John 6:35-37 (ESV)

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. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

The people wanted answers. When they finally caught up to Jesus on the other side of the sea, they had lots of questions. When did you come here? What do we have to do to in order to follow God? What sign can you give us so that we may believe? Then the crowd mentioned the bread that had been given to the people of Moses’ day—the manna in the desert. That had been the kind of sign they were seeking. Had they already forgotten the miracle across the sea? I guess it didn’t count because the bread and fish had not fallen out of the sky? Either that, or they were just hungry again and wanted Jesus to provide another meal.

Jesus was trying to give them more.

“For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world,” Jesus told them (Jn. 6:33). He was moving the conversation from the temporal to the eternal…from the belly to the heart. The great British theologian F.F. Bruce noted that, “What they wanted, he would not give; what he offered, they would not receive.” These people were moving from meal to meal because they chose something that could not truly satisfy. It always wore off. And back in the first century this was no simple inconvenience. They didn’t have a refrigerator or a pantry. No grocery store or fast food restaurant was nearby. Most Jews in the area were poor and barely scraping by. They had real, material, daily needs—which Jesus cared about—but they’re most pressing and eternal need went largely unnoticed.

“I am.”

It is a statement that, when used in context, would have had particular significance to the first-century Jewish listener…especially when used on the heels of a conversation about Moses. God had revealed Himself to Moses with a resounding “I AM” (Ex. 3:14). Jesus used the same phrase seven times in the Gospel of John to describe himself. Any Jew paying attention would have caught Jesus’ point: He was claiming to be God. Only God can truly satisfy the hunger of your soul, and only God can give you something that will last forever. Jesus was not making some abstract statement in these verses…He was making an appeal. Have you taken Him up on that offer? Is Jesus the bread that satisfies your soul or are you still running from one “meal” to another?

If you have taken Jesus up on His offer, you are His son or daughter and He will NEVER let you go! You have the Bread of Life! Your satisfaction will last forever and there is nothing you can do to lose it. “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”