Jesus the Bread of Life

August 12, 2012

John 6:35-51

I find much comfort in this week's passage by John. It is not so much John's attempt at explaining the mystery of communion, or the resurrection, both extremely important topics, but it is in the disagreement in interpretation. Jesus is speaking to the people, and people are misinterpreting him. Right there, even at the time. It may sound small, petty and selfish, but it gives me a whole lot of hope. God did not give up on us, Jesus did not give up on the people he was preaching too, and although as the many denominations point out, no one agrees completely on communion theology, we are promised in verse 37 that, “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away.” He goes on in verse 39 to remind us that I should lose nothing at all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”

John reminds us that Jesus was sometimes difficult to understand. Jesus made many references that the people would understand but he also used a great deal of metaphor and simile. As any middle school English student can tell you these, literary devices are not always easy to understand. For many years, the Romans believed that Christians were cannibals, citing Jesus telling us to eat his flesh. This is just one example of the misinterpretations that can and have occurred throughout the ages.

Then in verse 41 we hear the complaints begin. How can this man claim to have come down from heaven? He is merely human! We know his parents! This is ridiculous.

Jesus refutes them and uses references to Isaiah and Moses to make his point. God draws us to Jesus. We can't do it on our own. We can't just decide to be drawn to Jesus, but rather God draws us to Jesus and all of us who are pulled towards Jesus will have eternal life.

Jesus used the analogy of the bread of life to refer to himself. That is very interesting. At this time period at leas 50% or more of a persons calories were consumed through bread daily. But anyone who has every made bread can tell you this is not a quick process, even today. If you lived at Jesus' time you had to grow the wheat, harvest it, mill it, and then store it without vermin getting into it. Then you have to add the yeast, sugar and water, mix in the flour and let rise, then you needed to knead it, and let rise again. Finally you bake it. This is a lengthy time consuming process. I wonder if following Jesus is not the same. It fills us, gives us everything we need, but is a lengthy, time consuming process.

When Jesus discusses consuming himself he may have also been referencing a traditional practice of writing verses from a Torah and consuming them in order to pull them inside one's self and fully live them daily. By the time Jesus was preaching, it was understood that you did not have to actually eat them, but you had to be with them, be fed by them and spend time with them in order to live them out, just as one has to spend time in food preparation in order to consume it and use it to help sustain their body. We need to spend time with Jesus to sustain our souls.

So why did Jesus choose to be the bread of life? What does it mean that it takes so long to make bread? How are we pulled by God? How are we nourished? What does it mean that every one of us that feels called by God will not be lost? Why all the metaphors? What did Jesus mean then and for us now?