I am the living bread
John 6:51 - “Oh, what blessed food it is!”
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
John 6:51 NIV
These are the words of Jesus as captured in the Gospel of John. In John 6, Jesus performs some of His most well-remembered miracles: the feeding of the five thousand and walking on the water.
When Jesus and the disciples arrived on the other side of the Sea of Galilee (near Capernaum), many who had seen the feeding of the five thousand searched for Him and then flocked to Capernaum to be near Him. With His omniscience, Jesus knows that many of the crowd are there not for spiritual reasons, but because they can get free food:
“Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” (John 6:26)
He admonishes them in the very next verse to not put their effort into trying to fill their bellies with free bread and fish, but to work towards eternal life:
“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” (John 6:27)
As usual, the Jews misunderstood Jesus. In the verses between these two references to food and today’s verse, Jesus provides a simple rule for gaining eternal life: to believe in Him as the Son of God (John 6:29). Now, even though they have just witnessed several miracles, they still want more proof! They ask “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?” (John 6:30)
They recount the miracle of Moses “giving them bread from heaven to eat”, to which Jesus replies:
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
John 6:32-33 NIV
Does this click in the brains of those Jesus is teaching at this point? No. Immediately they ask for Jesus to “always give us this bread.” (John 6:34), to which He replies with one of His most memorable answers:
“Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
John 6:35 NIV
Things begin to get a little tense at this point. The Jews get angry when Jesus says that He came down from Heaven, because most of them think of Jesus simply as the son of Joseph. They get even more confused when He speaks today’s verse, as it appears that they begin to think Jesus is condoning cannibalism!
This image was created using DALL·E, OpenAI’s legacy image generation model.
Every word of this verse is filled with meaning, once we know how to discern the truth. It begins with the phrase “I am”, the divine name that was revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14. Jesus stating this fact declares that He is God. The “living bread that came down from heaven” is reminiscent of the manna that was provided to the Israelites in the wilderness as a temporary source of sustenance. Jesus offers eternal sustenance, not just a temporary cessation of hunger. Why all of this talk about bread and manna? In ancient Jewish culture, bread symbolized life and sustenance.
Jesus states that He “came down from heaven,” which pointed out that He was eternal and that His mission on Earth was divine — He was the Word made flesh. In the very next phrase, Jesus teaches the concept of spiritual (not physical) nourishment leading to eternal life.
Eating the bread (“Whoever eats this bread will live forever”) is symbolic of accepting the teachings and sacrifice of Jesus and transforming one’s life as a result. The promise by Jesus that this transformed person “will live forever” is the unending existence of a life with God. Notice that “whoever” at the beginning of the sentence? That’s showing that the invitation to faith in Christ is open to everyone.
The last sentence of the verse is an early hint from Jesus to His disciples that He will die a sacrificial death on the cross, giving His body so that all of humanity (“the life of the world”) is offered salvation.
This last part of the verse is quite reminiscent of the Last Supper, where Jesus identifies the bread with His body:
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’” (Matthew 26:26)
Substitutionary atonement was a concept that the ancient Jews should have been familiar with, with their system of sacrifices of animals, grains, and oils. Here, Jesus lays out the Christian version of that concept to the crowd — His death will provide life to all those who believe.
I’ll close today’s devotional with a short and beautiful comment on this verse from Charles Spurgeon:
“Now, brothers and sisters, the food of your faith is to be found in the death of the Lord Jesus for you; and, oh, what blessed food it is!”
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Today’s prayer comes from Knowing Jesus:
Dear Lord, thank You for Your amazing love and grace that You have bestowed on me. Thank You for being the Living Bread which came down from heaven. Your love and grace is sustaining me and giving me life. Help me to take Your words to heart and to truly take them within my innermost being. As I take in Your Bread of Life, I will live forever. May I never forget the sacrifice You have made for me, that I may have eternal life. I am forever grateful for Your mercy and love. In Jesus' name, AMEN.