Jesus said: "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." (John 6:27).
This doesn't mean that we should just forget about life on Earth. God created us with physical needs that must be met. An empty stomach is an example of that, and
we have to take care of that too. What Jesus is saying is that we must focus
beyond the temporal we shouldn't live our lives focused on things that perish. Our lives in this world are temporary, but our lives thereafter are eternal. The people around Jesus were focused on the temporal, on their lives in this world.
Jesus said: "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 6:32b–33). When Jesus speaks of the true bread, he is speaking of himself.
Jesus also said: "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from Heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 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, 48–51).
Jesus even 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. 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. 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." (John 6:53–58).
This has been misunderstood, both among non-believers but also among believers.
When Christians partake of communion, we don't eat Christ's body or drink Jesus' blood, we do so as a remembrance of Jesus' death and resurrection on the cross (Mat 26:26–28), see The Crucifixion of Jesus and The Resurrection of Jesus. The Roman Catholic Church falsely claims that the bread and wine are literally transformed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. It’s a re-offering of Christ's body. This is called transubstantiation and is done by the priest at Mass. This isn't correct. Jesus doesn't speak literally. He speaks spiritually. Jesus explains what he is talking about when he says: "What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." (John 6:62–63). Jesus is speaking of spiritual realities. It's not a matter of cannibalism. The bread and wine in the communion are symbols of Jesus' body and blood. We are to eat the bread and drink the wine to remember what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus offered his life once for all, for all time (Heb 10:10–14, 17–18). There is no need for re-offering.
Note that the bread must not be unleavened when taking communion. Even though it's true that yeast and leaven represent sin, see The Parable of the Leaven in
The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Leaven. The reasons are as follows:
- It is incorrect to assume that the ceremonial requirements of Israel's worship observances transfer to the New Testament church. As the Body of Christ, we aren't under the Mosaic Covenant and the ceremonial regulations given to Israel are not in force for the New Testament church, see Jesus and the Law.
- There is nothing in the New Testament to indicate that the bread in the
communion must be unleavened. The reason Jesus and his disciples ate unleavened bread during the Last Supper was because they were celebrating Passover. Communion isn't a recreation of Passover. It's a remembrance of Christ's death on the cross and is part of the New Covenant. Therefore, the requirements and prohibitions placed on Israel to celebrate Passover aren't transferred to our observance of communion.
What Jesus is saying is that no one comes to God the Father except through him (John 14:6). We can't be good enough in ourselves. We become Christians when we receive Jesus in a spiritual sense (John 1:12), see Salvation. Jesus wants a personal relationship with us.
From that time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him
(John 6:60, 66). They couldn't accept his exclusive declaration. It strikes at the center of human pride. They were disciples after the flesh. They followed him as long as they could get something that relates to this world, such as pleasure, excitement, healing, free meal. People can come to Jesus even in our time because of some emergency that they want fixed. Sometimes Jesus solves their problems and sometime he doesn't. Regardless, some of them turn to the Lord immediately or eventually after some time and become true followers of Jesus, but some turn away even after they got what they were looking for.
Jesus also told them directly: "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent" (John 6:29). They should believe and trust Jesus. There is no way to do good works that will please God in such a way that the result would be that he will let you into Heaven. We are saved by grace through faith as a gift from God, not as a result of works so that no one can boast (Eph 2:8–9), see Salvation. But if you have real faith, works follow (James 2:14–26), see
The Parables of the Talents and the Ten Minas.
Jesus also said: "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from Heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 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. 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. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day." (John 6:37–40, 44), see
The Order between Jesus and the Father in the Trinity. See also The Apostle Peter.
See also Some stories in the gospels at the bottom of The Four Gospels.
