John 6:34,35

4. Vv. 34-40. The two classes of hearers, the unbelievers and the believers.

Vv. 34, 35. “ They said therefore to him: Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35. But Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life; he that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst. ”

The Jews, still regarding the heavenly bread as a wonderful, but material food, declare themselves ready to follow Jesus always, if He will procure for them this food; and that daily. The evermore undoubtedly alludes to the gift of the manna which was renewed every morning. This bread: this food far higher than the manna itself. Here is the highest point of their carnal exaltation. But it is also the moment when Jesus breaks with them decidedly. Up to this moment, the questions and answers were directly connected with each other, and the particle οὖν, therefore, had indicated continuous progress. But the particle δέ of John 6:35, which seems to me to be the true reading, marks a sudden change in the course of the conversation; the ἀλλά, but, of John 6:36 will mark the complete rupture.

The words: “ I am...,” are the categorical answer to the: Give us, of the Jews: “What you ask is accomplished: this bread is Myself. It only remains to feed on it; and the means for this end is simply to come to me with a soul which hungers and thirsts for salvation.” Jesus finally explains His expression in John 6:27. The food which endures of which He there speaks is Himself; the work to be done in order to obtain it is faith in Him. The expression bread of life can signify: the bread which communicates life, but perhaps the relation between these two notions of bread and life is still closer. The true life, which is in God Himself, “ the eternal life which was in the beginning with the Father ” (1Jn 1:2), was incarnated in this visible being; it became in Him capable of being laid hold of, touched, tasted. But in order that this food may give us life, there must be action on our part: coming and believing. These two terms are not exactly synonymous: the first denotes the act of approaching Christ with the seriousness of a heart with a sense of sin; the second, the confiding eagerness with which this famished heart takes possession of the heavenly food in Him. The force of the negative οὐ μή can be rendered by: It is not to be feared that ever...The οὐ πώποτε, never, is the answer to the τάντοτε, evermore, of John 6:34. The parallelism of the two clauses betrays a certain exaltation of feeling produced by the greatness of the fact declared. The figure of drinking does not properly suit the context: it is added to that of eating, perhaps because Jesus is thinking of the Passover supper. In the sequel of the discourse, we shall see that these two figurative expressions take each of them a meaning continually more distinct (John 6:53-57). And even here they are not absolutely identical. Hunger represents rather the feeling of weakness, of moral powerlessness; thirst, that of the sufferings of the conscience and the heart. Taken together, they express the deep uneasiness which drives the sinner to Jesus Christ. The appeasing of the thirst therefore refers rather to the peace; that of the hunger, to the new strength which the believer receives.

Coming, believing: these, then, are the conditions. But, adds Jesus with grief, it is precisely these conditions which are wanting in you.