“The Primacy of Spiritual Food”
John 6:22-40
“And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life, He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” [John 6:35]
One of the challenges of Jesus’ teachings was discerning between the physical and the spiritual. He oftentimes taught on something spiritual only to have it misinterpreted as physical.
“Born again” is an example. “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” [ref. Jn. 3:3]. Nicodemus thought He was referring to a physical birth [ref. Jn. 3:4] when He was denoting a spiritual rebirth.
The Coming of Messiah is another example. Israel was expecting Messiah to come and set up a physical kingdom, but Jesus came the first time to set up a spiritual kingdom through the work of the Holy Spirit. We have noted this several times before in our study of the Gospels.
In the balance of John 6, we will see yet another example of discerning between the spiritual and the physical. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life,” and then went on to say, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” [Jn. 6:53]
Was He literally talking about His physical flesh and blood? The key in answering this question is in verse 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” We will get into the details on that verse next Sunday, but that context applies to our verses this morning.
It is important to read the before and after verses for contextual meaning and understanding of Scripture. Jesus gave us a spiritual lesson; He was not teaching the actual digesting of His physical body and blood.
Also remember that in addition to seven signs, John records seven “I am” declarations. “I am the bread of life,” is the first of these spiritual “I am” declarations, which we will be studying over the next two Sundays.
