Friday 3rd March
Read John 6:47-51
“Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’” (NIVUK)
Jesus returns to the manna contrast (v30-33) and points out another difference between Himself and the manna provided in the desert. Whilst the manna in the desert could keep them physically alive in the wilderness – all of them eventually died. Jesus claims that those who come to Him, as the true, heavenly bread, will eat and not die. Life is found entirely and completely in Him.
Many have thought that this is John’s version of the eucharist pronouncement – particularly the similarity with ‘This…is my flesh’. Yet, the word John chooses is quite different to the word recorded in the other Gospels and in Paul. At the Last Supper Jesus says ‘This is my body (soma)’. Here He says, ‘This is my flesh (sarx)’. It is unlikely John was unfamiliar with the words of the eucharist, having been there, so it is equally unlikely he intends a direct parallel between these two events. Though there are many parallels present!
John is likely asking his readers to remember exactly who Jesus is. The entire passage concerns Jesus after all. At the very beginning of the gospel John wrote that “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) (NIVUK). The voluntary (‘which I will give’(v51c)) and sacrificial (‘for the life’ (v51d)) offering of Himself for Jew and Gentile alike (‘of the world’ (v51e)) is bound up in His presence amongst us. Jesus came to give Himself for the world. He speaks of Himself as the ‘living bread/bread of life’ for that reason – He came down to give us life.
