I AM Part Two: Bread of Life | September 20, 2026

Well, good morning and welcome to Trinity.

My name is Mike, and I'm one of the pastors here, and I'd like to invite you this morning to turn in your Bibles to John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, please don't hesitate to hop up and grab one from the crate in the back.

You can find John 6 on page 838 and 839 in the church Bibles.

It may be particularly helpful to have a Bible open in front of you this morning.

Usually, my preference is to go mostly verse by verse on Sunday mornings.

Some of you are about to breathe a sigh of relief.

But this morning we will not reread that entire thing.

Some of you were freaking out as I read it.

You're like, oh, we're gonna be here forever today.

But it'll be good for you to be able to follow along.

So if you have a Bible, John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

I once heard a lecture on the Gospel of John start like this.

How we introduce ourselves reveals a lot about us.

For example, most every Sunday I stand up here and I say good morning and welcome to Trinity.

My name is Mike, and I'm one of the pastors here.

And in that introduction, I reveal that I'm a pastor, which in this context matters a fair amount.

And I reveal that I'm not the only pastor, that there are other pastors here as well.

If we were to meet in another context, I might say, Hi, I'm Mike, I'm Aiden's dad.

Or, hi, I'm Mike, I'm Jenny's husband.

Or hi, I'm Mike, I'm a trail runner or skier or recovering from back surgery.

Younger Mike might have said, I'm a soccer player or a grad student or from San Diego.

Each of these statements, these introductions, they reveal something different about my identity, don't they?

It's me letting you in just a bit on who I am.

Jesus does something similar in John's gospel.

Seven I am introductions, each one revealing something different to his audience about his identity, who he is, what he cares about, what he's come to do.

And in each of these seven introductions, Jesus gives his audience, and likewise John gives his audience, which includes you and me, a choice.

What will I do or not do with what Jesus has just revealed about himself?

Now, this morning we'll take a look at the first of these introductions where Jesus tells a crowd, I am the bread of life.

It's a long passage, and like I said, we won't reread all of it, but for those of you who don't like surprises and do like to know where you're going, I've broken the story into five parts.

First, we've got the situation.

Second, the back and forth.

Third, we've got the big claim.

Anyone want to guess what the big claim is?

I am the bread of life.

Good job.

You're advanced.

Fourth, the crowd gets mad.

This happens a lot with Jesus.

And fifth, Jesus doubles down.

And as we go, we'll see what the text reveals to us about Jesus and what it means for us.

But first, let's pray.

Gracious God, thank you for this morning for the chance to gather, to sing, to pray, to be fed, to hear from your word.

I pray now that as my words line up with your words, that they would fall on ears and hearts, ready to receive them and respond.

Gracious God, if I say anything that isn't from you, I pray that those words would quickly be forgotten.

And I pray all these things through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Here's the situation.

If you have a Bible open in front of you, you can see it on the page before.

In the beginning of John 6, Jesus feeds five thousand.

He takes bread, he gives thanks, he breaks it, and he gives it to a giant crowd of hungry people, and there is more than enough.

In fact, miraculously, there are even leftovers.

When evening comes, the disciples get on a boat, and Jesus doesn't.

What he does do hours later is come to the disciples who are on a boat in the middle of the sea.

Who knows how he comes?

Walking on water.

Another miracle.

And then we come to our story, starting in verse 22.

Jesus tells us, or John tells us rather, that the crowd is wondering where Jesus went.

This is verse 22, because there had only been one boat, and they knew Jesus didn't get on the boat, but he's also not where they saw him last.

And so verse 24 tells us the crowd goes looking for Jesus.

No matter where you are in your spiritual life this morning, I can tell you, it is always good to go looking for Jesus.

Verse 25 tells us that the crowd finds Jesus on the other side of the sea, and a back and forth follows.

First, they ask Jesus how he got there.

That's verse 25.

And Jesus doesn't answer the question, instead points out that they only came looking for him because he had stuffed their bellies with miraculous bread the day before.

That's verse 26.

And he challenges them.

That's verse 27.

It's a little bit like me telling my kids in the morning, don't just eat sugary cereal, or you'll be hungry again in two hours.

Anybody else's parents say that?

Instead, eat some protein.

Then you can make it to lunch.

They're like, but protein is so much work.

It's like that.

Except Jesus is saying, you seek the food that will last unto eternity.

If you've got a Bible open in your lap, that's verse 27, underline eternal life.

He's gonna say that a couple more times.

Now the people respond, what sort of work should we do for that sort of breakfast?

And Jesus says, believe in me.

If you've got a Bible open, circle the word believe.

At that point, the crowd says, Well, can you give us a sign to help us believe?

Perform another miracle that we might believe in you, like the miracle God gave our ancestors when he provided manna for them in the desert.

That's verses 30 and 31.

Now, this part requires just a bit of backstory.

What they're asking for is, can you give us manna in the desert like our forefathers before us?

Last week we heard the beginning of the story.

We saw how how God's people had ended up slaves in Egypt, how God heard their cry, and he called and sent Moses, to whom he revealed, I am who I am, to bring them out of Egypt into the promised land.

And God did that.

But in between Egypt and the promised land was a giant desert, and the Israelites had a lot of mouths to feed, and they began to grumble about starving, that maybe they'd be better off back in slavery.

And here's what God did for them.

For the note-taking type, scramble Exodus 16 in your margin, because that's where the story is.

Every day, God provided manna, which was a sort of bread, for his people in the desert.

Every day, miraculously, he provided exactly what they needed.

He provided their daily bread.

And in doing so, he kept them fed and cared for.

In his love, he delivered them and then provided for them and sustained them.

Now the crowds here ask Jesus for another miracle like that so that they can believe, which is comical.

It's so ironic because they had literally just the day before received a miracle just like that.

When Jesus had miraculously provided bread for five thousand people from heaven in the wilderness.

And they're asking for it again.

Jesus replies, verses 32 and 33, it's the Father who gives true bread from heaven, bread that has come down to give life to the world.

You're starting to see the setup in the back and forth.

Jesus provides bread for 5,000 on a hillside.

The crowds come back looking for some more of that.

And when they ask for another sign, like manna, Jesus notes that there is, in fact, bread like manna.

It comes from heaven like manna and gives life in the desert like manna.

And the crowd wants it.

That's verse 34.

Now, before we get to Jesus' response, I'd like to make just a few brief observations.

First, don't miss this in all the bread talk.

Jesus is establishing that the key to all of this, the key to being fed, the key to life, the key to eternal life is belief.

He says it in verse 29.

I'll say it again later.

Second, and some of you have heard me say this before.

I think Jesus loves our questions.

If I had this sort of back and forth with my children, I would have been grumpy well before Jesus is.

I would have reached a point where I'd be like, stop asking questions, here's the answer, get on your way.

But Jesus doesn't do that, does he?

Instead, he continues to engage with them.

He's not intimidated by their questions, he's not frustrated by their questions, he's not short-tempered in response to their questions, he's not annoyed by their questions.

In fact, the crowd here would never have been let in on Jesus' big reveal if they hadn't hadn't gone looking for him in the first place and if they hadn't asked their questions.

They weren't shy about it, they didn't worry about being a bother, they didn't mind their own business.

They looked and they asked and they asked, and even when they were missing the point, they asked again.

Friends, I think our spiritual lives would be significantly richer and significantly healthier if we did a little bit more seeking and a little bit more question asking.

And so when Jesus says in verse 33, for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, they jump on the opportunity and ask.

Verse 34, they said to him, Sir, give us this bread always.

And there it is, the moment Jesus has been waiting for.

He tossed a pitch, big fat fastball right over the plate, and Jesus swings for the fences.

I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

That's verse 35.

He's gonna say it again, kind of in verse 41.

I mean, the crowds will say it, and in verse 48, and in verse 51.

Now, this is a loaded statement.

I am the bread of life on so many levels.

First, we've got that phrase, I am, which we talked about last week.

It's a loaded term in the Hebrew Bible.

It's the very name of God.

We saw that in Exodus 4.

I'm not sure the crowd picks up on that yet.

We'll see what upsets them about Jesus' claim here in just a moment.

But his I am is intentional.

Second, he's highlighting that all that is necessary for this bread is to come and believe in him.

Whoever believes in him, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, whoever believes in me shall not thirst.

And third, it's loaded because Jesus has just had a conversation about the miraculous manna from heaven in Exodus.

God's provision for his people.

Manna.

Manna summed up so much for the Israelites.

It symbolized for them God's deliverance from slavery, his sustenance for them in their time of need, his consistent daily faithfulness and provision for them.

And Jesus is claiming to be like this and more.

Look at verse 40.

Jesus says 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.

Jesus said that just a couple verses earlier again, and he's gonna say it again, a few verses later.

Now, check this out.

God provided manna for his people in the desert, but they still died.

All of them died.

The manum was miraculous, but it still went bad.

What Jesus is promising is that he himself is manna.

God's deliverance, God's provision, God's faithfulness in the flesh, and that his manna will upend even death.

It will provide eternal life for all who believe.

Finally, this time, instead of asking Jesus their follow-up questions, rather than getting curious, they grumble.

This is part four.

The crowd gets mad.

Starting at verse 41, the Jews grumbled about him because he said, I'm the bread that came down from heaven.

They said, Isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

How does he now say, I've come from heaven?

We know where you came from, Jesus.

And honestly, their grumbling here is kind of reasonable.

He's made a big claim to call oneself God's provision and deliverance and faithfulness that leads to eternal life, especially when you know the parents.

And while we in North American churchgoers don't tend to walk about grumbling and scoffing about Jesus, claiming to be the bread from heaven who will supply our every need and then give us eternal life with him, we do, and I aim to say this gently, and for myself as much as for anyone else, we do far too often grumble with our lives.

Here's what I mean by that.

We might say, Jesus, I believe that you are my daily bread, only to go looking for sustenance in that which can never satisfy.

We look for it in Netflix or TikTok.

We look for it in our careers, our paychecks, we look for it in the bottom of a glass or the affirmation of a teacher.

Our lives tell the story of the myriad ways and places we seek satisfaction or deliverance or provision that will only ever leave us hungry again.

Sometimes we seek fulfillment by intentionally choosing sin.

We lie, cheat, steal, intentionally disobey.

And sometimes we go looking for our fill in good things that will nevertheless, at the end of the day, still leave us hungry.

Doesn't matter how large the breakfast burrito is, I'm still hungry by dinner time.

We do this in our spiritual lives too.

We go looking for a fill in good things that will still leave us hungry.

School sometimes is a good thing.

Some of you believe me.

Work, it's a good thing.

Play.

Relationships.

These are the good gifts of God.

Just like manna.

But the next day, even miraculous manna still left people hungry.

Friends, where are you looking for your fill?

Now let's take a brief aside here, because there's a pattern that we're gonna see in these I am stories.

We're gonna look at all seven of them over the next seven weeks.

In most of them, here's what will happen: Jesus will make a claim, like, I am the bread of life.

Next, the people will get mad, or they'll misunderstand, or both.

It's inevitable.

And then Jesus will push the matter just a bit more.

And in doing so, he'll push the audience towards a choice.

He's doing this on purpose.

He won't let us off the hook.

He won't let them off the hook.

And this is what happens in verses 47 to 58.

Jesus doubles down on the shocking statement.

You thought his claim to be the bread of life was outrageous.

Listen to this.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life, he says again in verse 47 or 48.

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died.

This, and here Jesus is talking about himself, is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

If I am, or I am the living bread that came down from heaven, if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.

And the bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

Jesus, I'm gonna be just as clear as I possibly can here.

You want eternal life?

My flesh, my body, my bread, God's deliverance, provisions, sustenance, all wrapped up in a person, Jesus is saying, along with a promise of eternal life.

How?

First by believing.

Whoever believes has eternal life.

And then, and this is the foreshadowing, by his death on a cross.

And the bread that I will give for the life of the world, this is verse 51, is my flesh.

He's speaking about the cross.

His body given for us.

Bread from heaven.

Now it doesn't make sense yet to Jesus' audience.

We'll see this in verse 52, because he hasn't yet been crucified, nor has he yet instituted the Lord's Supper, that means of grace by which all who participate by faith in his death and resurrection, as we receive him in the bread and wine.

He hasn't taught that yet.

He hasn't established that yet.

But even as the crowds grumble again, this is verse 52, Jesus continues anyway.

He pushes it even further.

He'd already doubled down, he's going all in.

Verse 53 said to them, 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.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.

And I will raise him up on the last day.

For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.

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.

How many times does Jesus need to say it?

He's gonna say it again, verse 58.

This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the Fathers ate and died.

Whoever feeds on this bread, and he's speaking about himself, will live forever.

He says the same thing here, like eight times.

I am the bread, you must feed on me by faith if you wish to have eternal life, and then you'll be raised on the last day.

Over and over and over again.

I am the bread of heaven, manna, like the manna of your fathers, but not because I give eternal life.

And in all the startling, you need to eat my flesh and drink my blood and all that startling talk, Jesus is pushing his audience towards a choice.

Even as his claims get more and more shocking, will you believe?

Will you believe in me?

Or at the very least, will you press on curiously with your questions?

Or will you turn away?

It's the question Jesus is asking the crowds.

It's the same question John intended his audience to have to answer.

It's the same question before us this morning.

The reader or the listener has a choice.

Will you believe that Jesus really is the true bread of life?

The only one who can feed you in a way that will never leave you hungry again tomorrow.

Or will you continue to fill your bellies with the sorts of things that will never actually give you what you're really looking for?

We have the blessing of hindsight.

We know that when Jesus talks about us needing to feed on his flesh and blood, he's talking about us needing to believe that his death on the cross really frees us from sin and death.

And we know that he's pointing us towards the Eucharist, the meal he established, where we come to him empty-handed, in faith, to be fed by him.

And in some miraculous way, in this bread and wine, we feed on him by faith.

And we're given the sustenance we need to do the work that he's given us to do.

It's a little weird.

This is my body given for you.

This is my blood of the new covenant shed for you and for the sins of many.

It's a little weird, isn't it?

But it's the invitation.

It's meant to be weird.

It's meant to be shocking.

It's meant to press us towards a decision.

Do we believe in Jesus, his death and resurrection?

He's the only one that can feed us.

Are we willing to come to him like this, empty-handed, to be fed by him in a way that only he can feed us?

And so each week we come forward again, empty-handed again, to receive anew by faith.

We participate when we do so in his death and resurrection until he comes again.

We come to him empty-handed to receive our fill, not from what the world has to offer, but from the very bread of life himself.

Will you stand and pray with me?

Oh gracious God, we do need you.

We need you.

We know how short-sighted it is to seek our fill elsewhere.

So I pray this morning, come, Holy Spirit, would you shine a light in our lives, our hearts, convict us?

Where it is we're looking for satiation.

Our fill.

Oh and gracious God, by your spirit, would you turn our hearts towards you?

Would you help us to come to you again, empty-handed in faith, to be fed by you and you alone.

Because you alone hold the keys to our salvation.

You alone can satisfy us, and you alone offer the promise of eternal life.

I pray all these things through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.