Why did Jesus come into the world? When Jesus says that he came not to be served, but to serve (Matt. 20:28), does he mean that he came to be useful in our own goals, ventures, and desires, or does he mean something entirely different? In this “Bread of Life Discourse,” Jesus defines the purpose of his coming with an explanation that stretches from before the foundation of the earth were laid, to his incarnation, earthly ministry, death, and resurrection, and ultimately all the way to “the last day.” But while the scope of this dialogue is breath-taking, Jesus also offends his hearers because of the shocking revelation that they must feed on his flesh and drink his blood in order to be saved (John 6:53–58). What does he mean? Why do the Galilean Jews not believe him? What does Jesus want from us today? In this section, Jesus answers all these questions by teaching that hungry sinners may feed on life by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

In the text we're going to consider today, Jesus is talking about a choice. He's talking about two ways of living. He's talking as we will see, essentially, we might call this a tale of two meals. There is a meal, food, that leads to death and there is a meal, food, that leads to life. He's calling us to repent from the one in order to embrace the other.

This morning we are in our sermon series in the Gospel of John, we will be on John 6:22-59. As we look at this, this is a wonderful text. This isn't a classic Easter text, but it lines up very well with the with the message of Easter, and we're going to see that as we go along. We're going to read the first section starting in verse twenty-two to start off with through verse thirty-four.

22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 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. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”John 6:22-34, ESV

This is the word of the Lord. Jesus, the day before had miraculously multiplied just a handful of barley loaves and a small number of fish into a feast that fed 5,000 people. Then after that, the crowd was so taken with what they had just seen that we read in verse 15 of chapter six they actually wanted to enthrone Jesus as the king. Obviously, someone who can do that kind of thing probably deserves some earthly power, right? Well, that's not the kind of kingdom that Jesus came to establish. So he withdraws onto the mountain away from the crowd, who wants to make him king. His disciples get on the boat and try to cross the Sea of Galilee. They come into a storm and Jesus actually meets them on the way. When he comes to them, he stills their fears and stills the storm and brings them to the safe haven on the other side at Capernaum.

Well, it seems in verse twenty-four we read the crowd has been keeping an all-night vigil there, watching overnight, trying to see when Jesus might appear again so they can try to enthrone him as their king again. Well, they don't see another boat come, they know Jesus didn't get on that boat, so when other boats start coming the next morning and still Jesus isn't to be found, they get on these other boats and follow Jesus across the sea to Capernaum, where they ask him, how did you get here? What happened in the middle of the night? When did you come here? Jesus doesn't answer this question, because if he does, they probably will want to enthrone him as a king again. Not that he isn't the king, but he's not the kind of king that they are looking for. He rebukes their faith, telling them, you're not seeking me because you saw signs and came to believe that I am who I said I am. You came because you want more food.

So, Jesus, here I want to direct your attention specifically to verse twenty-seven. Jesus tells them, look, fundamentally, you have two choices two options in front of you. You may eat the bread that perishes, you can seek the bread that perishes. He's not talking as we'll find a little bit later when he makes this more clear, he's not talking about the bread itself perishes, although that's true. He's saying, if you eat this, you're going to die, you're going to perish. Instead, you need to eat this other bread, this other meal, that will endure to eternal life.

In fact, you might say that the entire Bible is a tale of two meals, beginning in the Garden of Eden. God gave the entire garden all the fruit of the garden to Adam and Eve to eat, but we read Genesis 2:9 that there were two other trees that are uniquely singled out. The Tree of Life is in the midst of the garden and The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil too. God said to them in verse 16 and following, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for. On the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." If you eat the meal from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you're going to perish, you are going to die.

Well, Adam and Eve, disobey God's commandment, Adam Eats of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And just as God promised, they died, they were alienated from God, alienated from the creator, expelled from the Garden of Eden. And this is interesting. We don't really know what the function of the purpose of the Tree of Life is until after Adam and Eve sin. There we read God saying in 3:22 of Genesis, "Behold, the man has become like one of us and knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of The Tree of Life and eat and live forever." This is another way of saying to experience eternal life. God puts a guard at the entrance to the Garden of Eden. A cherub well, cherubim is plural, so cherubim holding a flaming sword, preventing them from coming back into the garden to eat from the tree of life.

Jesus is saying, look, there are two meals here, just like at the beginning of this story, just like now. You can eat food that will cause you to die, or you can seek the food that will give you life, which I will offer you. Ok, fair enough. The crowd takes him up on this offer, and they say in verse 28, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” You know, if you just give us another one of these meals that we're seeking, that would prove it, that would settle it.

Well, this is kind of ridiculous because the day before they were so awed by the sign that Jesus performed that they wanted to enthrone him as king. The other reason this is ridiculous is because if they remembered the story, the ancient Israelites who ate manna in the wilderness weren't satisfied by that food, either.

There's this funny story in Numbers 11:4-6 where we read, "Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving." They were fed every day from the food that came down from heaven, the food that this crowd of Galilean is trying to get Jesus to give them again. The people of Israel also wept again and said, "We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” In other words, yes, we were in bondage. Yes, we were treated harshly in our slavery. Yes, they were murdering our male infants when they were born. But oh, the food. Do you remember the food? Oh, why can't we eat of that meal in the house of bondage again?

You see, the whole Bible tells this story again and again and again, I have some more instances of the way this plays out in the sermon notes, if you want to grab them. It's a fairly common thing to see these two meals put against each other, a meal that leads to death and a meal that leads to life. The problem was Jesus is saying, if I just give you this bread, if I just give you that one thing, if I just had this fill in the blank thing, that's all I would need if I gave you that. Not only would you not find satisfaction in that, but the day would also come when you would revile the manna that I would give you in that instance, if it's just an instance of one giving of bread.

The problem is, not only will you never be really happy, but you will be blinded. Jesus is saying, see that something else is happening in front of you. All of those meals, the tree of life, the bread and the wilderness, all of these other meals pointed forward to me. I am the reality. Those shadows you saw, I am the one who is casting them backwards into the Old Testament. The reality is here.

So Jesus says in verse thirty-two, "Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the 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." They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”"

What's that one thing you think would satisfy you? We went about confessing that earlier in our confession of sin. That's where we confess the thing that we think, boy, if I just had that, if I was satisfied in that, if God would just give me fill in the blank, that would be all that I need and I would be so happy. Yeah, I'd be in the house of bondage, but oh, the food there. Jesus is saying something greater is here in him.

Well, here's a question. When Jesus is saying this, is he saying that he is just one more chapter in the ongoing tale of two meals or is something different happening here? In fact, Jesus says he is the bread of life. All of those things pointed forward to him. Let's keep reading in John 6:35-51.

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”John 6:35-51, ESV

Jesus is saying, I'm the reality, you're looking for life, I am the meal that you need. Why then don't these people repent and turn to him? Why don't we always repent and turn to him? Well, Jesus has in verse 36, "but I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe." See, here's the problem that Jesus is explaining. Originally, there was this choice in the garden. Remember the first chapter of a tale of two meals and the choice was you eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and you forfeit life? Well, all of us, as descendants of Adam, we're still suffering indigestion from the meal that Adam ate. We inherit his sin; we inherit his guilt. In fact, we inherit a disposition that Adam gained, from that moment on, that bends us toward sin.

Jesus, the bread of life is offering a meal of life, a life giving to eternal life and we don't want it. Why? It's because we inherited Adam's sin. We have that in us. The problem is not just that we need a solution to stand in front of us. The solution is there, he's here, and we don't want it. Apart from Christ, we don't want Christ.

The original choice necessitated that God would put forth a plan. A plan where he would save us in spite of ourselves, in spite of the way that we don't want him, in spite of the fact that we were alienated from him, that we were cut off from him and that we didn't want him. We want our own meals. We want to feast in the house of bondage, thank you very much. Oh, the food there.

So Jesus says in 6:37, here's the plan; from before the foundations of the Earth were laid, the Father chose a people for himself in the Son. God looked on the entire human race, recognized that the entire human race was guilty, was condemned, was righteously, justly doomed to eternity apart from God in hell. Recognize the fact that none of us of our own will would want to come to God on our own. So the Father had mercy on a people and chose them in the Son.

When I was in middle school, they forced me to run track. I didn't do it when it was my own choice. The thing that terrified me was I was in a relay race and I wasn't so much worried about running, even though I knew I was slow as dirt. The thing that really made me afraid as I ran that relay race was in the passing of the baton, right? You drop the baton, you disqualified, right? I think that's the way it still goes. I don't really care about track anymore, but I knew that I couldn't drop that baton as it was passed to me. Then I just chug as hard as I could. Then I knew that I had to get it safely to the next person or we were disqualified.

What Jesus says here in John 6:37 is there will be no dropped hand off. There will be no fumble on the play. We will not be disqualified because all that the Father gives to the Son will come to Jesus. There is a work of the Father that Jesus talks about a little bit later, in verse forty-four and verse forty-five, that the Father will draw those whom he is giving to the Son. The Father will teach those whom he has given to the Son about Jesus. Here's the thing, we cannot come to Jesus unless the Father through the Spirit does this gracious work in our lives, because we don't want God. We want to feast in the house of bondage.

This is good news for sinners, because here's the thing, your salvation is not based on how smart you are. Well, I'm really sharp here. I'm really sharp, and that's why I was able to reason my way to God. It's not based on that. Your salvation is not based on your holiness. Well, I'm just a better person than this person over here, and therefore I sort of gravitated toward Jesus because of my goodness and holiness. It's not about that. You've fallen so far short. It's not about your strength of will. Well, I'm super disciplined and dogged on it. Whatever it takes, step by step, I am going to lay out a plan to get myself to Jesus. It doesn't work that way. You have already failed. You're already behind the eight ball.

Psalm 51:5 says that even in your conception, you were conceived in sin. You were already guilty from the moment you came out of the womb and unless God graciously intervenes in your life, you will never come to Jesus.

So how do we come to Jesus? We're not supposed to sort of peer into the eternal decrees of God as though we have a roster and we're checking our names against it. Verse forty, "For this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day." The gospel is that if you look to Jesus in faith, well you do, so because the Father has drawn you and the Father has taught you who the Son is, because through looking on Jesus in faith, you will be saved. There can be no dropped hand off. Your salvation cannot fail to come forth. You will be saved. Look on Jesus and be saved. Turn from your feasting in the house of bondage and go to Jesus. Choose Christ, lay hold of him. He is the plan of God put forth in the fullness of time so that you might be saved.

Well, here's the question then. If this is all true, let's go back to that first chapter of the tale of two meals. Do you remember what happened when Adam was kicked out of the garden? Do you remember what happened to the Tree of Life? Adam was barred from it. He couldn't come to it. We are alienated from taking and eating of life. Jesus has said a certain amount so far, but he hasn't brought it home yet. He hasn't made it clear yet. How does Jesus give us to feast on this life that he offers to us?

Well, let's keep reading John 6:52,

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.John 6:52-59, ESV

Jesus uses graphic, vivid, repulsive language. We're called to eat his flesh and drink his blood. There is a reason that in the next passage that we will look at Lord willing in a couple of weeks, there is a reason that thousands of people at this point walk away from Jesus. He's asking us to cannibalize him. He's asking us to feed on his flesh and drink his blood? What could that possibly mean? Go back to the garden, the cherubim guarding the way to the tree of life had a sword that was moving to and fro in every direction. What Jesus is saying is that the way back to the Tree of Life requires death.

You see later when the Israelites build the tabernacle, which was a picture of the Garden of Eden, the Levites were stationed around and the same language was used about them that was used about the cherubim, that any outsider who comes near you shall be put to death. You should treat as a hostile. You should put to death anyone who would dare approach the holiness of God, the way of life, the Tree of Life, which was inside the symbolized inside the tabernacle. The way back into the Tree of Life requires passing under the flaming sword of God's judgment. When Jesus talks about his flesh and his blood, he's talking about the death that must be suffered in order to permit us to enter back into fellowship and communion with God. A death must happen, blood must be shed, flesh must be torn in order for us to come back into union and communion with God.

Jesus does this in this crucifixion. Where Jesus is flesh was pierced and flayed by the Roman whip, by the crown of thorns, by the nails in his hands and his feet, and by the spear in his side. His flesh was torn and his blood was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus says you've got to feed on this. Now he's not talking about the Lord's Supper, and I'll talk about that later when we actually go to the Lord's Supper. He's talking about believing in the death and resurrection of Christ. We cannot believe in sort of a vague, impersonal Jesus or just a Jesus who is a nice guy. The only way to get back into the way of life, the tree of life, to eat the meal of life, the bread of life that Jesus offers us, is if there's a sacrifice. Jesus says, though you are the ones who deserve it, though you are the ones who have brought the judgment of God upon you, I won't send you under the flaming sword. I myself will go through it to open back the way into communion with God, so that you can feast with God in fellowship with him.

There's one last chapter to the tale of two meals. It comes in Revelation 19, where we read about the wedding supper of the lamb. Jesus says that a day will come when he will raise up from the dead all those who look on him with faith. That day is coming. When that happens, what we will do is depicted as feasting with God and with the Lamb. We're going to feast with him, we're going to eat, there's a feast. Yet there's still that death feast. If you keep reading in Revelation 19, it's this that judgment is coming.

Where there's a feast for all those who ally themselves against the Lamb, who gather in war against the Lamb and his armies. The way that the feast works in Revelation 19, is that those who allied themselves against the land will be conquered and destroyed. That's graphic language, and they call for the great supper of God to the birds who eat the flesh of those who have rejected Christ. It's graphic, but it symbolizes the eternal punishment that waits for us apart from Christ.

This is the story of the whole Bible, the tale of two feasts. It's a choice in the garden that our forefather Adam failed to accomplish. It's a plan that God put forward Jesus Christ for salvation for us when we were helpless in our bondage to sin. It's a provision of Jesus going to the cross for us, suffering God's wrath against us. Not only that, here's the good, news, but being raised up after his crucifixion, which we celebrate today, in the hope that all of us who look to Jesus in faith will also be raised up with him.

Those who look to Jesus and faith one day would be raised up with the same resurrection that Jesus gives to life, to life forevermore. We will feast on Christ in heaven and glory by faith through our communion with him, our joyful intimacy with him forever and ever.

So the proclamation of the gospel says this. Number one, do you see Jesus and the meal he offers you as the bread of life as satisfying? As good? Do you recognize how much death is in the things that we all give ourselves to? Those aren't just a little white lies, little small sins, little vices that we have. Those are feasts in the house of bondage. And they're killing you. Do you see Jesus? Do you see him on the cross suffering for you? It's through meditating upon that, and by the way, we talk about this all the time. We chew on an idea. We ruminate, ruminate means to chew the cud, we ruminate over something. Or we drink in something that we hear. This is not language that is cannibalistic language, it means to feed on Christ by faith. Do you see Jesus as your hope, Christ and him crucified and resurrected as your way to communion with God? Or at the end of the day, do you still want your feast in your house of bondage?

Pray with me.
Heavenly Father, we asked for grace. We are weak, depraved sinners. God, when push comes to shove, very often, we do want our bondage, because it seems like those things that glitter actually are gold. God, I pray that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to understand the gospel of Jesus. Who perfectly satisfied our sins, so that there is no more condemnation and opened up a way into life. I pray this in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen.