Peter and the disciples feasted on Jesus as the true bread from heaven. But they also recognized that to feed on this bread required that they feed on his words. The food of the word gives access to a feast of life-giving flesh and blood.

The Gift of Nourishment

The word of God is food for our souls. We regularly sing songs that emphasize our dependence on God for sustenance. God himself says to Israel,

I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
(Ps. 81:10)

Yet just as we are meant to be satisfied with God’s steadfast love (Ps. 90:14), his word is meant to nourish us and fill our souls to overflowing. Put another way, one of the main ways God satisfies our famished souls is by giving us his words to feed on. The psalmist in our passage prays,

I open my mouth and pant,
because I long for your commandments.
(Ps. 119:131)

Like a hungry and thirsty traveler desperate for any kind of sustenance, the psalmist comes to God’s word, looking to be fed. Daniel Estes notes, “The psalmist depicts himself as a young bird with its mouth open to receive food. This image implies that he is eating necessary nutrition, not an optional snack or dessert. Far from accepting God’s word out of a sense of obligation, he pants and longs for God’s commands.”¹ When God speaks, he is able to satisfy the deepest needs of the soul.

Bread of Heaven

Jesus had just miraculously fed more than five thousand people off the coast of the Sea of Galilee. The crowds are astonished, and hope begins to mount that he is indeed the longed-for Messiah, the “Prophet who is to come into the world” (John 6:14). Sensing that they were going to try to make him king, he withdraws for a while. A little later in the day, his disciples set sail to return to their homebase of Capernaum without Jesus. Then comes the storm. And then comes Jesus calming the storm. The next day, the crowd that had been fed realizes that Jesus and his disciples are no longer there. So they get into boats and head for Capernaum, looking for Jesus.

The story gathers steam when they finally find him. They ask him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” (John 6:25). Rather than answering their fairly straightforward question, Jesus cuts the small talk and goes to the heart of the matter: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (John 6:26). This is a strange accusation. Elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus indicts his opponents or chastises the crowds because all they want are signs. Here, signs and wonders are not the big draw—a full belly is. Jesus cautions them, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:27). Jesus explains that the work required to get the food that he provides is to believe in him. It is only at this point that they demand a sign, completely missing what he just said: “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness” (John 6:31). In other words, “Prove yourself, Jesus! Give us another food miracle like Moses did!” They’re demanding this even though he had just miraculously fed them on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, something to which they can testify.

“Truly, truly,” Jesus responds, “it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but my Father 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). And then comes the key line: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). The feeding of the five thousand is one big setup. Its narrative purpose is to highlight a singular point: Jesus is the ultimate soul food. We must eat his flesh and drink his blood, if we want to have eternal life (John 6:53–57). His flesh is “true food” and his blood “true drink” (John 6:55). What is Jesus getting at?

Read More