Discourse on the Heavenly Bread.

(John 6:22-71).

The Lord’s miraculous crossing over the Gennesaret Lake, provoked amazement among the people, already astonished through being fed by the miraculous bread. This event is narrated by Evangelist John only, who, following this, also imparts the Lord’s sermon about Himself as being akin to bread that had descended from heaven, revealing the necessity to have communion of Flesh and Blood in order to be saved.

Knowing that the Lord did not enter the boat with His disciples, the people sought Him in the wilderness. Having found Him on the other side of the lake, teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum, they were astounded and began to question Him as to how did He get there? While the Lord’s did not respond to the question, He used it as a reason to give a detailed sermon on Himself, as being the Heavenly Bread. He began the sermon with a censure of the Jews, because they remain slaves to their sensations in everything — even in following Him. “you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of loaves and were filled”; i.e. not because you were enlightened by the goodness in God’s miracles, which offer eternal and incorruptible blessings, but because on the day before, your hunger was satiated — just as the other miracles satisfied other physical wants; but nobody was concerned about satisfying the needs of the spirit, which after all is why Christ came down to earth. “I am the Bread of life, he who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst,” — this reproach was aimed at those who regard Christianity valuable only to the extent of it being beneficial for establishing a successful, temporary worldly life. “Do not labor for the food which perishes,” together with the body, “but for the food which endures to everlasting life,” i.e. that which will remain forever and serve in life eternal. This food “the Son of Man will give you,” — says the Lord — “because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” The word “seal” must be understood to mean those signs, which the Lord performed by God’s will. Provoked by the censure, the Jews asked Him: “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” They understood that His words contained demands for moral actions on their part, but they didn’t understand specifically, what type. To this, instead of pointing out the many deeds that are — according to the Law of Moses — pleasing to God, the Lord directs them to just one: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him Whom He sent.” This is the main work that is pleasing to God, without which there is no life that is agreeable to God, inasmuch as like a seed, it contains all works that are pleasant to God. In comprehending that Jesus is calling Himself “Messenger of God,” the Jews reply that they do not have such a faith in Him, as the Israelites had in God and Moses, because of the few signs that He had performed.

Here is proofHe had performed.He hafd    how fickle faith is when based on miracles alone: it demands bigger and bigger miracles. And the Jews, not satisfied that Christ fed 5000 people with 5 loaves, are demanding a bigger miracle, like the miraculous manna from Heaven that was sent to them during their forty-year wandering in the wilderness. The Lord responds to this with, that the miracle performed by God through Moses, is much less important than that which He performed through Messiah-Jesus, giving them not a visual manna but “true bread from Heaven.” This bread “gives life to the world.” However, the Jews understand it as a sensate, physical bread, although somewhat special — and they express their desire to always receive this type of bread. This response reflects their extremely physical inclination of their thoughts and understanding of the Messiah — as being a miracle worker and nothing more. The Lord then directly and decisively, reveals the teachings of Himself as the “bread of life,” saying that He is that bread, which “comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world”; that he who comes to Him will not hunger, and he who believes in Him will never thirst again. The Lord notes with sorrow that, although the Jews do not believe in Him, this will not interfere with the realization of the Heavenly Father’s will. Everybody seeking salvation through the Lord, “who comes to Me,” will become the inheritors of the Messiah’s kingdom established by Him, and they will be resurrected by Him on the last day and become worthy of eternal life. Nonetheless, the baffled Jews protestingly start to discuss among themselves as to how Jesus could say such a thing — that He had descended from Heaven — when everybody knows His earthly beginning. The Lord responds to their complaints by saying that they are not among those that have been chosen by God, who were attracted to Him through the power of His grace. Without the grace of this call, it is not possible to believe in the Messiah — His Son, sent to earth by God to save humanity. However, this thought does not destroy the concept of man’s free will.

As blessed Theophylactus wrote: “God the Father attracts those who have the capability, and with their consent: but those, that have made themselves incapable, He doesn’t attract toward faith. Just as a magnet does not attract everything that it comes into contact with, but only iron, so does God, in drawing near everyone, attracts only those who are capable of revealing some kinship with Him."” It is as though the Lord is saying: “Don’t complain about Me, but about yourselves, for not having the ability to believe in Me as the Messiah.”

All the Old Testament books give witness to the coming of Christ, and those who consciously study them, will be taught by God, and will therefore accept the Messiah-Christ sent by Him. The teachings given by God are not about that of viewing God, inasmuch as God the Father is only seen by He, Who is from Him, i.e. Messiah-Christ. A person who studies the Scripture attentively and with faith — with Christ as the main theme — studies as though directly from God Himself. “I am the Bread of life,” says the Lord of Himself: not lifeless as the manna, but a bread that is alive. The manna fed the body only, and that’s why those who ate it still died; the real Bread, that has come down from the heavens is such, that all who eat it will receive eternal life. And this Bread is — Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Following this, the Lord speaks more clearly and definitively: this Bread that has come down from the heavens is His Flesh, Which He gives for the life of the world; here He has in mind, His forthcoming death on the cross at Golgotha for redeeming humanity from its sins. In associating the approaching feast of Pascha with Himself, the Lord teaches of Himself, as being the true Paschal Lamb that accepts all the sins of the world upon Himself.

The paschal lamb was only a symbol of the Lamb-Christ, — through which the Lord wanted to show His listeners that the time for symbolism had passed, because Truth Itself had arrived in His person: the partaking of the paschal lamb will be replaced in the New Testament by the partaking of the Body of Christ, brought as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. The Jews, having accepted these words literally, became confounded and began arguing among themselves over these words: “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” They indeed understood these words literally and not figuratively, just as their contemporary sectarians who reject the Mystery of Holy Communion, which grants a unity with Christ through grace. In order to terminate their argument, the Lord decisively and categorically reiterates: “Most assuredly, 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 eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” Here, the Lord reveals in all its fullness and clarity, His teaching on the essentiality of Communion of His Flesh and Blood, in order to have eternal salvation. With their exodus from Egypt, the Jews smeared the door jambs and the entrances of their dwellings with the blood of sacrificial lambs, in order to save their new-born from the hands of the Angel-slayers (Exodus 12:7-13). With the killing of the paschal lamb at the temple, its blood was used to smear the entrance to the altar — reminders of the doorjambs and entrances of the Jewish dwellings. On the paschal night, the blood was replaced with symbolic wine. Because the paschal lamb appeared as a symbol of Christ, just as the liberation of Jews from Egyptian bondage served as a symbol of the world’s redemption, then in order to have eternal life, Christ’s words that it is essential to “eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood,” must be seen as the replacement of the Old Testament lamb with Christ’s Body, and the symbolic wine — with His Blood. This was the New Pascha, which is prophetically depicted by the Lord in His sermon.

The meaning of Christ’s words are consequential in that, he who wants to understand redemption performed by Christ in His death on the cross, must eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. Otherwise, he will not become a participant of this redemption, will not have within himself eternal life, i.e. he will remain alienated from God, which in effect is eternal death. By the Lord’s own words, His Flesh and Blood are food indeed and drink indeed, inasmuch as only they acquaint a person with eternal life. This occurs because they give the partaker the closest internal communion with Christ, mysterious joining with Him (56). In this way, through this Mystery, mankind that had fallen into sin, is grafted a new life. Just like a gardener grafts a piece of cutting from one tree to another in order to make it fruit-bearing, so does Christ — wishing to make us participants in Divine life — Himself enters physically into our body, sullied by sin, and lays the beginning of internal transformation and enlightenment, making us a new creation.

In order to be saved it is not sufficient to just believe in Christ. It is necessary to fuse into one with Him, abide in Him so that He too may abide in us, and this is achieved only through the means of Holy Communion. However, these words were so unusual to the ears of the Jews that this time, not only His enemies but some of His disciples were tempted to utter: “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” Having read their thoughts and feelings, the Lord replied: “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?” Here, the Lord imagines how they would be tempted, seeing Him crucified on the cross! Further on, the Lord explains how to understand His words properly: “It is the Spirit Who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” Christ’s words need to be understood in a spiritual sense and not in a crude-sensate way — as though He is offering His Flesh, akin to meat of livestock, to satisfy bodily hunger.

It is as though the Lord is saying that His teachings are not about meat or food, which nourishes bodily life, but of the Divine Spirit — of grace and eternal life, which is developed in people through grace-endowed means. In stating “The flesh profits nothing,” the Lord was not speaking of His own Flesh — not at all — but to those that understood His words in a carnal sense. What does it mean to understand in a sensate way? To look upon objects simply and think about nothing but satisfying one’s natural needs. In other words, to accept life purely as physical or sensate. However, one should not judge according to what he sees. All its mysteries have to be viewed with the inner eye. This means to understand life spiritually (Golden Tongue). If Christ’s Flesh was separated from His spirit, it would not be able to give life; and of course, it goes without saying, that in Christ’s words, the dialogue is not about a soulless and lifeless Flesh, but of Flesh that is united with His Divine Spirit.

“But there are some of you who do not believe.” Of course it is difficult to believe in a humbled Divinity, without the assistance of God’s grace. As can be seen later, these words of the Lord established the first indication toward Judas-betrayer. The teachings on the Holy Eucharist were and will be a testing rock of faith in Christ. There are many people that are enthused with Christ’s moral commandments, yet don’t understand the necessity of unity with Him in this Mystery. In the meantime, without this Mystery of unity with Christ, without the grafting of His “cutting,” it’s impossible to follow even moral laws, because it is beyond human strength. That’s why — as the Gospel states — after this sermon, many people turned away from Christ, especially because it went against the Jews’ earthly understanding of the Messiah. Then the Lord, in testing His closest disciples (twelve Apostles) of their faith in Him, asks would they too like to leave Him? But Peter-Simon in response, speaking undoubtedly on behalf of the rest, pronounces a great witness of faith in the Lord as “Christ, the Son of the living God.” However, notices that not all twelve believe in Him, and that one of them is — devil; of course, not in a personal sense, but as the enemy of Christ and His works. With this, the Lord wanted to give a warning to Judas himself, as He knew beforehand that he was planning to betray Him. On the feast-day of Pascha, the Lord didn’t go to Jerusalem this time, because the Jews were seeking to kill Him (John 7:1), while the hour of His sufferings on the cross had not arrived.