Life Sustaining Bread, Part 1

August 5, 2018

We may ask, What did Jesus mean when He said, “I am the Bread of Life.” Bread simply sustains life. It is necessary because it’s full of Carbohydrates, which are metabolized by the human body and used for fuel. Just the same, our spiritual body needs the Bread of Life (Jesus Christ) for sustenance and growth. 

But what is the Life that is meant here? Life is the new relationship that we have with God - a relationship based on our surrender in faith to God, and His unfailing love for us. Real life consists of the intimacy, the trust, the vulnerability, the obedience, and the love that we share with God. This new life is God’s gift to us through Jesus Christ. Without Jesus it is impossible to have the fullness of life that God has willed for us. Without Christ life becomes more like just an existence… empty, nagging, longing, hungry for the real thing. 

In Christ, the restless soul finds rest, and the hungry heart is satisfied. Real Life is ours for the taking. “Take and eat unto eternal life”, we hear Christ’s invitation.

John 6:35, 41-51

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never 

be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, 

“I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 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’?” 

Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 

No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; 

and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the 

prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who 

has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone 

has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen 

the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 

I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the 

wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from 

heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 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.”