Jesus, the Bread of Life – Degeneration or Regeneration (John 6:22-71)

Jesus, the Bread of Life – Degeneration or Regeneration

 

John 6:22-71

 

Today, we are going to think about Jesus’ word introducing himself as “the bread of life.” Here, “bread” does not necessarily mean the food made by baking flour dough. It represents every food that people eat. Thus, Verse 27 in today’s text uses “food” instead of “bread.” Bread is an essential necessity for sustaining our life. Every person must eat three meals a day in order to stay alive. In fact, all the elements of our body came from the food that we have taken. In this sense, bread can be identified with our life. In today’s word, Jesus says that there are two kinds of food. In Verse 27, he says, “Do not work for food that spoils, but food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” We have “food that spoils” and “food that endures to eternal life.” With food that spoils, our life ends up with death, and with food that endures to eternal life, our life overcomes death and lasts forever. Jesus tells us that he will give this food that endures to eternal life, and the food is Jesus himself.

 

Last week, we studied the miraculous work that Jesus fed five thousand people with five barley loaves and two fish. After this event, Jesus stayed there alone and went into a mountain, and his disciples got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. Then, later, Jesus walked on the water and joined his disciples. People had thought that Jesus was still there where they ate the bread, but as they couldn’t find him, they also came to Capernaum, and finally they found Jesus there. They were so glad to see him, and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” But to those who had been looking for him so desperately, Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” This word is quite interesting. Verse 6:2 says, “and a great crowd of people followed him (Jesus) because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.” At the beginning, these people followed Jesus, crossing the lake and climbing the mountain, because they had seen the amazing signs that Jesus performed. Amazed at the great works, they wondered who Jesus was and wanted to hear his teachings. But after eating the bread to the full, they changed their mind. Now they came to follow Jesus in order to get more food. This is called “degeneration.” Later, learning that Jesus was not willing to give them loaves any more, they turned back and stopped following Jesus (66).

 

There is an exact opposite case. In Chapter 5 of Luke, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Peter and his coworkers had worked hard last night but they hadn’t caught anything. They were now very tired. Nevertheless, Peter let down the nets again by Jesus’ word. Then, they caught such a large number of fish that the nets began to break. When he saw such a huge catch, Peter, who was a fisherman, should have been overjoyed, shouting “Wow!” and making high five with his colleagues. And he should have asked Jesus to join his fishery business. Instead, however, Peter fell in great fear. He fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man.” Through the miraculous sign that Jesus performed, Peter found who Jesus was. Furthermore, he found himself a sinful man who could not endure the presence of the Lord. Because of this fear and anxiety, he already forgot the big catch. This only thing he wanted was runninng away from the site as soon as possible. Thankfully, however, Jesus received Peter as his disciple, and said to him, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” Peter followed Jesus, leaving everything behind him including his boat and nets, not to mention the large number of fish. This is called “regeneration.” When many of his disciples stopped following him, Jesus asked the Twelve, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Then, Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (67-69).

 

As mentioned above, there are two kinds of food to us. One is “food for our body” and the other is “food for our life.” In Chapter 2 of Genesis, God gives food to the man who he made. Here, God gives him both of the two kinds of food. In Genesis 2:16,17, God says to the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” God gave him “fruit from any tree in the garden” as his food to eat. In addition, God gave him this commandment: “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” In the middle of the garden of Eden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because these trees stood at the center of their residence, Adam and Eve must have seen the trees every day. As often as they ate from the trees of the garden, they must also have faced the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and remembered God’s commandment that prohibited them from eating from the tree. They might have many questions about the tree. What would be the taste of the fruit from the tree? What would happen if I eat the fruit? Why is the tree named ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’? Why did God put it in the middle of the garden? Why does God prohibit us from eating the fruit?  And so on. In the garden where they were enjoying perfect freedom and abundance, the existence of the tree prohibited by God might be “a thorny agony” to them. Nevertheless, they revered God and obeyed His commandment, and by doing so, they preserved their life. In this sense, the commandment was “an agony” and, at the same time, “food for their life.” Confronting the tree standing in the middle of their home every day, and obeying God’s commandment despite many bothering questions, they are eating this spiritual food every day. This food is their “righteousness.” That is God’s approval of their being right before God. In today’s text as well, Jesus says about himself, “On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval” (27). This means that God approves and guarantees the quality 100%. It means “perfectly righteous.” That is, Jesus is spiritual food that we can trust 100% for our life.

 

Jesus calls himself “the bread of life” (35), and says, “This bread is my flesh that I will give for the life of the world” (51b). To this word, the Jews raised question, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (52). Not only for the Jews, but also for us Christians, it is not easy to understand the exact meaning of these words. How does Jesus become the bread of life, and what does it mean to eat Jesus’ flesh? Does this simply mean that we participate in communion and share the bread and the cup in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice? Let us think first about how Jesus become “the bread of life.” What we eat is digested inside, and is turned into energy for the vitality of the body or becomes elements constituting the body. Accordingly, an essential condition for a substance to be our food is that it must be edible and digestible in our body. For example, warm sunlight is imbued with a lot of energy, but it cannot be taken and digested directly in our body. Instead, we should grow plants using the sunlight and raise animals by feeding the plants. Then, we can get food by harvesting and killing the animals, and finally, access the energy that originally came from the sun. This is also the case for “righteousness.” To us sinners who are flesh, God’s righteousness is like glaring sunlight or burning fire. Not to mention taking and digesting it, we are completely incapable of touching it, looking at it, even thinking of it. To us, God is like “a fearful master,” and we have to live like a slave under the heavy burden of the law in order to calm down the master’s wrath and take a very short breath of peace. Then, God gave us “God’s righteousness” that is edible and digestible to us who are flesh. That is, the Word became flesh (John 1:14). Living in flesh like us in this world, Jesus attained “God’s approval,” that is, “God’s righteousness.” Hebrews 5:7-10 (NKJV) says, “who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” According to this, Jesus became “perfect” as he, in His flesh, learned obedience through his suffering of death out of his godly fear and his trust in God who saves him from death. Jesus, in His flesh, attained this “perfection” and gave it to us as “edible food of righteousness.” Whatever we eat, we obtain the food by sacrificing some life, whether plant or animal. In that same way, our spiritual food has been prepared by the sacrifice of Jesus’ life. And only this is true bread from heaven, is the only edible and digestible food to us, and is the only bread that gives us eternal life.

 

Then, what does it mean to eat Jesus’ flesh? As mentioned above, what we eat is digested inside, and part of it is used as energy and the other part becomes the elements constituting the body. We can say the same thing happens when we eat Jesus’ flesh. By eating Jesus’ flesh, we are formed into the image of Jesus. More specifically what is reforming us into the image of Jesus? It is the suffering that Jesus went through. That is, participating in Jesus’ suffering is eating his flesh and growing into his image. In Deuteronomy 16:3, Moses tells the people of Israel, as one of the Passover regulations, not to eat bread made with yeast but eat unleavened bread, namely, “the bread of affliction,” for seven days. In Egypt, the Israelites, although under slavery, enjoyed a “rich” life in terms of food. In Numbers 11:4-6, the Israelites in the wilderness complain about having nothing to eat except manna, saying, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!” For 40 years in the wilderness, God disciplined this grumbling people with manna. To the people, manna was truly “the bread of affliction.” In Deuteronomy 8:3, Moses says to the Israelites, “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Yes, truly it is. Through the journey of affliction in the wilderness, the Israelites learned how to walk the way of life by obeying the Word of God. This is also the case for us Jesus’ disciples. Like Jesus became the Christ by obeying God in many sufferings, we are also regenerated into Jesus’ image by participating in his sufferings. Jesus says to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). This self-denial and cross are not meaningless self-affliction, but are sufferings for obeying God’s will and for serving God’s sheep. Like the Israelites ate manna in the wilderness every day, we also eat Jesus’ flesh and drink his blood by participating in his sufferings every day.

 

Jesus says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (54). In today’s text, we can see the frequent occurrence of the phrase “I will raise …... up at the last day” (39, 40, 44, 54). And the risen body will live forever (47, 51, 54, 58). This promise of Jesus Christ is truly a great blessing, but it is also an obstacle to us because it is merely a hope to be fulfilled in the future. We always seek “present satisfaction,” namely, “the satisfaction of flesh.” This is also the blessing that many of us Christians expect from Christ in reward for our faith in him. This common problem is what we observe in those who are seeking another round of bread-making miracle in today’s text. When they insisted on this desire, they, after all, were disappointed with Jesus and turned away from him. “Unfortunately,” Jesus’ promise is fulfilled at the last day. Our present life is eating Jesus’ flesh, that is, participating in his suffering. There is a book titled “Hope for the Flowers” (1972) written by Trina Paulus. In this allegorical novel, Yellow and Stripe Caterpillars are looking for a meaningful life. On the way, the Yellow Caterpillar meets a grey caterpillar that hung upside down on a branch. Then, the two have this conversation:

 

Yellow: You seem in trouble. Can I help?

Grey: No, my dear, I have to do this to become a butterfly.

Yellow: Tell me, sir, what is a butterfly?

Grey: It’s what you are meant to become. It flies with beautiful wings and joins the earth to heaven. It carries the seeds of love from one flower to another.

Yellow: How does one become a butterfly?

Grey: You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.

Yellow: You mean to die?

Grey: Yes and No. What looks like you will die but what’s really you will still live. Life is changed, not taken away. Isn’t that different from those who die without ever becoming butterflies?

 

A caterpillar has a butterfly in it. But in order to be a butterfly, the caterpillar should go through the stage of cocooning. During this stage, the caterpillar finishes its life as a caterpillar and is, inside the cocoon, transformed into a butterfly, waiting for the time of resurrection. Our days from the first calling as Jesus’ disciple to the resurrection at the last days are comparable to this stage of cocooning for a caterpillar. As cocooned inside Jesus, we die to everything else and spend time for regeneration into the image of Jesus only relying on the bread of affliction. Then, at the end of this stage, we become like an angel in heaven “with beautiful wings, joining the earth to heaven, and carrying the seeds of love.” With regard to this, Jesus says, “They can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection” (Luke 20:36).

 

When we see the graceful sign of Jesus Christ, we soon stand at the fork of two ways. One is seeking the present satisfaction of flesh, which leads us to degeneration and to death, and the other is seeking Jesus himself and his sacrificial life at the cost of our present pleasure, which leads us to regeneration, resurrection, and eternal life. Jesus’ flesh is not just suffering. It is truly our heavenly bread that gives birth to what we are to be in God. I thank God for giving us such a wonderful bread of life, and pray that we keep living on this bread and moving toward heaven