"I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6:35)

This is one of the most significant claims made by the Lord Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry. Like his other promises, this one continues to bless believers, no matter how far removed they are in time from the Jesus who walked the streets of Galilee. In what sense is Jesus the bread of life? And what did Jesus mean when he said, "If a man eats of this bread, he will live forever?" (John 6:51)

JESUS WAS USING SYMBOLIC LANGUAGE

Jesus uttered this remarkable pronouncement while teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum. It was in response to the presence of a crowd of people who had sought Jesus because they had witnessed his miracles, particularly that of the feeding of five thousand people using five loaves of bread and two small fish. Jesus spoke to the crowd and said,

"'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. Do not work for food that spoils, but for 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.' Then they asked him, 'What must we do to do the works God requires?' Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.'" -- John 6:26-29

The crowd sought Jesus because they wanted someone to keep them supplied with food for their physical bodies. Jesus called this "food that spoils". In contrast to this Jesus offers "food that endures to eternal life" that we must work for, which God requires. It is interesting how Jesus responds: "The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent." By exercising faith in him they were, (symbolically speaking) eating him who is the bread of life. He is as necessary for eternal life as material food is for physical life.

For want of sound reasons to believe that Jesus could give them eternal life, the crowd asked for some sign, perhaps similar to the giving of the manna in the old testament, which they attributed to Moses. Jesus corrected them by saying that it is his Father who gave both the manna, and now, more importantly the Father gives Jesus as the bread of life.

"I tell you the truth . . . it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." (John 6:32-33)

"I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6:35)

"For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the least day." (John 6:40)

"Here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If a man eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." (John 6:50-51)

Jesus died so he could be the "bread of life" In John 6:51, Jesus explains how he is the bread of life. He says, "This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Jesus was talking about his future sacrifice on the cross where he would give his life as a "ransom for many". At specific points in his ministry, Jesus would teach the same thing:

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (John 10:11)

"We are going to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day, he will be raised to life. (Matt. 20:18-19)

Finally, at the Last supper, Jesus dramatized the significance of his coming death.

"While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take and eat; this is my body.' Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matt. 26:26-28)

"And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them, saying 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after the supper, he took the cup saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.'" (Luke 22:14-20)

The NT writers tell us that the Lord's supper was conducted in the course of a Passover meal. We have some background into the significance of this meal in Exodus 12. Passover was to be a memorial to God's act of mercy in sparing the firstborn sons of Israel as he judged the Egyptians and their gods, when he killed the firstborn sons of Egypt. The memorial itself involved the killing of a sacrificial lamb (or goat), putting its blood on the door frames, eating the roasted meat along with bitter herbs and bread without yeast. Wine was also drunk during the Passover meal. Its essence was to remind the Israelites that God saved them by substitution, by the shedding of blood.

When the Lord spoke those solemn words, "This is my body . . . this is my blood", he was referring to his coming sacrifice on the cross which was to be the ratification of God's new covenant whereby forgiveness of sins would be given to those who would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. On the basis of his sacrificial death, God would credit Christ's righteousness to our account, since He himself bore our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous. Jesus could not have meant that the literal bread was (or had become his body) or that the wine had become his blood poured out for many. For then he would have offered an atoning sacrifice separate from his actual self sacrifice on the cross. Rather that meal on the night of his betrayal was to be the first of many other similar "meals" that would later be done in remembrance of Christ death. In addition, the Last Supper was to be the end of the OT Passover meals. These OT Passover meals looked forward to a future sacrifice that would in fact be a cleansing for sins. The actual fulfillment was Christ as he died on the cross. This is why John the Baptist referred to him as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29).

JESUS, THE LIVING WATER

In John 7:38-39, Jesus utilizes the picture of drinking water to illustrates the necessity of believing in him:

"'If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whosoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, springs of living water will flow from within him.' By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified."

We note here that Jesus uses the very same teaching technique that he used in John 6 - the use of symbolic language, in particular the vital act of drinking. There is no mention in this discourse of his blood but a rather a nonspecific reference to himself as a source of "living water". It should also be noticed that Jesus specifically mentioned the agency of the Holy Spirit (pictured by Jesus as springs of living water), who could only be received after Jesus was glorified (which refers to his death on the cross.) While the symbolism has changed a little, the message is the same. Jesus would have to die in our place and atone for our sins. We can have life if we believe in him (that is drink from him).

SYMBOLIC LANGUAGE IN OTHER PASSAGES

Symbolic language is a frequent occurrence in the Bible. Consider the following passages:

"'My food,' said Jesus, 'is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.'" (John 4:34)

"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good." (1 Peter 2:2)

"'Let all who are simple come in here!' she [Wisdom] says to those who lack judgment 'Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.'" (Proverbs 9:4-6)

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and you labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me that your soul may live." (Isaiah 55:1-3)

WHAT ABOUT TRANSUBSTANTIATION?

Our understanding of Jesus as the bread of life is symbolic. He is so because he was the anointed one, sent from heaven to give his life and shed his blood on the cross of Calvary. He did it as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. For us to benefit from his death we need to feed on him by faith. This we do when we "go to him", "look to him" or "believe in him". And this is his promise: If a man eats of this bread, he will live forever.

This seems to be reasonable and straightforward enough. Yet there are those who insist that Jesus was not speaking symbolically. He was rather speaking about literally eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ in the form of the consecrated bread and wine which was first made real at the Last Supper and is still true today, when a priest offers Christ in non-bloody sacrifice in the Holy Mass. In this view, Jesus is physically eaten as he is literally in the substance of the bread and the wine. Whenever the priest consecrates the bread and the wine, they are transubstantiated into the real body and blood of Christ. Only in this manner (it is claimed) are Jesus' statements intelligible.

"I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life., and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him . . . the one who feeds on me will live because of me . . . he who feeds on this bread will live forever."

This teaching demands a thorough examination. Did Jesus mean that he was literally to be eaten? What are we to say of the doctrine of transubstantiation? Is Jesus really present in the bread and wine of the Lord's supper?

Jesus' original audience might have thought Jesus now spoke in literal terms. On hearing his statements, many of the disciples said,

"'This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?' Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, 'Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.'" (John 6:60-63)

The Lord's answer seems to indicate that if the Son is to be 'lifted up' and subsequently ascended, then a literal understanding of this words would be impossible. He had claimed to have come down from heaven, now he is telling them that in fact he would be going back to where he was before! What then of literally eating him? Impossible. Then Jesus contrasted Spirit and flesh. It is the Spirit who gives life; Jesus' words too are spirit and they give life! How can the Spirit or the words of Jesus be eaten? Literally, impossible; metaphorically, we eat them by believing. Then they become real food that results in eternal life. This surely is the sense of "Man does not live on bread alone but on that which comes from the mouth of God." We feed on the words that come from God. We feed on Christ and drink from him.

JESUS IS NOW IN HEAVEN BODILY

The Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation goes against the Biblical teaching that Jesus is now in heaven, not offering a sacrifice, but rather interceding on behalf of the saints. Let us look a few of these passages and their implication vis-a vis transubstantiation.

"After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." (Heb. 1:3)

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess." (Heb. 4:4)

"The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man." (Heb. 8:1)

"If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven." (Heb. 8:4-5)

"For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence." (Heb. 9:24)

What is the teaching of these passages? Surely it is that Jesus offered one perfect sacrifice for all time. He did it on the cross. He is now in heaven bodily acting as our high priest- interceding for us. There "he must remain [in heaven] until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets." (Acts 3:21) On the other hand Transubstantiation implies that Christ is re-offered daily at the sacrifice of the mass. He is here in some mysterious sense bodily. He is eaten, and taken into one's physical body. He is in a real sense, seen and touched. He is on earth among men today. Such an idea, however, contrasts with the force of the following verses:

"My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I will tell you now: Where I am going you cannot come." (John 13:33)

"But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go I will send him to you. . . I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer. . ." (John 16:7)

"I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father." (John 16:28)

"I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you . . ." (John 17:11)

The apostles were eyewitnesses of Jesus Christ. And they have left us their testimony as recorded in the pages of the NT:

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched . . . we have seen it, and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us." (1 John 1:1-2)

"We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic glory, 'This is my Son whom I love; with him I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard his voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain." (2 Peter 1:16-18)

While the apostles made such claims, they wrote differently about the experience of later believers. The apostle Peter writes:

"Though you have not seen him, you love him; even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy . . ." (1 Peter 1:8)

"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2)

CONCLUSION

The Lord's supper then is a memorial or a remembrance of our Lord who died for us. Our "participation in the body and blood of Jesus" (1 Corinthians 10:16) is not literal but spiritual. At the same time, it makes us look forward to the second coming of Christ in person at the end of the ages. "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

(1) In a similar vein, when Jesus said "I am the bread of life" there was no reverse transubstantiation. His body did not become bread. He was speaking symbolically. See John 6:53.

(2) Peter's first sermon in Acts 2 mentions the blessings that are made available to those who believe in Christ - forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. In this construct, to "believe in Christ" is the essential meaning of "repent and be baptized" (Acts 2:38). Compare Acts 16:31ff.