The significance of “I am”
To you and I, “I am” is a part of our everyday language. I am hungry, I am thirsty, I am tired. Nothing unusual or significant in our use of the phrase. And to be honest there would be nothing unusual about its use in the time of Jesus either except for two things. Firstly you generally didn’t need the personal pronoun “I”. In the languages of the day, the verbs told you who was doing what. You didn’t need to say I or she,or they, the verb carried the person with it.
So you only ever used the pronoun if you wanted to emphasise something. Literally speaking, when Jesus said, “I am the bread of life,” he said “ I, I am the bread of the life.”
The second significant thing about “I am” is that it had strong religious connections for the Jewish people themselves. “I am” was the name by which God introduced himself to Moses, the archetypal prophet leader who spoke to God as one speaks to a friend. No one else matched up to Moses and he was revered amongst the people.
When Jesus used this term about himself the people and the religious leaders knew he was putting himself in place of Moses and even more amazingly he was claiming equality with God.
If it were not true, then it was blasphemy and it outraged the religious leaders of the day.
The story of chapter 6
It’s hard to miss the connection in chapter 6 between the feeding of the five thousand and the conversation about bread, but what has the story of Jesus walking on water got to do with it? Why introduce something so remarkable in the middle of a debate about bread and manna?
The key is Moses as God’s mediator of the old covenant and the status if Jesus as the new Moses, mediator of a new covenant.
For those who know the Biblical story, you will remember that Joshua served as aide to Moses. When he took over the role of leading the people he had to demonstrate that as God was with Moses so he was with Joshua. So, just as Moses had stretched out his staff over the sea and the waters had parted, so too Joshua stands on the bank of the Jordan and God expresses his power through Joshua as the Jordan dries up and the people cross over. Jesus takes authority over water to a new level. Rather than parting it, he walks on its surface. Feeding the five thousand and walking on the water set the scene for the conversation that is to follow.
A new Moses, a new Passover
Moses is mentioned 12 times in John’s gospel. To the Jewish people he was a very important part of their history. He was, as we’ve already mentioned, the key link between God and the people. It was Moses who brought the Ten Commandments, down the mountain, Moses who lead the people out of Egypt and Moses who delivered the design template for the special tent called the Tabernacle.
But John wants us to understand that things are changing because Jesus is here.
In chapter 1 he tells us that the Law came through Moses, rightly so, but now grace and truth have come through Jesus, God’s Son. Moses represents what God did, Jesus represents what God is doing.
The Passover
What did the Passover represent?
#1 Rescue
Israel had been slaves in Egypt and God had rescued them. They had escaped the oppressive regime of Pharaoh, wandered through the wilderness eventually reaching the land God promised them. For Egypt read Rome and the empire. The only difference was that the oppression was happening in their own land. A new Passover would surely bring a new rescue from a new oppressor.
What they didn’t appreciate was that the original exodus, the original escape plan was part of a much bigger picture in the plans of God.
#2 Redemption
The second key aspect of the events marking the first Passover is God’s act of redemption. As the culmination of the demonstration of God’s authority even over the Egyptians, there came the death of the firstborn. The only salvation available was through the blood of the Passover sacrifice, blood that bought back the life of all the firstborn of Israel or any Egyptian who joined them. This wasn’t about becoming an Jew, it was about trusting God.
A new Passover needed to offer not only escape from oppression but redemption from judgement.
Jesus the new Passover
Enter Jesus. Having fed 5,000 and having walked on water he demonstrates his authority over creation and he opens the door to a new rescue package a new offer of redemption. He reminds the people that it wasn’t Moses that gave them the bread form heaven but it was God who worked through Moses; it was God who gave the manna and it was God who had sent the new bread, the true bread from heaven.
“Give us this bread,” cries the crowd, “I, I am the bread,” declares Jesus. “ I am God’s rescue plan, I am your new redemption.”
Of course the religious people didn’t like what Jesus was saying. They grumble and argue, they even accuse Jesus of suggesting some form of cannibalism. But the point Jesus is making is that to benefit from the Passover you had to take part in the Passover. You couldn’t simply give intellectual assent to it. If the first generation of Israelites who escaped form Egypt had not daubed the door posts with the blood of the sacrificed lamb, if they had not taken part in the meal and eaten its meat, they would not have been rescued, they would not have been redeemed.
The Passover is not effective for those who only argue about its significance or debate the proper application of its elements. It works for those who share in it.
Jesus would make this clear when he shared his final Passover meal with the disciples. “This bread,” he would say, “represents my body”, This wine represents my blood.”
Why do we need a Passover?
You may be wondering what all this has to do with you. Do you feel like you need rescuing? Are you aware of a deeper need for redemption. Whether you feel it or not, the Bible says you most definitely need it. And the good news is that God didn’t wait, doesn’t wait, for you to notice your need, he made provision for you through the death and resurrection of Jesus himself.
We need a Passover because whether we recognise it or not, we need rescuing, we need redeeming. The Bible tells us that we’ve all messed up, we’ve all made mistakes, we’ve all failed God.
Jesus makes an interesting observation about how the people responded to him. He said that they were only really interested in getting enough to eat. They wanted all the benefits of his presence but without all the expectations and demands. They wanted cheap grace. Easy access to God’s provision. They were the kind of people who would praise God went things went well, but if things got hard, well maybe they’d look elsewhere.
But grace is not cheap. It was paid for with the highest price, the death of Jesus himself. The apostle Paul reminds us that we are bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus himself.
When the crowd asked Jesus what they must do to respond appropriately to the grace of God, he told them they must believe in the one God sent, the bread of life, Jesus himself.
To believe is to share in the new Passover. Just as they had to trust in the redemptive value of the Passover lamb, they now needed to trust in the redemptive value of Jesus, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” as John described him.
Conclusion
Jesus makes the same offer to you and I that he made to the crowd that day. You can go on trusting the old way,you can go on trusting yourself, or you can choose to trust God’s new way.
If you choose the latter, then the steps are simple and straightforward.
- Step one, acknowledge that you need rescuing.
- Step two accept that only God can rescue you.
- Step three, act in accordance with God’s plan.
