I am the living bread which came down from heaven

 

 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 one 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 

 

In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught the people who had sought to make Him king, "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 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 one 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."  Augustine comments on this passage that Jesus is telling the religious leaders ("the Jews" - referring to the leadership)  that when Jesus speaks of faith, He is not speaking of those forced to be drawn, but of those to whom Christ is revealed who long to know Him as one longs to know the truth. 

 

"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."   The Eucharistic significance of this passage is clear, and will continue in the following reading.  As the living bread, the bread of life, Christ Himself becomes that which we "take in" through the Eucharist, and becomes a part of us, giving us His life.  And this life, for which He will sacrifice His flesh (His earthly life as Jesus) is given for the life of the world.  

What does it mean that Jesus is the bread of life?  Jesus says that "he who believes in Me has everlasting life."  In yesterday's reading, we read that Jesus taught, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  If faith is defined as the work of God which we may do, then this "bread of life" is the bread our work is for.  It is what feeds us something necessary to us, this life that supersedes and adds to the life of the flesh that we know in an earthly sense.  For this "work" we must be drawn by the Father, so that Christ is revealed to us through us through hearts in which there remains a deep and mysterious desire for the truth of this revelation, to know Him.  Since this is something known to the Father, it seems that it is a deeply mysterious process indeed, as God the Father -- and therefore Christ and the Spirit also -- know us at depths within ourselves which we don't understand.  The process of faith is something in which we find ourselves responding to what we don't yet understand.  We are drawn by just this process that Christ names as the Father drawing us.  This process is the thing to which Jesus refers when He quotes the prophets, saying, "And they shall all be taught by God" (Isaiah 54:13).  He says, "Therefore one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me."  And He makes clear that this is a mystical reality:  "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father."  It is only Christ, the Son, who has truly "seen" the Father, who can behold the Father as One who is also God.  But clearly there is a place deep within ourselves where Christ says the Father draws us, and those who are drawn are capable of this faith, of the revelation of Christ.  If we think about our faith, it is so often true that our faith evolves and grows within us.  Christ continually presents the experience of faith as a journey, with Himself as the road upon which we journey into a deeper communion with God ("I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" - John 14:6).  But for today, let us consider the "work of God" given to us, that of faith, and the "bread of life" which Christ can give to us:  Himself.  Through the voluntary sacrifice of His worldly life, this everlasting life of which Christ speaks can triumph, and it can be distributed to us who approach in faith.  Let us consider what it means that we are given the work of God, for which the Father draws us, in order to reveal to us the Son -- and the life that is given to us in this communion, even the life that grows in us from the living bread which came down from heaven.