I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world

 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one 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 forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

- John 6:41-51

Currently we are reading in chapter 6 of John's Gospel, which began with the feeding of five thousand in the wilderness.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?  Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from the heaven and gives life to the world."  Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."  And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father."  John gives us the commentary of the religious leadership on Jesus' statements about Himself.   Christ emphasizes once again His union with the Father -- and that those who come to Him are drawn by God the Father. This is the source of true faith and revelation, and it is the bedrock of the Church, the Body of Christ.  It is just as Jesus told Peter upon Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:16-18). 

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one 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 forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."  My study bible comments that the eucharistic significance of this passage is indisputable.  Christ's declaration that He is Himself the living bread that gives life is a revelation of the Mystical Supper of the New Testament Church.  John does not give us the details of the Last Supper as does Luke (Luke 22:19-20).  But instead, this Gospel focuses on the significance and truth of these events -- which were, at the time of its writing, already known to its hearers in the Church -- and gives us Christ's own words verifying this.  Once again, as in yesterday's reading, if we focus in on Christ's words, He's not only including those people who follow in faith, but states that he will give His flesh for the life of the world.  That is, for all of creation.

In our recent readings and commentary, we've been focusing on just what Jesus means when He says, for example, in yesterday's reading, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out."  What does that "all" mean?   It is more than the ones who come to Him; this word in Greek for "all" means everything.  In today's reading Jesus tells us that He will give His flesh for the life of the world.  Once again, Jesus' words in the Greek indicate more than the people who will be His followers.  Rather, to draw people to Him through the "lifting up" on the Cross is not just to save persons but to renew all of the created order.  In chapter 3, Jesus told Nicodemus about those who would believe, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (3:14-15).  But in the next verses, He again links His sacrifice on the Cross to the life of the world:  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (3:16-17).   In each of these cases, as in today's reading, the Greek word for "the world" is κόσμος/kosmos.  This word indicates not just planet earth, and not simply the people in the world, but rather the whole of the created order, an entire universe of creation.  As I read this text, Christ is offering to us a link between our faith and the renewal of the whole of the world.  His sacrifice on the Cross offers a chance for renewal to all of the universe, one that is found in the communion of God and man, even the faith through which the Father draws human beings to Christ.  It is John's Gospel in which Jesus will state that "unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain" (12:24), indicating a link for us between His death on the Cross and the renewal of the life of the world.  Therefore, in our faith is found a kind of renewing energy that isn't simply about our personal salvation, but which is for "the life of the world."   Grace is spoken of as being without measure.  John declares about Jesus in the Prologue to his Gospel, "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (1:16).  His fullness isn't the kind of fullness we understand through measurement; it is rather overflowing, as "grace for grace" is a Semitic expression which indicates an abundance or infinitude of grace.  In Luke 6, connected with a teaching of Beatitudes, Jesus speaks about a life that is filled with this grace, and how to live it:  "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you" (Luke 6:38).  He is connecting, in this passage, the granting of forgiveness and the practice of good judgment to an abundance of overflowing grace, both given and received.  We cannot help but to understand that we are not alone in this, but rather related to a whole world in this overflowing life; it is grace that cannot be contained within one person, but touches what is around that person.  In this sense, we can begin to see what it means that Christ was given of love for the whole world; we can't really know all that we touch in our lives, from the created order of the holy angels to whoever and whatever our lives may touch in the world.  Certainly the Gospel speaks to us about suffering and tribulation, but all comes under the context of love -- the love from which this abundance of grace flows and through which Christ is given for the life of the world in the first place.  Therefore our faith is connected to love, and the unmeasured grace which may renew an entire cosmos of creation could only come from love.  St. Paul writes about love that it "rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things," and moreover, that "love never fails" (see 1 Corinthians 13:1-13).  The renewal of all things is possible only through this love, which transcends everything.  Through the love that faith can plant in us, we simply don't know what can touch the world and how it works for renewal and blessing.  We certainly can't know what an entire order of creation looks like in the sight of God and the fullness of salvation that Christ brings.  But love nevertheless touches our lives, and we feel its absence, and can long for what we don't know and don't have, so strong a pull does this truth and joy from our Source really have upon us.  Our Scripture affirms that all of the creation groans for love, for love is the Source of all (Romans 8:22; 1 John 4:8).  Let us consider the things that faith has done and can do -- and remember that it is given of love for the world, for the life of the world.  We simply can't put a limit on that.  All we can do is seek to live it as we are guided.