Grow Guide | Feb 13, 2022

I AM

John 6:35-56

Connecting Questions 

Do you like bread? If so, what is your favorite kind of bread? 

What do you think is the most essential meal a human needs to survive? 

Context 

We continue our series I AM this week by listening to a conversation that Jesus has with a crowd while he is teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum. This is a fishing village on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee.  

It is important to note that a few big events happened earlier in chapter 6 that set up Jesus’ startling words. First, he feeds 5,000+ people with a boy’s lunch of five loaves and two fish. Second, the people wanted to forcibly make him king, so he hid from them. Third, his disciples got caught in a big storm on the Sea of Galilee and Jesus walked on the water to their boat and got them safely to the other side. Now that he is in Capernaum, the crowd that he fed (that wanted to make him king) are crowded into the synagogue and the religious leaders are nervous. 

It is also important to note that John sets this story in the shadow of the Passover meal (John 6:4). The Passover was the time when Jews celebrated how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt and fed them with manna in the wilderness.  

Look at the Book 

• Read John 6:35-40. 

  • What bold claim does Jesus make about himself? 

  • Whose will is Jesus carrying out? 

  • What does it take to have eternal life? 

• Read John 6:41-51. 

  • Why were the religious leaders (called the Jews) complaining about Jesus? 

  • Who are the people that come to Jesus? How are they different from the leaders? 

  • If you have time, read Exodus 16 to get context for the manna that Jesus mentions. How is Jesus like the bread and the meat that God provided in that story? 

• Read John 6:52-56. 

  • What do you think Jesus meant by the phrase, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you”? 

  • What promise does Jesus make in verse 56? 

  • How would you respond if your teacher made that claim? 

Taking it Home 

• Christians have debated the meaning of Jesus’ body and blood for 2,000 years. Most Christians have reduced it to the practice of sharing communion during worship. It is interesting to note that John does not include the bread and wine in the Last Supper scene (John 13-17). John speaks of Jesus’ body and blood in John 6. List possible ways to interpret the meaning of eating Jesus’ body and drinking his blood. 

• If we think about bread, meat, and water as the essential food for life, how might Jesus be that for us today? 

• According to this story, fill in the blank: Jesus is ___________. 

Learn more at https://cartoonistbible.com/visuals/john-61-71-bread-of-life/