Breaking the Word

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen (me), you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it (on) the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him (on) the last day." (Jn 6:35-40)

Jesus’ mission is to gather the people of God. He has not come to reject anyone who comes to him. He has come in the name of God and he will do the will of the Father. God has given him the mission and he has come to fulfil this mission by gathering all the people who belong to God.

One of the main requisite is to believe in Jesus. But the people are like the Israelites at the time of Moses. The Israelites grumbled against God and Moses. Similarly the people at the time of Jesus did not believe in Jesus and questioned him.

The promise that Jesus gives to the believer is the eternal life. It is not a life after death. It is the quality of life. It is sharing the inner life of Jesus. Eternal life is a sort of life that goes on even after death. This life begins already here and now for those who believe in Jesus. So eternal life is a new form of life for those who believe in Jesus and it begins here and now to be continued after death as a resurrected life. 

So they said to him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. (Jn 6:30-35)

People cannot get bread from heaven on demand. Even what the ancestors ate in the desert was not the work of Moses. It is from heaven and if it is God sent then it cannot happen as we expect. God sent has a new standard to which one should adhere to.

It is the recognition that in Jesus and everything that he is doing, the same God is at work who was at work in the exodus. People have seen Jesus doing a sign (feeding the people) and it is really strange that they ask for another. Unless they asked him for a political or military type of intervention to which Jesus was not willing to.

There was only one answer to all their questions and the answer was standing in front of them and that was Jesus. This passage has one of the ‘I am’ sayings in John’s gospel. In fact this is the first one of such sayings. Unless they recognize who Jesus is, they may be fed with bread and fish, but the deep hunger within the will never be satisfied. Jesus is the answer to all questions.