John 6:35 35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to me shall not hunger, and the one who believes in me shall never thirst.
Jesus’ response to the crowd’s confusion has many significant ideas. He makes explicitly clear in the next few verses exactly what he meant. Once the people understood the meaning of his parabolic speaking, they would have to make a choice about it. The same is true for all people. Once understanding about the person of Jesus comes, people become accountable for their decisions about him. Jesus makes it clear that he has been talking about himself. He uses another one of the significant “I am” statements. He is the bread that he has been talking about. The following verses explain what this bread is like.
This bread provides life, but not the type of life people might think about when it comes to bread. Bread represents the basic nutrition to keep a person alive. The life that Jesus gives is in a different category altogether from the merely earthly existence we have now. As the previous verses mention, Jesus’ life is from God and is eternal. The people wanted a bread that they could have every day and not be hungry anymore. Jesus was offering them something even greater. The type of life he gives is not only eternal but abundant, extravagant, and fulfilling (see 10:10). We do not have to wait for death and resurrection but can begin to experience now, in our earthly existence, because it is spiritual. But as whole beings, our spiritual status affects our physical well-being.
Jesus then answers the people’s hunger, although they did not realize that their hunger was really for him and what he offered them. They thought their hunger was only physical, and so they just wanted manna like what Moses gave ancient Israel. The bread Jesus offers satisfies the deep searching of our souls for meaning and purpose. Ecclesiastes 3:11 mentions how God has put a sense of eternity in the human heart. There is a void that humans search to fill. The perfect puzzle piece is provided by God in the person of Jesus Christ. Nothing else will fit well but will become distorted and deceived by fleshly desires, human philosophies, and decaying materialism. The mention of never thirsting recalls Jesus’ earthly statement to the Samaritan woman at the well in 4:14 and prepares for 5:53.
The key thought of this verse is found in the implied invitations of the substantival participles the one who comes (erchomenos) to me and the one who believes in me (pisteuōn). A person must make a decision about what to do with Jesus. The gospel had been made clear to the crowd in Capernaum. Jesus had given the invitation. They now needed to choose to come and believe. The same pattern is given for people today. First, the invitation comes with the revelation of Jesus as the source of eternal life. Then, people must respond by coming to Jesus in faith to receive this eternal life.
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