These verses contain one of the discourses (the teaching sections) of Jesus recorded by John. This one centers on His teaching about Himself being the bread of life. It contains the first of the "I AM" statements of Jesus (verse 35). Those "I AM" statements carry Jesus' revelations about His very character ... His being. Remember verse 4 tells us that it is Passover time. Therefore, the minds of the people are centered on this very important feast on the Jewish calendar. It would be spring time. Passover occurred at the beginning of the grain harvest.
If you are not familiar with the reasons and the rituals behind this particular feast day, you can read the details in Exodus 12. The feast commemorated the Jews release from Egyptian slavery. It centered around a meal. So that meal would have been on every ones mind. I love the way Jesus takes advantage of the current events and culture to do His teaching. That is relevant teaching!
So He speaks of hunger ... He speaks of bread. And He places Himself at the center. The people knew about hunger ... so do we. The people knew about bread ... so do we. What was Jesus communicating?
Bread sustains physical life. And Jesus is the source of our sustenance for spiritual life. What is spiritual life? It is relationship with God. And that relationship comes through Jesus. He tells us to take Him into ourselves for that life. Do you believe Him? Are you doing that? It is described so beautifully by St John of the Cross (1542 - 1591):
I no longer want just to hear about you, beloved Lord, through messengers. I no longer want to hear doctrines about you, nor to have my emotions stirred by people speaking of you. I yearn for your presence.In this dialogue, Jesus speaks about "eating His flesh and drinking His blood." Read His words again in verse 53 and don't miss the drama that is swirling around the Lord. That sounds very strange to our ears, to our culture. But there are other cultures that would not find the words so strange. I have read of some Native American peoples who believed that by drinking the blood of an animal, they were taking the strength, the life of that animal into themselves. When Jesus said we must drink His blood He meant that we must take His life into the very center and core of our hearts. I think it is described best by William Barclay:
Here is Jesus, the life of God. So long as He remains a figure in a book He is external to us; but when he enters into our hearts He is within us, and we can feed upon the life and strength and the dynamic vitality that Christ gives to us. He is saying: 'You must take my life inside you; you must stop thinking of me as figure in a book and a subject for theological debate; you must take me into you, and you must come into me; and then you will have life, real life.' When Jesus told us to eat His flesh and drink His blood, He was telling us to feed our hearts and souls and minds on His humanity, and He was telling us to revitalize our lives with His life until we are drenched and permeated and saturated and filled with the life of God.Christian commemorate the life giving sacrifice of Jesus' body and blood every time we share communion together. But, my friends, it cannot be relegated to a ritual observance and not be a daily eating and drinking! Are you doing that? Are you intentionally taking Jesus in every day? I know you eat every day! I know you drink every day! Your body would soon be screaming at you if you did not. Can you hear your spirit scream? Is it starving?
Feed yourself today ... and tomorrow ... and ...
Jesus is your bread of life.
One of the saddest passages in all of scripture is found in verse 66 of this chapter: "Many disciples turned back and no longer followed Him." They thought this teaching was too difficult to take - too hard to swallow! Jesus then asked His chosen Twelve if they, too, were going to leave. I pray that our response is the same as Peter's ...
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe ...
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