Lesson 5 The Gospel of John, Chapter 6*

Jesus: The Bread of Life

The story of the miraculous feeding of over 5,000 is one of the few miracles recorded in all four Gospels (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-13). This miracle took place in Galilee about a year before Jesus’ crucifixion. Many have debated whether or not “The Bread of Life Discourse” which follows this miracle is about the Lord’s Supper or only about believing in Him. We will answer that question and learn how Jesus satisfies every physical and spiritual need we have.

Read John 6:1-15 (Jesus provides a miraculous meal)

Why were large crowds following Jesus at this time? (vs. 2) How was this both a good thing and a bad thing?
Verse 6 says that Jesus already knew how he was going to provide food for the large crowd, and that his question to Philip was only to test him. What was the purpose of this test? What was He leading His disciples to understand about themselves? About Him? What lesson was Jesus teaching all of us through this miracle?
In verse 11 we read that Jesus prayed (‘gave thanks”) before beginning the meal. Why did he do this? Is this something we should do before we eat?
What good lesson did Jesus teach his disciples and us after everyone had plenty to eat?
In verse 15 we read that the people wanted to make Jesus a king by force. Jesus did not allow this to happen. We confess Jesus is our king. Why wouldn’t he allow the people to make him a king on this occasion?

Respond: If God is so good at taking care of people’s needs, why are there so many homeless and hungry people in the world?

Read John 6:16-24 (Jesus walks on water)

Both Matthew and Mark also record this incident, and they add a number of things to John’s account. According to those gospel accounts,

Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd (Matthew 14:22)
During the fourth watch of the night (sometime between 3:00 am and 6:00 am) Jesus went out to them (Matthew 14:25)
When they saw Jesus in the darkness, the disciples first thought that he was a ghost (Matthew 14:26; Mark 6:49)
Peter tried to walk on the water too, but started to sink in fear (Matthew 14:29-30)
When Jesus and Peter got into the boat, the disciples worshiped him, and confessed: “Truly you are the Son of God” (Matthew 14:33)

The disciples were terrified when they saw Jesus walking on the water toward them. They certainly did not expect to see Him there. They were already tired and fearful because of the terrible weather conditions (wind and pouring rain, and stormy waves), and it was in the middle of the night. In the darkness, they thought he was a ghost. The entire situation was already very frightening, even for experienced fishermen. But now to see a figure out on the water was totally freaky.

What does Jesus teach us about himself through this miracle?

Read John 6:24-59 (The misguided search for a bread king)

When Jesus and the disciples arrived on the shore of the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum, many people were looking for him. Why were they searching for Jesus (verses 26-27)?

In verse 26 Jesus mentioned the miraculous signs that he had been doing. These “signs” were marks that distinguished the genuineness of something. Many people have tried to make counterfeit (fake) money. How can you tell real money from the fake or counterfeit money? The real money has a distinguishing mark that the counterfeiters cannot duplicate. The mark tells the user that the money is genuine and real. The miracles of Jesus were the marks that identified Jesus as the real Messiah, the real Savior of the world.

Many think that the main idea of the Christian church today is to give out food and other earthly things that will make life better on earth. Humans are so earthly-minded that they neglect the needs of the soul. Jesus has so much more to offer. Though sin has blinded us to our deeper needs, Jesus wants to address them.

In verse 27 Jesus spoke about the “food that spoils” and the “food that endures to eternal life.” What are these?

“food that spoils” =
“food that endures to eternal life” =

In verse 28 the people asked the one question every human being would like to ask Jesus: “What must we do to do the works God requires?” As we might expect, their assumption was that we must do something to be right with God. What did Jesus say the work of God is (vs. 29)? What does it mean to do this (see verses 40 and 47)?

Verse 35 contains another powerful “I am” statement of Jesus. Here he calls himself “the bread of life.” In the Lord’s prayer we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” In that prayer, the word “bread” stands for everything we need to live. When he said that he is the bread of life, Jesus was saying that he is everything we need to live eternally. As he goes on, Jesus tells us that we should “eat the bread of life” (see verse 51).

What did Jesus mean when he told us to eat the Bread of Life?

v.35 =
v.40 =
v.51 =

Beginning in verse 51 Jesus began speaking about giving his flesh to be eaten. Some have taken many verses in this chapter as references to the Lord’s Supper. All of the evidence, however, is to the contrary. Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” He does not say: “I am the bread and wine of life.” He is not talking about the Lord’s Supper in this chapter.

First of all, it is very unlikely that the Savior would command the sacramental eating of his body and blood before he had instituted his Holy Supper.

In verse 53 Jesus says: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you do not have life in yourselves.” If Jesus were speaking of the Lord’s Supper it would mean: “Unless you go to the Lord’s Supper you don’t have God’s life in you.” That would automatically eliminate all the Old Testament believers and anyone who has not taken the Lord’s Supper. Nowhere does Scripture teach that anyone who has not taken holy communion can be saved.

In this chapter Jesus invites us to eat him spiritually as the Bread that gives eternal life. This means to take him into your inmost being by accepting that his body was sacrificed for you.

Read John 6:60-71 (Many disciples desert Jesus)

Some people think that Jesus only had twelve disciples. That is not true. He did choose twelve of his disciples and designate them as apostles, but he actually had many more disciples who followed him and listened to his teaching. But now this teaching of Jesus that he had come down from heaven and that people must “eat” his flesh and “drink” his blood in order to have eternal life was shocking to them for the Jews would never eat anything with blood in it. Many of the disciples simply would not accept it.

According to Jesus’ words in verses 36 and 64, why were many of these followers of Jesus having such a hard time accepting his teachings?
How can anyone “come” to Jesus or believe in him according to these verses: 37, 44, 63, 65?

v. 37 =
v. 44 =
v. 63 =
v. 65 =

In other words, no one can choose to come to Jesus by himself. God must draw believers to Jesus, and the Spirit will work new life through the words of Jesus.

In verses 68-69 what precious truths did Peter express in his answer to Jesus’ question?
In response to Peter’s confession what truth did Jesus reveal?
As we look at Jesus’ gracious message in John 6 and the people’s response what can we also expect as we continue to share the good news of Jesus in the world?

In our next lesson we will follow Jesus to one of the great Jewish festivals where he proclaims himself as the true Messiah who has come to redeem the world. Please prepare chapter 7. PAGE 2

←Previous