John 6:41-59 | The Bread of Life pt.2
41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. (John 6:41-59)
[reveal id=”musicmarchfifteenth” link=”Worship Music” ]
Our greatest problem
Death. Death is the number one universal problem we all face as human beings. Our single greatest problem is death. We’re all going to die. No one really wants to die; in fact we spend our entire lives trying to prevent death. But one by one it catches up with all of us. Since the beginning of time, humans have made every imaginable attempt to cure death. To this day no one has developed a remedy. We’ve figured out a few things that can help prolong the inevitable, but nothing close to a cure. It’s the elephant in the room- everyone knows it’s there, but no one wants to talk about it.
Grumbling and disputing
In our text today, Jesus wants to talk about death and its remedy, but the people would rather grumble and argue than listen to the cure. Verse 41: “the Jews grumbled about him“. Verse 52: “the Jews then disputed among themselves“. Sound familiar? From the first days of the Hebrews freedom from bondage in Egypt, they grumbled and disputed.
2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (Exodus 16:2-3)
Do you remember why these people where there that day? John 6:26, Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. It’s the reason I go to Costco; not for the amazing deals, but for the free food samples. These people just had their bellies filled the day before by Jesus and they’re already complaining and arguing. They wanted more food.
The greatest problem with grumbling and arguing is that we don’t listen. We can’t hear when we’re complaining. And when we’re arguing we can’t listen objectively our objective is to be heard. Are you grumbling about something in life right now? Are you complaining or disputing? Chances are, you aren’t hearing from God if you grumbling or disputing.
Our greatest need is the cure for death, but we can’t receive the cure if we’re grumbling or arguing, not listening to God. Verse 42: They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Hear God and come to Jesus
43Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. (John 6:42-46)
Jesus is saying: Quit arguing! Quit grumbling! I’m telling you what I know because we are not from the same place. I’m from heaven and you’re from earth. I alone have seen the Father because I came from the bosom of the Father. I have seen what no other eye has seen and know what no other mind can comprehend. If you listen to God you will come to me and believe in me. I am the remedy for death.
The bread of life
47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:47-51)
The people were looking for bread to eat. Bread was not the cure for death, but it symbolized the prolonging of life. You got to eat to keep from dying as soon. Jesus is telling them that even the manna that was miraculously provided for their ancestors day by day didn’t cure death. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. If you want a cure for death, it isn’t earthly bread.
Jesus is life-giving bread
Jesus, speaking figuratively about bread, makes a literal statement by saying, “And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh”. We need life! Do you remember the movie titled The Sixth Sense? The famous line from that movie was, “I see dead people”. When we look around we see living people, but when Jesus looks around he sees dead people. He sees spiritual death in everyone whom has not tasted his life-giving bread. Listen to this: 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. (John 6:52-53)
That’s a pretty difficult statement accept. He’s telling us that we are dead men walking unless we’ve eaten his flesh and drank his blood. For the wages of sin is death- we’re dead and we need life. Jesus is that life-giving bread! 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:54)
Jesus is the life-giving bread, but he’s also the life-sustaining bread.
Jesus is life-sustaining bread
Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and they’re dead. We not only need bread that gives us life, but also bread that sustains life. We need sustenance for our souls moment-by-moment and day-by-day. We’re powerless to keep our souls alive and well. We need real spiritual food that renews itself within us.
55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. (John 6:55-56)
Jesus doesn’t give you life in order to watch you die again. He offers true food and true drink. John 1:4 says, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Jesus, in his essence, is life. Those who have believed in Jesus and received him by faith, are plugged into life and life is plugged into them. It’s an amazing and reassuring promise that we both abide in Christ and Christ abides in us. We are double connected to life at its source. He is a continually recirculating life within us. He is the bread that sustains our souls day by day.
He’s life-giving, life-sustaining and life-preserving.
Jesus is life-preserving bread
When does the bread run out? The Israelites ate the bread in the wilderness for a long time, they received it day by day, but one day it was gone forever. But look what Jesus said in Verse 58: 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. (John 6:58-59)
Right there in the middle of church Jesus is telling these people that the bread that gives them life is also the bread that sustains their souls day by and it will preserve their souls FOREVER! That’s good news! That’s the gospel!
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)
Jesus, the bread of life, gave us his life as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. We are weak and powerless, incapable of earning or gaining eternal life, but shows his love for us by giving us Jesus as a sacrifice for our sin when we are weak and sinful.
Communion:
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:19-20)
