This coming Sunday is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. In the previous posts in this series we have not yet commented on the verses that comprise the gospel. As noted earlier our verses (Jn 6:51-58) are part of the much larger Bread of Life Discourse (Jn 6:22-69). And so it is good to explore meaning in the verses that precede our gospel passage.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen [me], you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it [on] the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him [on] the last day.” (John 6:35-40)

In Jn 6:35-40 Jesus spells out the need of faith in himself, a faith that is an active movement of coming to him.  The Jewish midrash literature identifies manna/bread as signifying the divine word or instruction – the memra.  The Word was the means of the covenant, the means of salvation, the revelation of God, the agent of creation, and the same as God. Jesus clearly says that he is the Word made flesh and tells them of the rewards for those that believe. Much of the OT background for this discourse is found in the descriptions of the messianic banquet. In Jewish thought the joys of the messianic days are often pictured under the imagery of an intimate banquet with Yahweh or his Messiah. Is 55:1-3 echoes the command in Jn 6:27 not to work for perishable food and makes it clear that Yahweh’s invitation to eat is part of his promises to renew the covenant with David, and therefore a messianic banquet. The words of Is 55:3 –  ‘Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life’ –  are restated by Jesus, announcing that the banquet is at hand for those servants of Yahweh who believe in the one who Yahweh has sent.

In the following line Jesus says “But I told you that although you have seen [me], you do not believe”.  The connection of these two passages recounts Amos 8:11-13 -‘Yes, days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send famine upon the land: Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the Lord.  They shall wander in…in search of the Word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.’  Israel has been given the opportunity to partake of the bread of life but has rejected it.  In the closing lines of Jesus’ statement he clearly states that it is Jesus who mediates this divine life to believers and through whom we enter into a life giving communion with God, now and in eternity.

Like the people in the desert who refuse to believe Moses, In Jn 6:41-50, the crowd reject (‘murmured about him’) the bread from heaven.  Afterall, the crowd knows his father and mother – how can he claim to come down from heaven?  But Jesus does not let their lack of faith pass without comment. “Coming to” Jesus in faith is not only the will of the Father but it is also his work, for the Father draws believers to faith in Jesus.  Consequently, to believe in Jesus is to be open to God.  Moreover the prophets (Is 54:10-13 and Jer 31:33) had spoken of a new covenant when God would teach his people through a new law which would be more than an external message (‘I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts’).  In listening attentively to Jesus, one hears the Father for he is the source of the teachings of the Messiah.  God then draws the believers to faith in Jesus in two ways: (a) through the message of Jesus and (b) as an interior teacher where he makes the message of Jesus an interior law of the heart.

Jesus restates his message in vv. 47-50 – he is the bread of life, without which there is no life.