(a) What was Jesus' teaching about himself as the Living Bread? (b) In what two ways is this teaching significant ?

Answer Details

(a) Jesus' teaching about Himself as the Living Bread (John 6)

After Jesus had fed the five thousand, the crowds followed Him seeking more bread. Jesus told them not to labour for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life. When they referred to the manna their fathers ate in the wilderness, Jesus explained that it was not Moses but His Father who gives the true bread from heaven, which gives life to the world.

Jesus then declared, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." He said He had come down from heaven to do the will of the Father, that whoever believes in the Son should have eternal life and be raised up at the last day.

He contrasted Himself with the manna: their fathers ate manna in the wilderness and yet died, but "this is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."

When the Jews disputed how He could give His flesh to eat, Jesus insisted, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." He explained that he who feeds on Him abides in Him and lives because of Him.

(b) Two ways in which this teaching is significant

1. It points to Jesus as the source of eternal life - just as bread sustains physical life, Jesus, received by faith, sustains and gives eternal spiritual life to the believer.
2. It foreshadows the Holy Communion (Lord's Supper) - the language of eating His flesh and drinking His blood prepares believers to feed on Christ through faith and to remember His sacrificial death by which He gave His life for the world.