John 6:47-51 (HCSB): “I assure you: Anyone who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
This is the fourth time that Jesus identified Himself as the bread of life (vv33, 35, 41). Those pursuing Him, who had been part of the crowd of five thousand that received the multiplied loaves and fish, had demanded of Him a sign, just as Moses had provided the manna in the wilderness for the children of Israel.
But, as Jesus point out, there is a world of difference between the manna and Himself, the true bread of life. Those who ate the manna all died. Even though it was a miracle from God, manna was still just physical food. It provided calories and nutrients, but it didn’t stop aging, or disease, or the death penalty for sins (which is what most of those in the wilderness died from!).
Jesus, on the other hand, while His flesh does not provide calories and nutrients to keep our physical bodies alive (there is physical food for that), it nourishes our souls to help them stay healthy, strong, and growing. And it does away with the penalty for sins committed, giving our souls real life, and enabling them to live forever in God’s presence. And the bread of Jesus is available to anyone who will believe in Jesus for salvation.
Some argue that Jesus is talking here about the Communion ceremony. And that ceremony does indeed symbolize the flesh and blood of Jesus. But here He is talking primarily about believing in Him and His sacrifice, not about the ritual that He would give in the future to memorialize it. Those who believe are the ones who eat the bread and have eternal life.
Father, how easy it is to focus on the ritual, the physical bread, and lose touch with the reality that underlies it. How easy it is to strive to get the elements and the steps and the words just right, without making sure that our belief in the real bread of life is still powerfully focused on Jesus and on the price that He willingly paid. Help us, Lord, to eat of this bread of life every day through our living relationship with Jesus, so that we can live forever in Him. Amen.