Understanding the Bread of Life in John 6

We continue to watch what happened after Jesus fed the five thousand (John 6).

Their Response

The people had seen, eaten, and were satisfied. Some had wanted to make Him a political pawn, taking Him by force (John 6:15), and others came to Him because they wanted Him to feed them every day.

Jesus perceived their motive:

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. John 6:27 NIV.

Jesus didn’t send them away

Jesus could have easily sent them away by telling them He didn’t come to feed them every day.

He didn’t. He taught them the truth. We do well to listen in and learn.

They’re seeking food that perishes and not the food that endures forever to eternal life. This is the true food He could give them. He tells them to look at Him because God the Father has set His seal on Him (John 6:27).

God’s seal on Christ is the Holy Spirit.

The Work of God

Without pausing to think about what He said, I noticed they decided that if He wouldn’t do what they wanted, then they would just do it on their own.

“What must we do to be doing the works of God?”

Although they missed the point, Jesus tells them they can’t do the works of God. Only one thing is of value here: the work of God Himself.

They need only to believe in Him whom the Father sent.

What Sign Then?

Blinded by their desire for signs and wonders, they miss the point. They’re seeking even more signs in order to believe instead of believing because of what they had already seen.

Must the Lord prove Himself repeatedly before we take Him seriously? Our preconceived ideas of the Son of God may also cause us to keep Him at arm’s length until He does what we want Him to do.

So they said to Him, “Then what sign do You do, that we may see and believe You? What works do You perform? John 6:30 NIV.

How many people are looking to Jesus in a performance-based relationship and not in love?

What about Moses?

So, they divert attention away from what Jesus is saying to Moses. They referred to Moses and how their forefathers received manna in the wilderness.

They missed it. One greater than Moses was with them. Here was the One who could give them eternal life.

They even thought that the manna came from Moses. God did not send manna (from heaven) but by the Father. It was the Father who fed the nation of Israel for 40 years in the desert. Note that the manna was not really sent so much to feed their physical bodies (He could have sent more quail), but that they would learn that we do not live by physical bread alone.

What about lessons learned from the past?

When the people of Israel had traversed the wilderness for 40 years, they were ready to enter the promised land. Before the manna stopped coming from heaven and they moved on, Father God gave them some tried-and-true counsel:

Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His rules and His statutes, which I command you today, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and test you to do good in the end.

Beware lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.” Deut 8:11-17 NIV.

Jesus and the Father are One – the same yesterday, today, and forever. He’s still humbling and testing us. How many Christians forget that God provides not only temporal things but also the eternal?

Jesus reminded them it was God who had taken care of them in the past, but here, in Himself, was bread for eternal life. All provisions come from God – eternal and physical.

Greater is the eternal.

Bread of Life

Now we’re getting deep.

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you. It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” John 6:42 NIV.

Of course, their response was, “Give it to us.” Jesus’ response is classic and spiritual truth: “I am the bread of life.”

What now?

We’ll leave it here for now and continue next week. It gets better.

The reward in taking our time in the Gospel of John is that we’re able to see the trees and not just the forest. We’re able to grasp the truth, hold on to it in our minds, and allow it to transform our souls.

Takeaway?

I suppose my overall takeaway from these powerful Scriptures is that we should examine why we seek Him. Better yet, let’s see what Jesus actually provides to all believers: eternal life.

Jesus, sent from the Father, is the bread of life. This bread gives eternal life to the world and continues to give. Eternal life is a permanent possession.

We need only believe.

Call to Action

They had seen Jesus and His signs, but still they did not believe.

Do you?

“Man does not live by bread alone…”