By the Way #1

This is my first posting on the 'By the Way' page, and  my intention is to write several articles on the seven 'I am' statements of Christ that we find in the Gospel of John.  The first of these seven statements is found in chapter six - “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.  Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal (Jn.6:26,27).”....”I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst (v.35).”....”For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day (v.40).”

Before we consider these lines of text a little more closely, I want to make a few general observations.  First, John wants to persuade his readers that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah) and if they believe in him they'll receive a kind of life that he alone is authorized to give.  They will receive “life in his name (v.20:31).”  The Greek word that's translated 'life' here is 'zoe', not 'bios'.  It's not biological life, but a kind or quality of life; it's abundant life, life in fellowship with God: eternal life, life fulfilled, contented, and purposeful.  Another observation is that the majority of Jews misread the messianic signs that accompanied Jesus' ministry.  Jesus performed miracles, healed the sick, forgave sins, and even raised the dead, but they didn't recognize these as messianic signs.  They were spiritually blind and couldn't see!  Because their messianic expectation was earthbound and nationalistic, they didn't recognize him as the promised 'prophet like Moses' (Duet.18).  Even though Jesus claimed to be the 'bread of life', they didn't associate this claim with the manna provided for their forefathers during the wilderness wanderings (Ex.16).  A final observation is that the 'I am' sayings look back to Ex.3:14, where God identifies himself as 'I am who I am'.  Jesus' use of this verb of being (ego eimi) is an implicit claim to deity.  These 'I am' statements can be legitimately made by Jesus because he's 'God the Son', the second person of the Trinity.  

There are a couple of things to be noted from the verses cited above.  One is that the Jews Jesus addressed were preoccupied with temporal concerns rather than  giving attention to spiritual things.  They had witnessed Jesus' feeding of the five thousand (Jn.6:1-15) and were now pursuing him to provide them with temporal food, what Jesus referred to as “food that perishes'.  Question – are we pursuing Christ and spiritual goods, or are we preoccupied with earthbound pursuits?  Have we lost sight of what's eternal and urgently need a spiritual reawakening?  There's another kind of food that we should seek;it's the food that endures to eternal life.  It nurtures a life that connects us intimately with God.  It's a life shaped by reconciliation, godly contentment, and a spiritual and psychological well-being that comes by having fellowship with God.  Also, it's a life “which the Son of man will give to you (v.27).”  This is good news!  Our normal impulse is to try to merit eternal life, but we can't.  Eternal life is a gift that we receive by 'believing in him', by trusting Christ alone for our salvation.  This is a radical idea that runs counter to our natural religious instincts.  Christ is the 'bread of life' who came down from heaven to satisfy our spiritual longings and quiet our restless souls.