Living Bread
John 6:35-51 (RCL 6:35, 41-51)
Tony’s Overview Video
How to Use
Preparing to teach
- Read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge in this month’s issue of the Nurturing Faith Journal
- Watch Tony’s Video for this session
- Select either the Adult or Youth teaching guide and follow the directions
Click to read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge
Key Verse: John 6:42 –
They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Do you love an argument? If not, you probably know someone who seems to take great delight in the give and take of disagreeing over everything from politics to family matters. Some people can do that without also being disagreeable. Some cannot.
On some subjects, people tend to take a party line. When the subject of economics or taxes or immigration or social justice comes up, we can pretty well guess by someone’s position which party they supported in the last election.
Theological arguments are also common, even within the same faith. Progressives and fundamentalists rarely see eye to eye on doctrinal matters, nor do Catholics and Protestants, or supporters of free will versus predestination.
Most people tend to keep their beliefs to themselves, but there are always those who feel compelled to confront others who hold divergent beliefs.
We meet some of those people in today’s text. [DD]
Skeptics (vv. 35-40)
Today’s study must begin with an awareness of the larger context, which clearly includes several factions. Aside from Jesus and his closest followers, the crowds who sought Jesus out included curious onlookers, supportive fans, and hostile opponents.
Jesus did not just pronounce “I am the bread of life” (v. 35) out of the blue. John 6 begins with the Fourth Gospel’s version of the familiar “Feeding of the 5,000” (vv. 1-14). John gives the story a particular twist by portraying Jesus as having to escape an attempt by some zealots in the crowd to take him by force and make him king (v. 15). Somehow Jesus retreated up the mountain to obtain time alone.
This is followed by John’s version of Jesus walking on the water, late in the evening and during a storm (vv. 16-21). Though his unexpected appearance frightened the disciples, Jesus comforted them as they brought the boat safely to shore.
The next day, some from the crowd who had been fed the day before found Jesus in Capernaum, hoping to see additional signs and wonders (vv. 22-26). When Jesus called on them to “believe in the one whom he (God) has sent,” they asked for more signs, recalling how their ancestors had been given manna in the wilderness in Moses’ day. Jesus reminded them that God had provided the “bread from heaven,” not Moses, adding “For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (vv. 27-33).
When the people asked that Jesus give them a lifetime supply of such bread (v. 34), Jesus surprised them with words we may find familiar and comforting, but which would have been shocking to those who first heard them: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (v. 35).
Perhaps only then did the people realize that Jesus was not talking about physical bread, but spiritual sustenance, and they found the concept hard to grasp or accept. “You have seen me and yet do not believe,” Jesus said (v. 36).
The following few verses have the ring of the later author’s attempt to explain the concept by having Jesus elaborate further. The text has an odd feeling, as it portrays Jesus speaking of people, but using an odd combination of neuter pronouns and masculine participles: “Everything that the father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away” (v. 37). Other translations translate the first pronoun in more personal terms such as “All” (KJV, ESV), “All those” (NIV 11), and “Everyone” (NET, HCSB).
Perhaps the writer’s intent was to include humanity within the larger sphere of Christ’s mission to transform the entire world. In any case, the conversation shifts from Jesus to the Father and those the Father “has given” Jesus, whom he gladly receives and would “never drive away” (v. 37).
Jesus is portrayed as doing the Father’s will, which is to receive those whom God has given and to raise them up on the last day (vv. 38-39).
While these verses seem to suggest that the giving and receiving is all God’s doing, v. 40 is a reminder that human will is also involved: God’s desire is that “all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life” (v. 40). Salvation and life are not limited to a select group that God chooses to give Jesus, but is for all who believe.
Antagonists (vv. 41-46)
Jesus’ discussion of himself as the “bread of life” may have puzzled many of his hearers, but a group of Jews who were hostile to Jesus were not confused at all: they were furious. [DD] Who was this young whippersnapper who dared to claim “I am the bread that came down from heaven?” (v. 41).
“Is not this the son of Joseph?” they said, “whose father and mother we know? How can he now say ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (v. 42).
One could read “whose father and mother we know” as a reference to Joseph, establishing his pedigree, but it’s more likely that the critics spoke of Jesus, whose parents they presumably knew to be Joseph and Mary. The belief that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary – with no help from Joseph – was dogma by the time the Fourth Gospel was written, and readers would notice that the opponents’ identification of Jesus as Joseph’s son was irrelevant. They just didn’t know.
Jesus’ response did not address their misunderstanding of his heritage, for he continued to speak confidently as having been sent by the Father, with the ability to “raise up” all who were “drawn by the Father” (vv. 43-44).
Jesus did not elaborate on what he meant by being “drawn by the father.” While Calvinist-leaning interpreters may assume that God “draws” only those “predestined” to be saved, it’s more likely that the reference is to those who hear and respond to the Father’s spiritual appeal, which is to all. [DD]
This is made clear in the next verse, which begins with a very loose quotation of Isaiah 54:13 – “All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the prosperity of your children.” The gospel quotation comes out as “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God’” (v. 45a).
In this context, “they” refers to those who have been drawn into relationship through hearing and responding to God’s teaching. Lest anyone take this wrongly and assume Jesus was suggesting that believers could circle up around Yahweh’s throne for private lessons, he added that no person had seen the Father except “the one who is from God; he has seen the Father” (v. 46). Only Jesus had seen the Father, but any who sought God’s way and listened for God’s guidance could be taught through God’s spiritual promptings.
Believers (vv. 47-51)
This thought brought Jesus back to his earlier comments about eternal life and spiritual sustenance, ideas that the author has him repeating multiple times in the chapter. Verses 47-48 add special emphasis to the claim, beginning with “Very truly, I tell you” (NRSV), rendered memorably in the KJV as “Verily, verily I say unto you.” These are attempts to render a Hebrew expression spelled with Greek characters: “Amēn, amēn …” In Hebrew, “amen” is derived from a verb that means to be firm or sure.
And what did Jesus affirm with such certainty? “Whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life” (v. 47).
As a general metaphor, such a statement would raise few eyebrows, but Jesus’ further explanation may have offended more people than those who already felt some hostility toward him.
“Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness,” Jesus said, “and they died” – a reference the stories of Israel wandering across the Sinai peninsula after being delivered from Egypt, and how God had provided a nightly rain of bread-like manna when they ran out of food (v. 48).
Despite the divinely-provided food, the ancestors ultimately died, as all people do (v. 49). But in a shocking statement about his own mission, Jesus said “This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die” (v. 50).
In case anyone missed the self-reference, Jesus added “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (v. 51).
Modern readers do not feel the shock value of these words, because we have the benefit of the entire New Testament and 2,000 years of church history between us and them. When we read these graphic claims, we are aware that Jesus was talking about eternal life beyond the grave, not a magic preventative for physical death. And, we have converted the idea of “eating” the flesh of Jesus to an enacted metaphor when we take the bread during the “Lord’s supper.”
The people in the crowd who first heard Jesus say these things had no such background. For defenders of the faith who were already to hostile to Jesus, they sounded like heresy, or worse.
In next week’s lesson, we’ll read about their visceral reaction. In the meantime, it’s appropriate to consider our own response. Have we trusted in Jesus as the bread of life, sent from God? Has it made a difference in the way we live?
Adult Teaching Resources
Download the PDF of teaching resources for this lesson.
This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: John 6:35-51
Youth Teaching Resources
Parent Prep
When do you let your students do what they want to do instead of what you want them to do? And does that change if you know the outcome of what they will choose? It’s not easy being a parent. There is no instruction manual of what to do when. We would all love for our students to be like us and have the same beliefs and passions; it certainly would be a lot easier. But we also know that this isn’t the case. We’re not trying to create minions out of our children, but to help them live into who God has called them to be.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: John 6:35-51
Download the PDF for youth teaching resources using the button below. This PDF contains the Teaching Guide for this lesson:
Video
Encourage youth to check out this video ahead of the lesson.
“The Confrontation” from Les Miserables
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