Living Water

I read this passage and was struck by how many ways Jesus refers to Himself as the bread of life. Take a minute to read John 6:28-58 and count how many times Jesus refers to Himself as bread or says that He should be eaten.

How can Jesus be bread? How can we eat His flesh and drink His blood? It sounds cannibalistic. (Actually, one of the earliest criticisms of Christianity was because of a rumor that Christians were eating human flesh at their gatherings.) To understand Jesus’ teaching, it helps to look at the Old Testament. The temple sacrificial system called for a perfect animal with no blemish to be a blood sacrifice. Lambs, bulls, and even turtledoves (if the person was poor), were all brought to the temple alive, then sacrificed on God’s temple altar to atone for sin (Leviticus 9:1-4). God decreed the meat should be roasted and served as food for the priests as their portion (Leviticus 6:25-29). Because priests didn’t farm or make things to sell, the food from sacrifices gave them their nourishment, sustaining their life physically and pointing to life spiritually.

Jesus, who was perfect with no blemish of sin, became our final sacrifice for sin when He died on the cross. In John 6, Jesus was expressing that He is like the manna that nourishes and gives life. Similarly, eating His body as bread when we take communion is akin to the temple priests eating animal sacrifices. We take in Christ’s body and blood poured out for us instead of an animal sacrifice. Jesus promises us: “Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day†(John 6:54). This is true because once we’ve put our trust in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, our sins have been atoned for. Christ substituted His own body for the animal sacrifice. His brutal death became an amazing and loving gift—His sinless body given for our sins. After Jesus died, He rose back to life, defeating sin and death completely! Now, communion is a beautiful reminder of Christ as the Lamb of God and the Bread of Life, who gave His life so we could live with Him forever. • D. Robin Newman

• What did Jesus do right before He talked about being the Bread of Life (John 6:1-24)? What questions did people ask Him (John 6:25-31)?

• Does communion ever seem strange or irrational to you? What questions do you have?

• If you want to dig deeper, you can read more about communion in Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:1-20, and 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven.†John 6:51a (NIV)

Read Verses:

John 4:1-26; 7:38-39; 10:10; James 1:17