Sunday's Text for Preaching - John 6:25-35 - According to the Fifth Gospel

Many Bible teachers refer to John 6 as the "bread chapter of the Bible."  The gospel writer begins with the feeding of the 5000, and then records conversations between Jesus and the crowd about bread, the staff of life and the true bread.

According to the Fifth Gospel, here's what we know:

• It is now the day after the miraculous feeding, and the restless crowd is back for more bread, the staff of life.
• Jesus notes their desire in seeking Him: "you ate your fill of loaves."  In fact, they seem bent on making Him a king or a "bread messiah."  He had made that decision in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-3) by resisting Satan's first test.  "Man shall not live by bread alone."
• Jesus then corrects the crowd's expectation of Him and God's gifts in John 6:27.  "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life..."
• By recalling God's gift of daily manna in the wilderness, Jesus points beyond the rich metaphor of bread to the true bread which gives eternal life.  Had the crowd forgotten its history?  The messiah would repeat the miracle of the manna and more.
• When the crowd demands that bread, Jesus offers up one of John's many "I am" sayings.  "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst" (v. 35).

Slow of heart to believe, the clamoring crowd departed as hungry as ever.

Traditional Sites for the Bread Chapter