronger fashion—no one can come without the Father drawing them. Those who come to Him are drawn to Him by the Father. One author explains that some do not come to Jesus because they are not “drawn” or “dragged” to Him. The verb is used literally of drawing a sword,10 or dragging a net full of fish into a boat11 or onto shore.12 The image is reminiscent of Jesus’ promise in the other Gospels that His disciples will “fish for people”13 or “catch people” like fish.14 Here the Father “draws” people to Jesus, but once a person is “drawn,” Jesus claims, “I will raise him up at the last day.”15
Jesus then said:
It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.16
Jesus paraphrased Isaiah 54:13, which says, All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. He adds to what He had just said about the Father drawing them to Him—a person is “drawn” to Jesus by being taught by God, by hearing and responding to God’s call. Jesus pointed out that hearing God didn’t equal seeing God, and the only one who had seen the Father was Himself, for He is the one who is in the bosom of the Father.17 Later in this Gospel, Jesus said: I speak of what I have seen with my Father.18 Jesus has been in the presence of the Father.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.19
This is the third “truly, truly” statement in this chapter. He is making a solemn vow that whoever believes has eternal life because He is the bread of life.
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 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.20
Earlier, the crowd spoke about manna and indicated that they would like a similar miracle. It was because of this that Jesus said “I am the bread of life.” Having said this, He then spoke of manna’s limitations. While it was food from God, it had to be eaten the day it was gathered, and whatever was left over was rotten the next day.21 It sustained the people, but they still died in due course. However, those who eat of the bread Jesus was speaking about will not die. The Greek verb tense used for eat in the phrase, so that one may eat of it and not die, indicates a once-and-for-all action, so that when anyone partakes of this bread once, they will never die.
Since this is no ordinary food, how then is it eaten? The answer of course is to believe, as Jesus stated earlier: Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. The concept of belief or faith as eating gives some insight to what it means to believe. We partake of and absorb what we believe in a manner similar to eating food, so that it becomes part of who we are. Those who partake of Jesus will never die.
Jesus’ definition of the bread as His flesh, His body, was a startling statement, but it became even more so when He stated that He would give Himself, His own body, His own flesh “for the life of the world.” Those listening to Jesus didn’t know what we know now, that Jesus was speaking of His death for the salvation of the world. This point is made at other times before His crucifixion. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.22 I lay down my life for the sheep.23 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.24
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”25
Jesus’ words caused the listeners to argue with one another, as they were likely confused and at the same time disturbed.
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”26
Jesus answered with the fourth “truly, truly” statement, which is meant to bring emphasis to what He was going to say. He didn’t backtrack, but rather added to what He had already said, making it even more explicit. One must not only eat His flesh but also drink His blood! This would have been repugnant to the Jews, as Scripture forbade the consumption of even animal blood:
If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people.27
As in the case of eating the bread, the original Greek tense used for drinks my blood denotes a once-and-for-all action, not a repeated eating and drinking.28 Jesus made the point that without eating His flesh and drinking His blood we have no life, but whoever does eat and drink has eternal life. One author states:
Eating and drinking Christ’s flesh and blood thus appears to be a very graphic way of saying that people must take Christ into their innermost being.29
Those who feed on Him abide in Him. The Greek word translated as abide also means to remain, and the tense of the verb stresses remaining continuously. Those who partake of Him remain in Him, and He in them. There is a mutual indwelling.
As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.30
Here we see something about the relationship of the Father and the Son. Earlier in this Gospel, Jesus said, As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself,31 as well as “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”32 Jesus didn’t speak of “eating” His Father, but He does make the point that He depends on His Father for His “food”—meaning His life. In similar fashion, those who “eat” Jesus are those who depend on Him for their life.33
This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.34
Jesus referred to what He had said earlier about their ancestors to whom God had given manna, and how while that bread sustained them in the desert, they still died.35 He also repeats that anyone who eats this bread will live forever.36 The “bread of life” which comes “down from heaven” is different from any earthly bread. Those who eat this bread, who take Jesus into their lives, while they will experience physical death, won’t experience spiritual death. As Jesus said earlier:
This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.37
May all of us who have eaten the bread of eternal life be faithful to share this bread with others.
Note
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
General Bibliography
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Bock, Darrell L. Luke Volume 2: 9:51–24:53. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1996.
Brown, Raymond E. The Birth of the Messiah. New York: Doubleday, 1993.
Brown, Raymond E. The Death of the Messiah. 2 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1994.
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Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Updated Edition. Hendrickson Publishers, 1993.
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Evans, Craig A. World Biblical Commentary: Mark 8:27–16:20. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2000.
Evans, Craig A., and N. T. Wright. Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009.
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Milne, Bruce. The Message of John. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
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Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1992.
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1 An interesting article on this concept can be found at https://cheftalk.com/ams/bread-in-history-religion-and-as-metaphor-part-iii.6927/
2 John 6:33.
3 John 6:35.
4 John 6:36–40.
5 Luke 22:42. See also Mark 14:36, Matthew 26:39.
6 John 6:40, 44, 54.
7 John 6:41–42.
8 John 6:43–44.
9 John 6:37.
10 John 18:10.
11 John 21:6.
12 John 21:11.
13 Mark 1:17.
14 Luke 5:10.
15 Michaels, The Gospel of John, 386.
16 John 6:45–46.
17 John 1:18 KJV.
18 John 8:38.
19 John 6:47–48.
20 John 6:49–51.
21 Because the people were to rest on the seventh day, the Sabbath, and were not to do work that day, God instructed them to collect two days’ worth of manna on the sixth day. “On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily” (Exodus 16:5).
22 John 10:11.
23 John 10:15.
24 John 15:13.
25 John 6:52.
26 John 6:53–56.
27 Leviticus 17:10. See also Genesis 9:4, Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25.
28 Morris, The Gospel According to John, 335.
29 Ibid., 335.
30 John 6:57.
31 John 5:26.
32 John 4:34.
33 Michaels, The Gospel of John, 402.
34 John 6:58.
35 John 6:49.
36 John 6:51.
37 John 6:39–40.
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