Commentary on John 6:35, 41-51

This is a pivotal part of the later section of John 6, often called the “bread of life” discourse. The question of Jesus’ identity is not merely a matter of curiosity; it carries profound implications for Jesus’ audience and for Christianity today. In John 6:35, Jesus boldly proclaims himself as the bread of life, assuring that those who come to him will never hunger.

This self-identification, “I AM the bread of life,” resonates with God’s revelation to Moses in Exodus (3:14), affirming that Jesus is God. Comprehending Jesus as bread necessitates a transcendent interpretation, acknowledging the symbol “bread.” Symbolism is a vital component of the Gospel of John; therefore, grasping these symbols is crucial for a deeper understanding of the text.

In our everyday language, a symbol represents something else. It could be an action, person, or image standing for something else and, in our context, something transcendent. Symbols serve as a bridge, making it easier to comprehend an idea or a reality that is often challenging to grasp. They “convey something of transcendent significance through something accessible to the senses¹ Jesus associates himself with “bread”; the apparent contradiction that he is bread prompts us to reconsider this simple imagery. Readers should ponder how Jesus is analogous to bread, with the overarching concept that Jesus is bread because he sustains life.

Jesus’ listeners react to his statement with doubt, irritation, and “murmuring.” He cannot claim to be “bread which came down from heaven” (verse 41). The audience is familiar with his parents, Joseph and Mary, who are ordinary community members (verse 42). The people think at an ordinary level and look at the physical bread and the physical origin of Jesus. They must transcend the day-to-day experiences of physical food and origin. In John’s Gospel, whenever Jesus performs a sign, it is followed by belief and unbelief. Ironically, the crowd that wanted to make Jesus a king (verse 15) when he multiplied bread, now doubts that he has come from heaven.

What things look so ordinary that they might make us miss something valuable, something transcendent? What things look so ordinary to be considered extraordinary? What particular thing might we miss seeing or understanding in the ordinary? The question of Jesus’ identity and what it means for Christian ministry and discipleship is at stake.

The manna the Israelites ate in the desert was perishable (Exodus 16:20–21), and their fathers who ate it perished (John 6:47). Jesus is instead that bread that does not perish, that which humans eat and do not die. Jesus is the bread from heaven that sustains life eternally. Jesus is bread and is redefining bread in his new context. He invites his audience to shift their thoughts from what Moses did in the past to what God is doing in the present.

When Jesus says, “I AM the bread from heaven,” the discussion should move from what Moses did in the past to what God is doing in the present. His words effectively break the parallel between himself and Moses. The crowd associated him with Moses, but Jesus invites them to understand him in other terms. “Jesus is not a baked product in his physical makeup. He is like bread in that he sustains life.”² We are invited to think about how we can redefine bread in our context and how it can help our listeners grasp Jesus’ identity.

Bread is explicitly connected with life that is not merely physical. In its theological understanding, “life” indicates a relationship with God, so “life” means eternal life (verses 40, 47). Death is no longer a threat to the listeners because Jesus has promised that he will raise them on the last day. Jesus’ eternal life is a relationship with God that begins in faith and continues beyond the grave to eternity.

“Eternal life belongs to those who have passed beyond reliance on the physical senses into the spiritual experience, in other words, believing. Life in that higher sphere is sustained by nonperishable spiritual food.”³ This spiritual food is none other than Jesus, who is the Word of God (the Logos in John’s Gospel), God’s wisdom (Wisdom 16:20–29), and who offers his life (flesh) in death so that death no longer has victory, but the resurrection does.

By comparing himself to bread, Jesus makes himself as necessary to us as the food we eat. He is our food, enabling us to live our life’s call, to be alive, our source of spiritual energy when exhausted, our consolation when we are troubled, our strength when we are weak, et cetera. Jesus, the bread of life, sustains us and restores our vigor and exhausted energies. Our search for material bread continues—the desire for more increases even as we have a lot of bread. The present bread does not fulfill our hunger or quench our thirst, but that which Jesus gives does.

Notes

1. Craig R. Koester, Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel: Meaning, Mystery, Community, 2nd ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003), 4.
2. Koester, Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel, 8.
3. George Arthur Buttrick, ed., The Interpreter’s Bible: A Commentary, vol. 8 (Nashville: Abingdon, 1991), 572.