John 6:25-59 · Jesus the Bread of Life
When The Baker Becomes the Bread!
John 6:51-58
Sermon
by Robert Leslie Holmes
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A story is told of a well-to-do man of a former generation who on his brisk early morning walk would daily meet a workingman on his way to the factory. One day as they passed each other, the wealthy man added to his usual nod-of-the-head greeting these words of complaint, "I have no choice but to make this walk early each morning to get a stomach for my meat." The workingman responded, "And I must walk this early each morning to get meat for my stomach!" The reality is that neither man was truly satisfied with his lot in life because each was shortsighted.

In his "Selkirk Grace," Scottish poet, Robert Burns, writes,

Some hae meat and canna eat;
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat;
Sae let the Lord be thankit.[1]

Robbie Burns realized that it is a blessing beyond words when appetite and food meet and realize that they can each satisfy the other. However, he also realized that there are always those who have an appetite and yet no meat and they deserve our pity: "Some wad eat that want it."

John 6 might be called the breadbasket of John's gospel. It starts out with Jesus asking Philip where they might find sufficient bread for the gathered multitude (v. 5). This leads to the miracle of the feeding of 5,000 from a boy's lunch of five barley loaves and two fish (vv. 9-13). Jesus reminds the crowd that God provided bread for their forefathers in the desert (vv. 31-32) before speaking about another kind of bread as he repeatedly identifies himself as the bread of life: "The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" (v. 33). "I am the bread that came down from heaven" (v. 41). "Here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die" (v. 50). The Jewish leaders among the multitude did not understand and were grumbling among themselves. "The light shined in their darkness but they did not understand it" (see John 1:5). Then, as if to add insult to their injury, Jesus goes even further with the idea of bread.

I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever. — John 6:53-58

When Jesus introduces a new metaphor, likening this bread to his flesh, the Jewish leaders, understandably, find his words repugnant. Their religious laws strictly forbid cannibalism, the eating of human flesh and drinking of human blood. Already it is clear, as Saint Paul would later record, that the gospel of Jesus would be "a stumbling block to Jews" (1 Corinthians 1:23). If we are honest with ourselves, we, too, find the idea at first disconcerting unless we know that the word bread is used in two ways in the New Testament.

First, the New Testament speaks about bread in the sense of loaf bread. There is the boy's lunch. We are told it is five barley loaves. While barley was a key component of loaf bread in Bible times, it was not the only one. Poor people also had learned to make loaf bread from beans, peas, tares, oats, lentils, and even acorns. All these were ground down into flour, mixed with water, and baked in an oven or on a hot stone in pieces about the size of a small man's hand. They did not lend themselves to slicing so they were not sliced but broken to be eaten. The best known example of this is the Lord's Supper, where we read, "The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it ..." (1 Corinthians 11:23-24).

The second way that the New Testament speaks about bread is in a broader sense as nourishing food of any kind, whether bread, fruit, vegetables, or meat. As the boy's lunch includes both bread and fish, bread is the sustenance of life. When Jesus says, "I am the bread of life ... I am the living bread," it is most likely that his hearers understand him to mean, "I am food for life." While many people in his audience would have understood how essential food is to life, his imagery at this point, nevertheless, would have offended his Jewish listeners. Because they miss his point here, the Jews would then fail to understand the deeper meaning of what Jesus is conveying to the multitude — the eternal truth as to who he is and what he would do. Jesus is saying, in effect that, as food is an absolute essential to the physical life, so he is essential to spiritual life. Without food, the physical body weakens and dies, and without him, the spiritual life weakens and dies. What is more, as the bread of life he is laying down his life that we may eat forever freely! The baker becomes the bread!

Lest there be any doubt, Jesus makes sure that the message is driven home repeatedly to his hearers. He calls himself, "the true bread" (v. 32), "the bread of God" (v. 33), "the bread of life" (vv. 35, 48), "the bread that came down from heaven" (vv. 41, 50, 58), "the living bread" (v. 51). When he does this, Jesus answers three vital questions for us all.

Who Is This Living Bread?

Jesus uses the emphatic "I AM." When he claims this name for himself, Jesus is either guilty of the ultimate blasphemy or affirming his identity as the true and only God. The Jews know that this name dates back to when God commissioned Moses at Sinai to go to Egypt and bring deliverance from bondage to the children of Israel. Moses, aware of the magnitude of his assignment, asked by what name of God he should present his claim and credentials, and God told Moses to say, "I AM has sent me to you" (Exodus 3:14). What makes this name particularly important is that Jesus now uses it to speak in the first person for himself. Thus, he is saying that God is no longer a distant deity but the ever-present Lord and deliverer, who was, who is, and who is to come.

Who is the living bread? From the outset of his gospel, John makes clear who he is.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men...The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. — John 1:1-4, 14

The maker of all things has come among us as "the bread come down from heaven." Like a striking catchphrase, Jesus keeps making his point but the religious leaders of his time just do not get the truth that he is, in fact, pre-existent bread now made incarnate among us. Like those Jewish leaders, we do not grasp the real truth of who he is until we see the miracle of the incarnation as given in the text of John 6.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." — John 6:25-27

In short, Jesus is telling them, and us, not to follow him short-sightedly for what he might do for us but for who he is.

Even the ordinary people have a hard time understanding him at this point. Ingrained in them is the notion of their leaders that salvation is not of God but of their own works. So, they ask him.

"What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' " Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." "Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread." Then Jesus declared, "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." — John 6:28-35

In short, they want to work to earn the bread but he tells them that this bread is already paid for because the baker has become the bread.

Not only is he the living bread and already paid for, he is the ready bread, willing to accomplish his mission: "I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me" (John 6:38). How eager is Jesus to do the Father's will? We find that answer not here but in Gethsemane's garden, where in agony he concedes to the Father, "Not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). From the beginning to the end of his life on earth, Jesus set the example for every Christian that we are to be ready to follow God's will without question. What was and is the will of God? It is that as the wheat and barley is ground up and beaten into flour for bread, so Jesus, the bread of God, should be broken and ground up to pay for the sins of the world on the cross. Why should this be? Jesus gives us the answer.

"This is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." — John 6:39-40

And what is it? It is that we, likewise, are called to give up our own rights and lives to follow God.

There is a final part to the question of who this living bread is: "No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father" (John 6:46). The key words are "from God." Jesus is not just like God, he is God. This "living bread" is Jesus who made all things, came down from heaven to do his Father's will and to enable us to live forever for free! The baker truly did become the bread!

How Do We Acquire This Living Bread?

The answer is in today's scripture reading: "If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever." We have seen that it is not by works but simply by eating it. It is already paid for on the cross. Not only did the baker become the bread, he paid for it. Therefore, all we must do is take it by faith. We say, "Lord Jesus, I take you to myself that I may live forever with you."

Three elements of personality are involved in making a faith decision to receive Jesus. They are intellect, emotions, and will. The same three elements are found in falling in love. A couple meets. They are attracted to one another. They think, "There is someone I might like to marry one day." At this point, if we were purely emotional beings, wedding bells would chime. We are not just emotional, however, and the intellect raises some questions: "Are we really well-matched?" "Do we want to spend the rest of our lives together?" "Can we afford this?" "Is it really a good idea?" The couple begins to spend some time getting to know each other and if it is a good thing, the intellect falls into line with the emotions. "Let's plan the big day," the intellect and the emotions say. "Wait," says the will, "I'm not settled on this idea yet." The will asks, "Am I really ready to give up the freedoms and benefits I have as a single person? "Am I ready to take on the additional responsibility that marriage brings?" "Am I willing to share my life with another person?" The wedding bells do not ring until the will answers these and other questions to its satisfaction. So it is in becoming a disciple. Intellectually, I come to conclude that it makes sense. Emotionally, I make a commitment. Then, I must will to make the lifestyle changes being a disciple demands and I come to Christ.

The baker, Jesus, became the bread and the baker bought the bread, but are we ready to eat it? We receive this living bread by uniting ourselves with Jesus who makes us this promise.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day ...Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. — John 6:54, 56

Whatever we are physically is the result of the food we have eaten. If we did not eat, we would die. What we become spiritually we will be because of taking Jesus into our lives. So, I ask you, are you ready to give up your perceived freedoms and benefits to become his? Are you ready to take on the additional responsibility that being Christ's disciple brings? Are you willing to share your life with him? If your answer is, "Yes! Yes! And Yes!" then in his name, I invite you to taste this living bread.

What Benefits Do We Receive From Taking The Living Bread?

Jesus says, "If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever ...Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day"(John 6:51, 54). Wouldn't you like to know that you have a life that clocks and calendars cannot measure? Wouldn't you like to know that death cannot win against you? This is the first benefit of eternal life as offered by Jesus Christ.

W. B. Hinson spoke from his own understanding of eternal life just before he died. He said, "A year ago my doctor said, ‘You have an illness from which you will not recover.' I walked outside my home in Oregon and looked across at the mountains, over the river, and the stately redwoods. Then, as evening fell, I looked up into the great sky where God was lighting his lamps, the stars. In my imagination, I said to each of them, ‘I may not see you many more times, mountains, but I shall be standing when you are dust. River, I shall be running when you no longer rush toward the sea. Mighty redwoods, I will be taller than you one day for one day you shall topple and I shall be standing tall. And stars, I shall be bright when you shine no more!'"

W. B. Hinson understood that death is the end neither of this life nor the beginning of a new life but merely a milestone in eternal life. Everlasting life is an uninterrupted fellowship with God and with his Son, Jesus Christ. All the riches and resources of everlasting life are present now. When we eat the living bread we shall never again be out of the presence of God.

The second benefit Jesus promises is this: "I will raise him up at the last day." The Greek verb could be translated to say, "I will stand tall with him at the last day." One day, the graves will open and one day those whom we have loved and lost for a while will stand. We who are Christ's shall stand with them because we consumed this living bread called Jesus.

Finally, we experience the benefit that comes from having a living friend in heaven now for the Bible says that Jesus "is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them" (Hebrews 7:25). He is our living intercessor who represents us, and our needs, in the Father's throne room.

Thanks be to God, the baker is our bread and the baker bought our bread. Come and eat and "let the Lord be thankit!" Amen.


1. Robert Burns, "Selkirk Grace," The Poems of Robbie Burns (Edinburgh: John MacDougall, 1921).

CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost (Middle Third): Bread and More! Forever! For Free!, by Robert Leslie Holmes