You could probably ask a hundred people who Jesus is to them and get a hundred different answers. The range of answers would be incredible: nobody, a nice guy, a strong teacher and political figure, a spiritual leader, a symbol of peace and happiness, maybe even a giver of peace and happiness, or maybe even the Son of God—not to mention a plethora of absolutely wild answers! For most people, if they want anything to do with Jesus at all, they only want the gifts they can get from him. The challenge is that Scripture’s depiction of Jesus really doesn’t let you separate the gift from the giver. It forces you to take either all of him or none of him. Because Jesus is not simply a dispenser of nice gifts to make your life go the way you want. He is himself the great gift. He is the bread of life.
This is the first of seven different “I am” statements from Jesus throughout the gospel of John, all of which emphatically insist that Christ is the Son of God and our sole, irreplaceable savior. The greatest gift in the world, our deepest and most fundamental need, is Christ himself. He is the bread that nourishes our very soul. In fact, remember back in chapter 4 when he offered a woman water that would satisfy eternally? Both bread and water: Jesus satisfies comprehensively. Both our soul-hunger and our soul-thirst and every other deep need we can imagine are fully, completely satisfied in him alone. As Augustine famously wrote, our hearts are restless until they rest in him.
I know one thing that’s true about every one of us: that truth doesn’t hit us hard enough. We don’t yet rely on Christ enough. Being nourished by the bread of life is radically different indeed from being nourished by anything else! Truly nothing else manages to satisfy. But if we put our faith in Christ alone and look to him as our God and our delight, he is certainly faithful to offer us an eternal life filled with total, overflowing soul satisfaction. Jesus is the bread of life. So this worship chorus should be always on our lips—“give me Jesus; give me Jesus; you can have all this world, but give me Jesus.”
