If Jesus Is the Bread – What Does That Mean?

There is a lot of scripture that believers just pass over as poetic and sounding nice, yet God spoke these words for us to incorporate into our daily lives. One such passage is in John’s gospel were Jesus said he is the bread of life. So many in the body of Christ have taught that this is some metaphysical concept that human reasoning cannot explain or engage with so it becomes poetic theology.

It’s interesting that only John’s gospel recorded this conversation Jesus had with the Jews in a synagogue in Capernaum. There was a mix of people listening, both followers and others who were curious and just happened to be going to a Jewish service where Jesus spoke. Many times Jesus took his closest disciples away separately to disclose the deeper meaning of the parables he taught to the general public, but not this time.

Why was this teaching about Jesus being the bread of life so significant that John wrote it down for future generations to hear? I think Jesus was trying to take his followers deeper into the idea of abiding that he and the Father had, and he used the idea of bread because people consumed it daily.

If we look earlier in this same chapter Jesus explains that people often seek after temporal things like the bread and fish he supplied to large crowds. Jesus did these events to show God can supply their basic needs, but God wanted to do much more if people would listen, understand and apply.  Jesus challenged people to look beyond the basic to eternal things.  

John 6:26-27

Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

From my perspective Jesus saw people following him because their needs and desires were met, but Jesus wanted more for his followers, he wanted to change their lives not just entertain them. He was after changing lives so that they would become reflections of him as he lived to please his Heavenly Father.

Here is the full statement Jesus gave about himself being the bread of life. His goal was to impart eternal life, and that offer was for the whole world not just the Jewish people.

John 6:51

“I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

Consider the truth that Jesus said in John 17:3 where he defined “ETERNAL LIFE” far differently than most pastors. Most pastors repeatedly define eternal life as living forever dealing with the whole idea of time were as Jesus explained that the eternal life he was offering was a relationship with himself. Relationship is God’s goal, not just forgiveness.

So often Jesus would say things that caused people to scratch their heads and think “What Does That Mean?” They would be afraid to ask Jesus, or one of his close disciples, to explain. The end result is people would stay ignorant of God’s message and the life that could be their’s. Sometimes our pride gets in the way of our understanding. Others times it’s being afraid to look stupid and sometimes it’s just fear of feeling less than someone else that keeps us from pressing in to understand. Our lack of honesty and transparency, regardless of why we don’t ask for help, keeps us in the dark spiritually. One thing is for sure, God will help us when we get honest with him and seek understanding but he will not do the work of seeking answers for us. That’s our responsibility which he refuses to do for us.

This message of Jesus being the bread to eat was shocking to the average Jew let alone pagans around them. To say we needed to eat his flesh like bread and drink blood sounded cannibalistic. The idea of drinking any blood, let alone human blood, was repugnant to the religious leaders because the law forbade it (Lev 17:10,11). Jesus was not talking about literal blood, of course. He was saying that his life had to become our own, but many could not accept this concept. The apostle Paul later used the body and blood imagery in talking about the taking of Communion in 1 Co 11:23-26.

One reason Christians should read the Old Testament is because so much of what God did through Jesus in the New Testament is predicated on the foundation of the Old. This idea of eating flesh and drinking blood goes back to the levitical sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus was saying he was the sacrificial lamb for the forgiveness of sins for those who embrace him as the lamb of God and the coming Messiah.

The result of Jesus declaring he was the bread of life was that many people stopped following him. Jesus was even aware that his close disciples might want to leave because of what he said, so Jesus asked if they wanted to leave as well. Jesus often challenges his followers with hard sayings to provoke a choice between pretending to follow and being real disciples of Christ.

John 6:66-67

As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” 

At this question Peter stepped up and confessed he still wanted to follow Jesus because he had the words of eternal life. This is the same disciple that denied Jesus three time when Jesus was arrested. You may say Peter was not speaking honestly and I would disagree. Peter knew that Jesus was the Messiah but he, like so many of us, had weaknesses in his flesh that caused him not to live like Jesus would live. We allow circumstances to create fear instead of courage and we deny Jesus in how we live. Maybe not in big ways but in little ways.

John 6:68

Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 

Peter saw who Jesus was and embraced Jesus’ words of being the bread of life.  So should we. We should desire to live like Jesus in spite of any weakness we may have, or feel we have. If we come to Jesus every day as the bread of life we will discover transformation taking place in ourselves just like Jesus said it would.

Don’t take the words like this of Jesus being OUR DAILY BREAD as a nice poetic story but rather as the words of eternal life.

Questions:

1) Do you tend to look at the hard sayings of Jesus as poetic scripture or as a challenge to conform to the image of Jesus? The Holy Spirit is the one who can empower you if you confess your need and desire.

2) Are you daily seeking Jesus as your daily bread? He will not force you to eat it is either you desire to do so or not.

May the Holy Spirit empower us to live like Jesus every day,

Pastor Dale