I’m currently reading in John 6. This is the “I am the bread of life” chapter. Jesus, in teaching about himself as the bread of life, makes a strong connection between bread of life and eternal life. He also has quite a bit to say about the Father drawing people to him. How do these three themes these relate to one another? First let’s define what Jesus means in each motif, then we will show how they relate to one another.
1. I am the bread of life. Here, Jesus is saying that he alone can satisfy the deeper, everlasting hunger pangs of humanity, namely he can reverse death. No food does this. There is no food that keeps us full and satisfied forever. Each time we eat or drink, our hunger and thirst (human needs) are satisfied, but then, after a short time, our bellies begin to grumble, and we become thirsty. Jesus is using this truth about human existence to teach that he is the ultimate solution to all human need. But what is the ultimate human need? Salvation from death. This is the great tragedy of the human existence that no one in human history has been able to undo. This is where Jesus’ “I am the resurrection and the life” comes in as well.
2. Eternal Life. Surprisingly, there is quite a lot of debate over what this term means in the NT. “Eternal Life” truly is a misnomer when applied to humanity. The proper term is “everlasting life”. Why? Because “eternal” means without beginning and without end, and humans are not without beginning. No human being (with the exception of Jesus) is pre-existent. Humans come into being at some point in history. Jesus, by way of contrast, was eternally pre-existent. This is what John talks about in the opening sections of his first chapter. So, what Jesus is NOT saying here is that people who believe in him and eat of his flesh will somehow be eternally pre-existent. What he IS saying is that those who eat of his flesh and believe in him will be released from the chains of death. Finally, eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus is a symbol. We realize this when we read the story of the Last Supper. It is a symbol of receiving the gift of saving faith in Jesus, and most importantly, faith in his death as an effective atoning sacrifice for our lives. People who have received this gift are members of God’s covenant people, who enter into the heritage of Abraham, who was delivered from the problem of death through the gift of a son (Isaac). We are God’s covenant people who inherit the gift of live-everlasting.
3. The Father Draws People to Jesus. It is in this motif that motif 1 (I am the bread of life) begins to gain further clarity still. Jesus saying that he is the bread of life is quite a lofty statement, as the Jews in the passage recognize and grumble about. I would have been grumbling too if I heard some guy going around saying the key to all life’s problems and he could undo the problem of death if people would simply eat his flesh and drink his blood. This is such a bizarre statement that the confirming testimony of the Holy Spirit is the only way anyone can take this claim seriously. This is always the case with the truth of the Gospel. And this is why salvation is always only the work of the Holy Spirit. There is not nearly enough moral excellence or capacity to reason in humanity to be able to identify nor choose the gospel. When we look upon the story of God in the Cross and Resurrection with human eyes without the testimony of the Holy Spirit, we only see folly and foolishness. This is why, by the way, the world sees Christians as foolish. This will never change on this side of Christ’s return. If you’re a believer, you need to simply accept the fact that you will always look foolish to the world.
So, to believe in Jesus’ words here that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood (which is a symbol for intimate and deep faith in his death as the means for God’s New Covenant People) requires divine intervention in the human mind and will. This is only possible because of grace.
So, to finish, how do these fit together? We begin to see it a bit already. Here’s how it works: all of humanity is faced with the tragic need of deliverance from death. Jesus and Jesus alone can resolve this issue. The issue is resolved through faith in his death. Not just any faith, but a faith that is a gracious gift from heaven. Receiving this faith makes believers members of God’s covenant people defined by saving faith in the death and resurrection of the Jewish Messiah who died both for the Jews and for the world. The symbol for a public demonstration of saving faith in Jesus is the Lord’s Supper, the place where the bread and wine symbolize the flesh and blood of Jesus broken and shed on the cross for the world.
So in a sentences: Jesus alone saves and this seems foolish, which is why anyone who embraces this is a product of the work of the Holy Spirit, not human effort or logic.
