The Bread of Life

When Jesus said, "I am the bread of life,"  (John 6:35) the Hebrews who listened looked back.  As those who had feasted on the five loaves and two fish, they were anticipating another free meal.  Not only were they looking for more food, but they also challenged Jesus to give them a sign that what He did was a work of God as had been the case with the daily provision of manna in the wilderness.  "What sign are You going to give us...our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness..."  (John 6:30-31)  What they wanted was a bread that would keep them from ever being hungry again.    

As we hear these self descriptive words of Jesus, we are more likely to look ahead instead of back.  The image of "the bread of life" will be expanded by a holy meal and a teaching about a broken body.  The "bread of life" does not satisfy physical hunger, but spiritual hunger.  The bread of which Jesus speaks is not food for the body.  It is food for the soul.  Unlike the body which is here for a time and gone, the soul is that part of us which bears the essence of the holy and is fit for eternity with the One who created us.    

Jesus' primary concern was not the stomach, but the soul.  In verse forty of that sixth chapter of John, we hear Jesus saying, "This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day."  When Jesus said, "I am the bread of life," He was speaking of this life.  He was not referencing the physical life.  Instead, He was declaring that His concern was about the soul which would be given life eternal in that day determined by Him.  He is the bread which sustains and provides eternal life, not the few days given to us between conception and death.