Presentation 19
Presentation 19
Introduction
Throughout the ages men have grappled with the
big issues of life asking searching and demanding
questions;
"Who is able to satisfy the spiritual craving of my
heart? Who will provide me with insight and
understanding of spiritual truth? Who can deliver
me from the tyranny of death? ..."
History records only one confident, positive, response
which says, "I am able..." The voice belongs to Jesus
Christ whose claims are brought into sharp focus in
this gospel. Jesus makes unique claims about his
person, in his famous “I am” statements. We turn to
one of these claims now. "I am the bread of life"
Presentation 19
The Background To The Claim
The events in this chapter take place immediately after the feeding of 5000
plus people. This crowd held a variety of expectations of Jesus. First, there
were those who wanted to be entertained. We find them mentioned in 6v2.
Life was dull and they had joined the miracle circuit to try and cheer
themselves up. They were fascinated by the phenomenon of religion and
intrigued by the wholesome attractiveness of Jesus. They would follow an
entertaining Jesus anywhere.
Presentation 19
The Background To The Claim
Such people exist today. They tell us that the world is such a depressing place
that, the chief function of the church should be to cheer them up and make
them happy. Preachers are warned against dealing with those areas of truth
that disturb, challenge and cause discomfort. They are told their task is to
relieve monotony, minister comfort and provide entertainment. This is the
limited expectation of the pleasure seeker.
The pleasure seeker asks no more
of the church than that!
Presentation 19
The Background To The Claim
Secondly, there were those in the crowd with political expectations. They
resented the tyranny of Rome. They objected to the loss of their national
identity. They were indignant at their exploitation. In Jesus, they felt they had
a leader, who would free them from Rome’s yoke. Cf. [6v15].
Similarly, today many people would gladly follow a political
Saviour. Think of the development of the liberation
theology in South America. Jesus is presented a
revolutionary, a Che Guevara figure, whose goal is to
bring political emancipation to the oppressed. The
political activist tells the church that her primary
concern should be with the liberation of the oppressed
peoples of the world.
That is the limit of his expectation of Jesus.
Presentation 19
The Background To The Claim
Finally, there were those in the crowd with materialistic expectations. Having
experienced Jesus’ provision of bread and fish they would gladly follow a ‘soup
kitchen Saviour’. The thought of material gain drove them after Jesus. They
had no spiritual appetite for their appetite was anchored solely to this
world. They too had a limited expectation cf. 6v26.
The prosperity gospel, popular in many church circles
today, is not a new phenomenon. It attracts people,
who will follow a Saviour whose principle goal,
we are told, is to alleviate poverty, material
hardship and illness.
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The Significance Of The Claim
It is important to understand that the unique claim of Jesus in 6v35 is made
against the background of the low level of expectations of the crowd. Jesus’
goal was to lead men away from their own dull perception of their basic need.
Addressing those, whose stomachs he had recently filled, Jesus points out that
they were spiritually malnourished.
In v27 Jesus contrasts the importance
of food which sustains physical life
with that which sustains spiritual
life. Because time spent in this
world is short, our energy should
be given to the pursuit of that
food which feeds our spiritual life.
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The Significance Of The Claim
People need to recognise the spiritual void in their lives; what Pascal the
French philosopher described it as a “God shaped blank". When men fail to
recognise the spiritual nature of this void, they attempt to fill it with a variety
of things; possessions, ambitions, pleasures and family. But none fit the shape,
none satisfy the spiritual appetite.
When Jesus says "I am the bread of life,"
he is saying,
“I and I alone am designed to fit the blank;
I am the missing piece!”
Presentation 19
The Significance Of The Claim
All this talk of spiritual food reminded Jesus' hearers of the manna that their
ancestors ate in the wilderness v31. They reason that material things
supernaturally provided is as much as they can expect from God. Today people
point to, answers to prayer or remarkable providences, and conclude that
there is no more to experience of God's provision.
But note how Jesus contrasts the limitations of the
manna, which was given to Israel in the wilderness to
satisfy physical appetites, with his own unique provision,
which unlike manna is not physical and transitory but
spiritual and eternal. There is no possibility of
eternal life apart from Jesus. To have Christ in
our lives means our spiritual hunger can
be eternally satisfied v35.
Presentation 19
The Significance Of The Claim
Of course there are many voices today that claim to provide spiritual
satisfaction. What makes this claim of Jesus so unique? It was made by the
Son of God who has come down from heaven. We read in v27 that Jesus had
been sealed to this office by God. Therefore, his claim bears God's guarantee.
God alone can fill the God shaped blank! In what way? We are told in v51,
"this bread is my flesh which I give for the life of the world".
This is a clear reference to Jesus’ sacrificial death upon
the cross. Our spiritual needs are met through his
Substitutionary death!
Presentation 19
The Significance Of The Claim
The ‘Author of Life’ gave his body to be broken in death in order to deal with
all that separated men from eternal communion with God. By nature we are
dead to God. We have inherited the consequences of the fall of Adam - “on
the day that you eat [of the fruit of the tree] you will surely die” Gen.3v17; a
reference in the first instance to a spiritual death. By his death, Jesus has dealt
with our guilty past, the just demands of the law have been
satisfied and the weight of God's wrath borne by him.
Those who receive Jesus - The Bread of Life –
by faith, discover that the ‘God shaped
blank’, which spiritual death produces,
is filled by him. They access
his eternal, resurrection life!
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The Response Of The Disciples
Jesus made a very unique claim. He addressed man's greatest need. He alone was
qualified to meet it. How did the majority respond? Cf. v60, 66. They turned their
back on Jesus! Isn't that amazing? Perhaps not, when we consider that people
often follow Jesus for their own ends: pleasure, material provision and political
security. However, once Jesus confronts them with the purpose of his mission
which is to take up residence in the ‘God shaped blank’ of their lives and once he
reveals the reality of their spiritual emptiness and speaks of the cross, suffering
and costly discipleship then he loses popularity. Not many are prepared to be
cross-bearers!
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The Response Of The Disciples
Indeed, as soon as the requirement of costly commitment to Jesus begins to
break in upon their consciousness, what happens? They begin to re-evaluate
the Jesus they had gladly followed for their own reasons. These ‘followers’ not
only began to argue over the benefit of continuing to follow Jesus v52 but
conclude that the implications of his instruction was ‘hard saying’ v60.
The spiritual truths contained in Jesus’ words found no resonance in their
hearts or deadened spirits. His word creates
the faith required to receive him but it
had not been welcomed by open
minds and as a result they are
categorised as those who
‘do not believe’.
Presentation 19
The Response Of The Disciples
Jesus, the Bread of Life and Saviour of the world stands before men and they
see only an enigma, a puzzling figure, who does not fit with their expectations.
The rags of this world seem more attractive to them than Jesus’ riches. They
prefer the hedonistic trough of this world's pleasures to the feast spread upon
Christ's table.
They want a Jesus, who will visit them in their
foul smelling dungeon in order to entertain
rather than a Jesus who would deliver
them and lead them out into the clean
fresh air of the kingdom of God.
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Conclusion
When Jesus asked his true disciples, how they would react to his claim they
provide a quite different response, "Lord to whom else can we go...” v67.
They had greater expectations of Jesus not because their understanding was
perfect but because they had an appetite for God and his Word. They
recognised their need of salvation and recognised that only
Jesus could provide it.
Do you see Jesus as one uniquely qualified to
meet the deepest spiritual longing of your heart?
Bread is not beneficial unless you eat it; Jesus is
of no value to you unless you receive him by faith.
Have you been brought to the place where you can say,
"Lord to whom else can we go....
Presentation 19