Reading the Gospel of John 6:24-35

‘I am the bread of life.’

This passage from John 6: 24-35 is included in the revised common lectionary provided by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. The text is from the NRSV.

You can hear a recording of this passage by the author here.

Reading the Gospel aloud invites the audience to experience human encounters with the divine as revealed in the Bible. We can leave interpretation and meaning to members of the clergy and other scholars. What we are most interested in as lay readers is the human experience found in the narrative.

First Impressions:

What is happening in this reading?  What are those participating in the events recounted in the reading experiencing?

A crowd pursues Jesus. But rather than evading them, Jesus patiently confronts the crowd with what may be uncomfortable truths. Not exactly what they are looking for or expect.

The crowd seeks Jesus, the person. They seek signs from him. But Jesus tells them what they really seek is relief from the hunger they feel for an eternal life.

A dialogue ensues, one to many.  A chorus of voices from the crowd questions Jesus.  What work must they do?  What work does Jesus do?  Still, they want signs. Like the manna from heaven. It’s a curious mixture of emotional need and intellectual sparing on the part of the crowd.

Jesus tells them he is the bread of life. How strange that must sound to be standing before a man who says, “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.”

How natural it is for the crowd to respond, “Then give us signs that prove to us what you say is true.”  Here is the gap between faith and certainty.

The crowd wants to believe and be certain at the same time.

Text Analysis

Here we are looking for key words or phrases.

This is a dialogue between Jesus and the world. The most repeated phrase is “they said…”  There is a chorus of voices. Everyone seeks Jesus and has questions for him.

“When did you come here?”  i.e. did we miss anything?

The next most often repeated phrase is “Jesus answered them…”  Jesus is the answer.

The voices of the crowd are searching, open, hungry for answers, but still uncertain, skeptical. They want signs. Proofs.

What Jesus offers them is experience. Jesus’ voice is calm and certain. Not signs, but “You ate your fill.”  You had the experience of not hungry. Not thirsty.  That is an experience I can give you always.

That is what we offer as readers. Experience over reason.

 Reading this passage aloud

What we want the audience to experience.

As in previous passages there’s a sense of urgency on the part of the crowd. Jesus remains something of an enigma. They don’t always know where he is, what he is doing, or understand what he says.  The crowd is trying to work through the issues.  They are like reporters. Trying to ask the tough questions.  Trying to understand.

The crowd actually speaks with many voices. They represent everyone who seeks and has questions. So, try different tacts as you read each question: quick, probing, reasoning, etc.

Jesus is patient and gives them their lede: “I am the bread of life.” Slow and clear so that all get the sound bite. I am the one on whom God the father has set his seal.  This is a brave thing for Jesus to say to a large crowd in a public setting.

This is truly a bold encounter.

 What do you hear in this passage?