The Word of The Week: The bread that comes down

from heaven is not just a bread which nourishes the body, but one

which gives renewed life ‑ be this in the form of energy and purpose

(as we see in the story of Elijah) or in the form of a gift of eternal

life. As Jesus continues his discourse on the Bread of Life, he faces

the complaints and criti-cism of the crowd, who take a very

short-sighted view of what he says, and affirms for them that true

life, a life the will never end, is found in him, he is the one who has

come from the Father, and so is the living bread which gives life.

Jesus here makes an explicit link between “belief” and “eating the

bread of life”: the two lead to each other, and they both bring about

that which man most desires ‑ to live for ever. The Response to the

Psalm in many ways sums this up: ‘Taste and see that the Lord is

good.’