“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.” (John 6:35)

Many of our portraits of Jesus Christ reveal His Life to us – He is Life; He is the Tree of Life; He is the Resurrection; He is the River of Life; etc. But what does it mean to say that He is the Bread of Life?

The many Names and Titles with which Scripture makes reference to Christ reveal who He is, as well as His complete sufficiency as our Lord and Saviour. When calling Himself the Bread of Life, Christ identifies Himself as the Source and Sustainer of Life – physical, as well as spiritual.

In Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, we read of Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the multitude of over 5,000 (verses 10-14). After this great event, the crowd wanted to make Him their King, but Jesus escaped (verse 15). The next day, the group catches up to Him, and He reproves their spiritual blindness in not seeing the miraculous nature of the feeding. They sought Him only for physical nourishment, and not spiritual (verses 26-27). They were following Him for loaves, and not for Love. Eating physical bread may satisfy the hunger of the flesh, but Christ calls us to an awareness of our need for spiritual nourishment.

Jesus then identified Himself as “the true bread from heaven” (verse 32); indicating that He is the anti-type to which the manna pointed. Here He claims to be able to minister spiritual nourishment to meet the people’s needs; satisfying body, soul, and spirit.

“Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.” (John 6:34)

Jesus’ answer shows that they would have to believe on Him in order to receive this Bread; but sadly, they had failed to do so (verses 35-36). The teaching that Christ is the Bread of Life is then seen as the epitome (or essence) of the Gospel message (John 3:16). Christ is the Bread of Life; all those that believe “hath,” or have (past tense), everlasting life (John 6:47). The Bread He gave was His flesh, as He died for our sins in order to save us therefrom. Being risen, He is the Source of our salvation, and gives us everlasting life (verse 51).

The key is found in the question: Do you believe?

Eating physical food and drinking physical drink may satisfy our physical hunger and thirst for a moment. But this eating and drinking must be repeated again and again, as our physical body absorbs and utilizes the nutrients. So too is it in the spiritual Body of Christ: we must partake of that Spiritual Bread and Water that only come to us as we continue to be nourished by Him. The daily experience and enjoyment of spiritual and everlasting Life (who is Christ Himself; 1 John 5:20) of the believer come from our daily partaking of Christ. Only then will we see, as Jesus said:

“I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)