Jesus as the Bread of Life
Fresh-baked bread has a wonderful fragrance. It is pleasing to the eye, tastes good, has a pleasant texture and, if it is a crusty loaf, even sounds good as you cut or tear it. On top of all of this, it sustains life. People are advised when they are selling their home to bake bread before prospective buyers visit because the smell has a positive emotional effect on them.
Perhaps this is so because we link that smell to memories of earlier days when someone who loved us made fresh bread to nourish us. Personally, I have childhood memories of my mother having fresh baked bread ready when I came home from school and that gives me positive feelings every time I encounter that moist yeasty smell.
The word “bread” occurs in the Bible more than three hundred times. The particular instance I want to consider is recorded in John 6. Three times there, Jesus calls Himself either “the bread of life” or “the living bread.” In the context, His listeners struggled with this concept. They couldn’t get past the literal meaning of what He was saying. The idea of eating any unclean flesh was repugnant, but the idea of eating human flesh was unthinkable. When Jesus compared Himself to food, they choked.
From our vantage point, we can see that Jesus was using a word picture. The significance of His words was spiritual, not physical. Jesus reminded them that the physical bread that God had given their forefathers as they wandered in the desert only satisfied them for a few hours. Then they were hungry again and needed more. When Jesus says “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” He is clearly not talking about our bodies which must be nourished frequently.
One aspect of our thinking about Jesus as the bread of life, is the process in which grain is ground into flour, mixed with water and other ingredients and put into a hot oven. It’s relatively easy to see some symbolic significance to this as we think about Jesus taking the judgment for our sin on Himself. It was not by accident that Jesus choose bread and wine as symbols of His death for us.
In John 6, though, the emphasis is on Jesus as the bread of life. We know something of the relationship of bread to our physical life. When Jesus identifies Himself as the “bread of life,” we want to find the appropriate link. What is the relationship between Jesus and our spiritual life which is similar to the link between bread and our physical life?
Well, bread sustains us. It keeps us physically alive. We seem to have a very strong urge to seek physical nourishment, so we’re unlikely to starve to death accidentally. However, a lot of people neglect their spiritual nourishment. Some seem to be even unaware that they need spiritual nourishment. Jesus would be the spiritual nourishment they need. But beyond those who ignore their spiritual well-being, are those who have what we might call a “spiritual eating disorder.” They consciously reject the nourishment which would help the grow into healthy, mature spiritual beings.
But maybe ignorance is part of the equation. We all know how to eat bread, but how do we consume spiritual bread? First of all I would point out that the Bible is also seen as spiritual food, but while Bible study is also spiritually nourishing, that wasn’t what Jesus had in mind when He called Himself “bread.”
Some might ask themselves if Jesus had communion in mind when He applied figures to his body and blood and said we should eat those in remembrance of Him. I wouldn’t want to state categorically that this idea is excluded.
However, let’s think of other relationships that we might describe as sustaining. When you are ill and weak and others come along to care for you, you receive from them as they spend time with you. They may provide comfort, maybe a back rub, or physiotherapy. Depending on the situation, they may help you eat, change dressings, or administer medication.
What is it you receive from Jesus? Life itself. His life is more than just some animating Spirit. It involves becoming like Him, but without any loss of your own identity. As you become more like Jesus, you grow into being the unique individual God made you to be.
This is not something you can bring about yourself. When you receive His life, something quite supernatural begins to happen. His Spirit infuses your being and you begin to live in a way you never thought possible. We use words like eternal, spiritual, abundant to describe the life we have in Him. This sounds like a wonderful offer, but, just as you have to eat bread to get any benefit from it, you have to be willing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, the bread of life, to enjoy the life-sustaining nourishment He offers.
Ron Hughes
© July 2006
