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{I AM} #2

 “I AM” [the Bread of Life] 

John 6:25-51_ 

 
Most of us love to eat – at birthdays and weddings and holidays and Christmas and New Years and Easter! The people in Jesus’ day loved to eat as well. The one fact about eating that we learn very quickly is that, even if we eat until we are full, a few hours and we’re hungry again! 

 

[Group discussion starter] Talk about your favourite food or favourite restaurant. How do you feel after you have eaten what you enjoy? 

 

One day Jesus feeds a LOT of people by multiplying a few small loaves of bread and a couple of dried fish (John 6:1-14) - but the next day the people are hungry again! Jesus tries to point them (and us) to spiritual nourishment that satisfies our hearts forever... 

 
[Read John 6:25-51] 

 

Do you think the crowd is favourable to Jesus or hostile to him? 
Explain your answer based on statements from the passage. 
 

 

In verses 26-27, Jesus contrasts two appetites – one for physical nourishment and one for spiritual sustenance. How is each appetite satisfied? 
 

 

When the crowd asks how they can please God and do God’s will, Jesus says, “Believe in the one He has sent” (v29). But their response is to ask for a miracle (v30). How is their response similar to the response of our culture to the claims of Christ? 
 

 

How would you explain what Jesus means when he says, “I am the bread of life” (v35, see also v27 & 33)? 

 

Do you think the crowd understands what Jesus is saying? 
Why or why not? 
 

 

How would you describe your daily spiritual diet: healthy and nourishing, junk food, starvation level, same old reheated food?  
Explain the results of this diet in your spiritual life as a whole. 
 

 

In verses 37-40, what does Jesus promise to those who come to him, in faith, for spiritual nourishment? 
 

 

How does the crowd’s understanding of where Jesus came from parallel what they thought about Jesus’ offer of bread (verses 41-42)? 
 

 

Jesus makes some startling claims in this passage: to satisfy our deepest needs and desires, to come from God the Father, to preserve us as his children, to raise our bodies from the dead on the last day, to be the source of eternal life.  
How do these claims compare with what most people, in our society, believe about Jesus? 
 

 

What does Jesus want the people in the crowd that day (and the people in this bible study today) to conclude about who he is? 

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