Bible Study Notes - John 6:51-59

Bible Study Notes - John 6:51-59

In my previous summary, I mentioned Amy’s Bread Shop from where I primarily purchased a glazed pecan breakfast bread and Irish soda bread with raisins among other delightful sweets, treats and staples.  The breakfast bread was so good that I ate every single morsel.  Literally, in the privacy of my apartment as I would not do so in public, I did not waste any of the bread.  The evangelist’s discourse on the “Bread of Life” recommends we approach Jesus’ teachings and commands as I delved into Amy’s breakfast breads.

The last remaining original apostle, as he instructs second and third generation Christians who worship and reside in the beloved and Johannine community, greatly desires their commitment to lifelong adherence to Christ.  Jesus does not establish a new religion.  Rather, He condenses the Law and Prophets to enable average persons to approach our Heavenly Father directly and sincerely.  In these “Bread of Life” teachings, Jesus admonishes the crowd to utilize His divine wisdom as a vibrant and enduring source for achieving abundant and eternal life.  Again, John’s gospel does not contain the actual words of institution of the Eucharist which we find in the synoptic gospels.  The evangelist employs literary finesse as he manipulates a familiar and relevant daily image for Jesus’ listeners and the original readers of this gospel.  Bread was an important staple for them.  The land actually produced a sufficient amount of food to enable most of the population to avoid starvation.  References to bread and food were not taken lightly.  As a potential famine lurked perpetually on the horizon of their lives, people remembered allusions to food as their lives stood in the balance.  As a consequence, Jesus, maximizing the prevalent consciousness of food in the average person’s mind, grasps this concern to impart a significant spiritual lesson.

Consider the following ideas and questions as you study the passage.

·         In John 6:51, Jesus refers to Himself as “the living Bread of Life.”  Alluding to the major sacrament of the Church regardless of the denomination, John characterization of Jesus means partaking in the Eucharist strengthens a disciple’s relationship with the Lord.  Recipients of God’s mysterious and exclusive gifts engage in more than a religious ritual.  They actually approach this Table of love, grace and mercy to develop and deepen their relationship with the Lord.  Disciples receive spiritual food for their earthly pilgrimage as they progress in relationship with Jesus Christ, “the living Bread of Life” whose character, teachings and guidance equate with physical sustenance.

·         Parenthetically, I suggest you read Paul’s condemnation of the Corinthian Church for its degradation of the Lord’s Supper.  He offers instruction about the sanctity of the celebration and its spiritual meaning as they had begun to defile the ceremony.  In concurrence with John’s teaching, Paul posits the Lord’s Supper strengthens a disciple’s relationship with the Lord as they learn His heart just as the original eleven apostles did.

·         Not surprisingly, many people in the crowd rebuff His teaching.  They argue fiercely among themselves as they divide their loyalty between Him and the institutional religion to which they belong.  Some persons in the audience probably took great offense at a fellow Jew equating Himself with Yahweh and His great miracles of providing manna, meat and water during for the wilderness generation.  Others undoubtedly resented His claims that His teachings exceeded the worth of the Law and the Prophets.  Still, others had problems with the minimal role he assigns to the Temple, rites and traditions.  Cumulatively, their objections articulate the concerns of longstanding religious people whose allegiance to history, institutions and traditions often blind them to new and fresh divine revelation.

·         In the fifty-third and fifty-fourth verses, the evangelist insists upon the necessity of an experiential encounter with Jesus Christ lest Christianity become a traditional religion of staid doctrines and beliefs which become more and more lifeless and powerless as a person matures.  Being a “Christian” means more than adherence to belief system.  It is a way of life for s person who knows and relates progressively with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Knowledge of Christ is relational and experiential instead of theoretical.  As a disciple matures, he applies his knowledge of Christ in daily living seeking to emulate the mind, heart and character of Jesus Christ.

·         In the next verse, John reminds us of the Father’s incalculable gift of the Son (John 3:16).  The evangelist graphically describes the images of flesh and blood.  This raw depiction alludes to the relationship of sacrifice and covenant.  The Old Testament is replete with animal sacrifices, broken and slaughtered bodies and shed blood, to inaugurate covenants between Yahweh and Israel.  In Luke’s account of the Eucharist, he records Jesus saying, “This is my blood shed for the remission of all sin.  It is the blood of a new covenant.”  Through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Father establishes a new and final covenant with humankind.  The repetition of sequential covenants seeking to accomplish the same objective would cease in Christ.  As the “Lamb of God of takes away the sin of the whole world,” Jesus’ sacrifice unequivocally and irreversibly atones for the past, present and future totality of humankind’s sins.  Beyond the excesses of a frank literary tool, John utilizes the symbols of flesh and blood to demonstrate the salvific work of Christ.  As each disciple partakes in Holy Communion, he reaffirms this everlasting covenant and recommits to his devotion and gratitude to the Lord.

·         Again, in the fifty-sixth and fifty-seventh verses, John reemphasizes the relational necessity of actualizing this gift.  Jesus is the highest revelation of Almighty God.  The Father sends the Son to reveal an actual image of the triune godhead (Colossians 1:15-20 and 2:9).  A critical conversation with Jesus is the beginning of eternal life.

·         John ends this brief passage by contrasting the Old Testament references to manna in the wilderness and Jesus’ teaching as “the living Bread of Life.”  John compares religion and relationship.  As the venerable sage of the Johannine community and one of the original eleven apostles, he encourages his audience to choose the latter as the most effective means of understanding God.  Through a relationship with Jesus, disciples most clearly learn the Father’s unconditional love, unquestionable faithfulness and unending grace.  Through Jesus, the Father fulfills the foreshadowing of the Old Testament.