Anchor My Faith

The Bread of God

Scripture: John 6:30-33

We ended the previous lesson with the people trying to understand how to obtain the food that endures to eternal life that Jesus has to offer. When Jesus told them that God works to provide the food when they do the work of belief in who Jesus is, that set them on edge. ^{Jn 6:30} “So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? ³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”’

The question before us is “Who are “they” who said to him?” If it is the people who saw him multiply the bread and fish, then do they see Jesus as the possible Messiah and now seek more evidence to clarify or to remove certain questions that linger in their minds? However, it is not improbable that the question was being raised by other Jews, rulers of the synagogue, who happened to be present, and who had not witnesses his miracles. Those of unbelief, whose dislike continued to grow toward Jesus, continued to seek signs from him.

Later in our harmonization study we hear the request for more signs. For example, in Matthew 12:38 – 39 we read: “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” ³⁹ But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” We will cover this when we get closer to the cross as that sign relates to the time Jesus spends in the tomb. Does this sign mean that Jesus died on Thursday and not on Friday as we now celebrate? I think you might find that discussion interesting and maybe disturbing.

Again, and again the Pharisees come to him and argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him (Mark 8:11). We have already learned enough to know that the Pharisees do not seek evidence to grow their faith in him but to find some evidence to discredit him and even take his life.

The manna, of verse 31, that was provided in the wilderness takes us back to the time of Moses when God provided food for those wandering there for forty years. Just a day ago, Jesus produced food to feed a great multitude, thus demonstrating that he could have been the one who provided that manna in the wilderness. It was the Son of God, who we know as Jesus, who created the universe, and just a day ago, fed the great multitude. Surely, he could have provided the manna as we read in Psalm 78:23 – 24 (ESV): ²³ “Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven, ²⁴ and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven.” However, the next verse shows a different view on the manna.

^{Jn 6:32} “Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”’

Jesus makes it clear that it was not Moses who gave the bread, but possibly the Father. It is clear that Jesus could provide the manna because he just provided a very large supply loaves and fish. The focus of the people is on the ability Jesus had to create food, not on the fact that Jesus is also food. Just as the Father gave manna to the people, he now gives Jesus to them as bread. The manna given was a sign of the true bread to be given in the person of Jesus. That bread, that endures to eternal life, is the person of Jesus. In him is life and it is he, and only he, who can give life to the one who eats the bread.

Conclusion

What a mind-boggling place for these people. Jesus is the bread that endures to eternal life that came down from the Father in heaven, that is to be eaten? Nicodemus found himself in the same place when Jesus told him that he had to be born again. How are these things possible? Father, we will need the Spirit to lead us through this material.