Jesus' discourse on the bread of life, which began in v25, comes to a pointed conclusion in these verses. In the wilderness, the children of Israel ate manna and were sustained for their journey to the promised land. Yet, they all inevitably died. Jesus, on the other hand, provides a food that will sustain to eternal life. This food is his flesh and blood, that is, it is his sacrificial offering of himself upon the cross. The person who eats his body and drinks his blood, that is, the person who believes in Jesus the crucified Christ, who looks to the lifted up one, who trust in Christ's provision for salvation, gains as their prize, eternal life.

v51. In this verse, Jesus advances his argument a step further. He is now explicit about the necessity of eating the "living bread" (the phrase means the same as the "bread of life"). Jesus also makes the point that he gives this bread and that the bread that he gives, bread which this generation must eat, is his flesh. The image of eating Jesus' flesh serves to illustrate the necessity of believing in Christ's pascal sacrifice for the sins, and as a consequence, the life of the world. It is possible, although unlikely, that this verse belongs to the previous section, v35-50.

v52. The stark nature of Jesus' words causes an argument to develop among the Jews and leads to offence. Jesus' words are obviously figurative, but a figure of what? Their concern is focused on how Jesus intends giving his flesh for them to eat. We are being led to see this giving in terms of Christ's giving of himself as a sacrifice for sin.

v53. As for Christ's sacrifice for sin, we must eat and drink it, that is, believe in Christ the crucified messiah. Without this belief we have no life within us, we do not possess eternal life.

v54. Believing, putting our trust in the crucified Christ (eating and drinking his body and blood), brings life eternal, and this life will be experienced in all its wonder and majesty in the day of resurrection.

v55. Manna was amazing food, but not the real thing, not life-giving. Faith in Christ is the real thing; it is the life-giving food.

v56. The person who believes in Christ is one with Christ, united to Christ - indwells Christ and is indwelt by Christ. The person identified with Christ, dies with Christ, rises with Christ and reigns with Christ.

v57. The Father possesses life in himself, and in union with the Father, the Son possesses life in himself. Those who believe on the Son become one with him, and so similarly possess life in themselves.

v58. Jesus' sacrifice is the true heavenly bread, the life-giving bread. The people of Israel ate manna in the wilderness, but this bread from heaven only sustained them in their journey to the promised land. Those who eat the bread that Jesus gives, who believe in the lifted-up one, will be sustained to life eternal. v59. In concluding this discourse on the bread from heaven, John notes that it was delivered to the congregation at the synagogue in Capernaum.

The theologian C.H. Dodd commented long ago that the discourses, or if you like, sermons that are found in John's gospel, are simply evangelistic presentations. Each sermon, in a slightly different way, proclaims the gospel. Our passage for study comes from one such sermon which is often titled The Bread of Life.

In the sermon The Bread of Life we are reminded that Jesus is the bread of life. As the people of Israel journeyed to the promised land, they were sustained with heavenly food, manna. Yet, this miraculous food only sustained them for the journey; it had no spiritual function. Jesus, on the other hand, supplies a spiritually miraculous food, a food for eternal life. The food Jesus supplies is the offering of himself upon the cross for the sins of broken humanity. If we eat this food, that is, if we believe on the crucified Jesus, then we are sustained to eternal life.

With evangelistic sermons like this, it's no wonder John's gospel was often given to people enquiring about Christianity, yet today, enquirers are usually given Mark's gospel. The shift from John's gospel is usually down to its metaphorical nature. A reader can easily get confused with John's metaphors, for example, in our passage for study the metaphor of eating Jesus' flesh and drinking his blood.

Yet, it is interesting how Jesus is quite happy to proclaim the gospel in metaphors, or more particularly, parables. John tells us that the Jews were unable to understand the image of eating Jesus' flesh. Any fool would realize it was a figurative image and not literal, but what was it an image of? Did they understand that Jesus was speaking of the giving up of himself upon the cross as a sacrifice for sin? They were certainly offended and the cross is offensive to the Jew, just as it is foolishness to the Gentile.

Jesus' words, on this occasion, sent some disciples on their way, but filtered out a remnant who stayed. Jesus asked, "do you also wish to go away?", Peter answered, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life."

"The gospel is the power of God unto salvation"; it is a message that transcends both the words with which it is conveyed and the speaker who conveys it. We need not be concerned for the metaphorical language of John's gospel, for the truth of the gospel transcends the metaphor. If the gospel of John is the evangelist's gospel, then maybe we should keep using it as our preferred gospel tract.

Consider which scripture portion you would give to an enquirer. Support your choice.