Bread of Life Discourse

They said to him, Sir, give us this bread always.

Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God, he has seen the Father.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

They said unto him, Our Lord, give us at all times this bread.

Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.

Whosoever cometh unto me shall not hunger, and whosoever believeth in me shall not thirst forever.

But I said unto you, ye have seen me and have not believed.

No man now seeth the Father, but he that is from God, he it is that seeth the Father.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever believeth in me hath eternal life.

I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

How can we be sure that That question for this kind of thing is always answered by going back to the text.

What does the text or texts that are relevant to this say? Now, I do not think the characterization that is given by Rome regarding the bread of life discourse is sound.

And I'm not sure I can kind of spell the details out here.

This is something I have to write out to get it kind of all in order and clear.

Pardon me, but you'll understand the point here.

Keep in mind a couple of things about John 6.

Okay, this is called the Bread of Life Discourse.

And the reason is because Jesus says he is the bread of life.

They said unto him, "What shall we do, that we may work the work of God?" Jesus answered and said unto them, "This is the work of God, that ye believe in him whom he hath sent." They said unto him, "What sign hast thou done, that we may see, and believe in thee? What hast thou wrought? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it was written, Bread from heaven gave he them to eat." Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not bread from heaven, but my Father gave you the bread of truth from heaven.

The bread of God is that which came down from heaven, and gave the world life." They said unto him, "Our Lord, give us at all times this bread." Jesus said unto them, "I am the bread of life: whosoever cometh unto me shall not hunger; and whosoever believeth in me shall not thirst forever.

But I said unto you, Ye have seen me, and have not believed.

And all that my Father hath given to me cometh unto me; and whosoever cometh unto me I shall not cast him forth without.

No man hath seen the Father; but he that is from God, he it is that seeth the Father.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever believeth in me hath eternal life.

I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

Chapter Thirty-Two.

Jesus, the Bread of Life.

The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one wherein His disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples were gone away alone.

When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither His disciples, they also took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus.

For the bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world.

Then said they unto Him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.

He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.

Sorry.

So tomorrow's episode is dealing with John 6, and the common Catholic exegesis of the text, along with other believers in the real presence, against those who would exegete that text, the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6, and the commands, who eat his flesh and drink his blood, as being figurative language.

Particularly the objection is, If Christians don't interpret Jesus' language of the door and the vine, say in John 10 and John 15, in a literal way, then why do they interpret his language to eat his flesh? in a literal way, given the fact that this is the same gospel, John, and all three instances are preceded by I am statements.

I am the door.

So Lord, we look to thee.

Lord, as we sang before, to break the bread of life, to break the word of God, and to feed it to us, to give us something for our hungering spirits.

And so we look to thee now, Father, in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And this miracle acts almost as a climax to that ministry.

And as we're going to see, we'll talk about this more later, and John's Gospel particularly bears this out, this miracle was not only a demonstration of the power of God, but it was also designed to teach the people a much higher and more important lesson.

And so the Lord Jesus would challenge them on the basis of this miracle they had experienced... to accept him, to receive him as the bread from heaven, the bread of life.

So this was a very important miracle.