"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, hath everlasting life: I am that bread of life. Your fathers did" indeed "eat manna in the wilderness, and" yet "are dead." " The manna in the wilderness, therefore, however miraculous, could not be truly that bread from heaven of which Jesus spake: for "this is" the property of "the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and, the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give," not for the temporal preservation of a few individuals, but "for the" eternal. "life of the" whole "world." x In these words, Christ gave a plain prophecy of his own death, as an atonement for sin. But this doctrine appeared still more unintelligible, to many of the Jews, than the preceding. They put their own construction on the figurative words of Christ, as if he should give the flesh of his body to be eaten : and "strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus, in reply, adopted their own interpretation of his words, repeated his former declaration in still more forcible terms, and, continu ing the same metaphor, added the circumstance of drinking his blood, as necessary to salvation. He spake figuratively of that partaking in the atonement, purchased by the sacrifice of his body which was given, and his blood which was shed, and of that future communion with him, which is promised to true believers; at the same time plainly intimating the nature of the rite, which he should afterwards institute, in commemoration of the sacrifice which he had just predicted." "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me."" Having thus declared, in language sufficiently intelligible, although figurative, the nature of that true bread from heaven, Jesus, in conclusion, repeats the terms of his first proposition; "This is that bread which" See Waterland on the Eucharist; chap. vi. • John vi. 53...57. 66 really came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." b Now, upon reviewing the natural and unforced allusion, made by our Lord, to the manna which the Israelites did eat in the wilderness, it may certainly admit of much doubt, whether it were intended by him to indicate any designed connection between that bread, which was given from heaven, and himself. It must be remembered, as was before noticed, that the circumstance in the Jewish history is not selected by Christ, and explicitly applied to himself. The mention of it naturally arises from the discourse in which he is engaged. It is first suggested by the Jews themselves, and its developement is made in those points, which their successive objections unfold. Neither must the figure, by which his instruction is first delivered, be considered as one which was new and strange to his hearers. This discourse was made in the synagogue, whither the Jews resorted to hear the Scriptures. The images presented in the phraseology of their sacred books, and preserved in the traditional learning of their scribes, would be fresh in their minds. They had heard the words, which Solomon ascribes to the person John vi. 58. of Divine Wisdom; "Wisdom hath builded her house....she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled." And they knew that the meaning of the invitation was, that they should "forsake the foolish and live: and go in the way of understanding." They had been familiarised to the forcible imagery of Isaiah. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price." also the exposition of this f e And they knew invitation, given "Incline your ear, by the prophet himself; and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live." And the interpretations of their law, abounded in similar expressions. The Jews, therefore, who heard the words of Christ, exhorting them to "labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life," would well understand instruction, conveyed in words adapted to their previous conceptions and habits of thought. e Prov. ix. 1...5. e Isai. lv. 1. See Whitby on 1 Cor. x. 3. d Prov. ix. 6. 1 Ver. 3. Our Lord himself, on other occasions, took advantage of the circumstances in which he was placed, in order to introduce his instruction under the same familiar image, or by allusions of a similar kind. To the woman of Samaria he proposed the saving doctrines of the Gospel, by the figure of "living water," suggested by the subject of their conversation. Jesus said unto her, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life." Soon after, when "his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat;" his reply was, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of." "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." i h Again, Jesus was in the synagogue on the feast of tabernacles. The eighth and last day of the feast was come, which the traditions of the Jews had invested with peculiar solemnity. The water from the pool of Siloam was collected in the golden vessel, and brought with the voice of the people, crying, "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation," and with singing, and with the sound of the trumpet, to the priest; who h John iv. 13, 14. i John iv. 31, 32, 34. |