The day Jesus taught, healed, and miraculously fed thousands of people left everyone satisfied, but also tired.  It had been a long day so Jesus sent his weary disciples away to Capernaum in a boat while he dismissed the crowd, then he climbed a mountain to pray.

The next morning the crowd gathered again, wondering where Jesus was. More people joined them from Tiberias and when they couldn’t find any trace of Jesus or his disciples, they got into boats and went to Capernaum in search of them.

The Bread of Life

When the crowd arrived at Capernaum they found Jesus was there with his disciples. The people couldn’t figure out how he got there, but he didn’t answer their questions about it. Instead he called them out on their motives for trying to find him.

Were they interested in him because they thought his miracles were from God? Or did they just want him to keep feeding them?

The crowd reminded Jesus that God had given their ancestors free bread for forty years in the wilderness. Was he willing to do a miracle like that for them, to prove that he was God?

Jesus told them to stop thinking about bread for their perishable earthly bodies, and start thinking about bread that would keep them alive forever. The bread Moses gave didn’t last, but the bread Jesus offered would last forever.

The crowd asked Jesus how they could get that bread and he told them they would have to come to him for it – because he was the bread that God sent down from heaven to give life to the world.

Over and over Jesus referred to himself as the food and drink of eternal life in John 6:32-58. He said:

• “I am the bread of life”
• “I am the living bread”
• “This bread is my flesh”
• “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
• “My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink”
• “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me”
• “The one who feeds on me will live because of me”
• “This is the bread that came down from heaven”

This was a challenging concept.

“On hearing it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’” John 6:60

What Did Jesus Mean?

Eugene Peterson translates John 6:35-37 this way in The Message:

“Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever. I have told you this explicitly because even though you have seen me in action, you don’t really believe me. Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go.” John 6:35-37 The Message

People who ran to Jesus and relied upon him for everything in life would be sustained forever. Their hungers and thirsts would be satisfied and Jesus would hold onto them and never let go. Because they belonged to him and he lives forever, they also would live forever.

All people had to do was align themselves with Jesus. Sadly, some of his disciples didn’t want to  align themselves with him.

“From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” John 6:66

Jesus asked the Twelve where they stood, and Peter tried to answer for all of them.

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:68

Yet, Jesus knew that not all of the Twelve agreed with that.

“Then Jesus replied, ‘Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil! (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)” John 6:70-71

Jesus saw that Judas was a betrayer, yet he let him stay near. Judas was a constant reminder to Jesus that not everyone could be persuaded to align his life with him, no matter how much time they spent with him.

Jesus Confronts Hypocrisy

The Pharisees were adamant about keeping Jewish laws and traditions because their identity was wrapped up in how perfectly they presented themselves to the world. They criticized Jesus when his disciples didn’t observe pharisaical hand washing ceremonies before they ate and when they came in from the marketplace.

Jesus criticized them for not cleaning up their wicked hearts. He was particularly angry about a tradition called Corban that allowed people to devote something to God instead of using it to help their elderly parents.

This use of the tradition of Corban violated God’s commandment that children should honor their parents. The Pharisees had no problem about accepting finances or goods that might have made life better for the community’s elderly members when Corban funds made their way into the temple treasury.

“[Jesus] replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’” Mark 7:6-7

In answer to the criticism that his disciples didn’t wash their hands properly Jesus said that people are not defiled by what they put into their mouths. People needed to be much more concerned the sins they harbored in their hearts. Those were the things that defiled a person.

It wasn’t what went into a person’s mouth, it was what came out of it that revealed their true condition. No amount of hand washing could get rid of evil thoughts that led to murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.

Jesus Never Gave Up

Jesus was always looking for people who would align their lives with his. If they joined themselves to him, he would impart his righteousness to them and take them to heaven.

But some people were never going align with him. Some of them were self-righteous Pharisees, and some of them were shallow disciples. One of them was even among the Twelve Apostles.

Yet, Jesus never gave up. He glanced at people who let him down, but he kept his eyes fixed on the Father. It was the Father’s work in the world that led to miracles and salvation. And Jesus was the bread he sent from heaven to give life to the world.