JESUS the Bread of Life
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35 (NRSV).
Have you ever noticed that the institution of the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist, Mass, Holy Communion) narrated in the 3 Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark and Luke and by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 - does not actually appear in the Gospel according to John? If you have noted this, have you figured why this might be so?
John does not leave us to wonder. In every chapter of this Gospel, we find the answer and it is summed up in his purpose statement which is recorded in Chapter 20 verse 31:
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe[d] that Jesus is the Messiah,[e] the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (NRSV).
John, from the very first chapter of this Gospel, calls us to a personal relationship with Christ, the Incarnate Son of God who was with God and was and is God. This relationship is accessed through believing in Jesus. This belief is not simply giving mental or verbal assent. It involves an encounter with Christ, an encounter which leads to a ‘receiving’ of Christ, a surrendering of our life to Him who gave up His Life so that we might have Eternal Life:
11 He came to what was his own,[c] and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. (John 1: 11-13, NRSV) It is believing in Christ that gives us Eternal Life (John 3:16) which Jesus says means knowing Him and knowing the Father (John 17:3) and places us in the family of God, that makes us little brothers and sisters of Christ, the Son of God.
Jesus offers Himself to us as Life itself. He tells us this in many ways as recorded by John:
I Am the Bread of Life (I Sustain your life. Without Me you starve) [Chapter 6]
I Am the Light of the world (Without Me, you have no life) [Chapters 8 and 9]
I Am the Door (Your only entrance point to life) [Chapter 10]
I Am the Good Shepherd (The Security of your life); [Chapter 10]
I Am the Resurrection and the Life (The Supreme Victor over death who guarantees the resurrection of all who believe in Me) [Chapter 11]
I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life (I am the Way (itself) and the Truth (itself) and the Way and Truth that lead to life. I am Life Itself!) [Chapter 14]
I Am the True Vine (The Source of your life) [Chapter 15]
The crowds turn away from Jesus when He offers Himself to them as the Bread of life. Will you turn away? When next you partake in the Eucharist, look past or through the Elements to the One who gives us new life in exchange for our old life of sin.
Dr. Jean Lee
