Christ, the Bread of Life – Part 3: The problem of unbelief

Because of unbelief, the Jews failed to perceive the spiritual analogy that Christ was drawing for them.  Their unbelief caused them to view Him as a source for meeting their physical needs only.  They had followed Him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee simply to get another free meal.  Therefore, when they were faced with the spiritual truth of Christ’s penetrating words, they failed to receive them.

The Jews demanded that Christ prove Himself by repeating the miracle.  They said that Moses fed the children of Israel with manna for forty years.  In essence they were saying, “We will not believe in you, Jesus, unless you continue to meet our physical desires.”  Just like their forefathers in the wilderness, they were not interested in a spiritual relationship with God; they were merely interested in physical benefits.

Christ first corrected the Jews for their faulty belief that Moses had fed the children of Israel with manna in the wilderness: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.”[i]  He then proceeded in stages to reveal to them His purpose of spiritual provision.  Finally, He told them plainly, “Verily, Verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.  Whoso eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day…As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, even He shall live by me.”[ii]  Jesus delivered spiritual food to these Jews, yet they would not receive it.

Here again Jesus presented the people with a spiritual analogy.  He related eating and drinking to believing and receiving.  One ate bread and drank water believing that they were good for him and received them into himself for nourishment.  So, Christ was saying that those who believed in His physical payment for their sins on the cross, and received the atoning work of His blood, would live by Him.  He exhorted these Jews to spiritually receive Him into themselves.  When they still had trouble understanding, He told them that His words were spiritual truth.  “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”[iii]

Sadly, these Jews were not interested in a spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ.  They would follow Him as long as He met their physical desires.  But enter a spiritual relationship?  That was more than they asked for.  Because they did not believe that Christ could meet their spiritual need, or even that they had a spiritual need, they turned away from Him.

[i] John 6:32

[ii] John 6:53-54, 57

[iii] John 6:63