One of the most hotly debated topics between Catholic Christians and Protestants is the Bread of Life discourse in John 6:1-71. At the center of this is John 6:51-58, in which Jesus repeatedly emphasizes, both literally and metaphorically, that he is the bread of life. However, the situation gets dicey as Jesus includes this to mean eating of his flesh and drinking his blood (John 6:53-57). Some of the Jews present do not hide their disgust; they even ask him, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” (John 6:52).
But what about the context in this discourse? Or how about the parallels and typological accounts in the Old Testament that support Jesus’ claim as the bread of life? Considering that right before Jesus’ speech about the bread of life, he multiplies loaves and fish for his disciples, this miracle (and the subsequent discourse) relates to Moses in multiple ways. Here are two examples:
1.) The murmuring among the Jews in John 6:41 is akin to the murmuring among the Hebrews in Exodus 16:2,8. In both cases, the followers grapple with both their hunger and the theological message being conveyed to them (Brown 345, 346).
2.) Jesus specifically states, “it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven”(John 6:32). Here, Jesus is establishing that his mission is not only about earthly needs, but also that his bread provides spiritual nourishment for an eternal relationship with him (Brown 246). This is outwardly contrary to the earlier Israelite belief that the manna sent from heaven, yet supposedly hidden by Jeremiah, would appear in the last days at a future Passover (Senior 1499).
This discourse is also an excellent example of using both the literal and spiritual senses to read Scripture. In this case, Jesus is commanding the disciples to partake literally in his flesh and blood (known as “body, blood, soul, and divinity” in Catholic teaching), but that the same bread spiritually guides humanity into eternal life (Brown 246). Brown pieces this together with Luke 22:19 and I Corinthians 11:24 to show the early roots of eucharistic celebration – though Jesus’ disciples and other Jews clearly struggle to accept the literal meaning (Brown 245, 246).
Still, the apostles stay loyal to Jesus: They manage to make the connection between Jesus’ discourse and promises of eternal life (Brown 346, 347).
As a side bar, the YouTube channel, “How to be Christian”, has an excellent — and very funny! — video on refuting objections to the Eucharist being the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paeOGAt-9KI One common objection from Protestants is that – and as we are learning in this module – Jesus’ discourses have symbolic meeting. For example, when Jesus says, “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved…” (John 10:1-10), Protestants will point out that Jesus is not referring to himself a literal “gate”, and then leap to comparing this passage to John 6. However, in John 10, Jesus explains the meaning about the gate; he shows it as metaphor. In John 6, though, Jesus does not switch to a symbolic-only explanation during the Bread of Life discourse. Great food for thought (no pun intended) and discussion!
Works Cited
Brown, Raymond. An Introduction to the New Testament. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
Ignatius Press. Holy Bible. Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. Ignatius Pr, 2016.
Senior, Donald, et al. The Catholic Study Bible. Oxford University Press, 2016.