My father gives you the true bread from heaven

The discourse on the Bread of Life begins from the citation from the Torah (Law): Moses tells the people of the manna that appeared in the camp of the Israelites, “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat” (Ex 16:15).

The psalmist looks back to the gift of manna, “God rained manna upon them for food; grain from heaven he gave them. Man ate the bread of the angels” (Ps 78:2425).

Jesus says that the “true bread from heaven” is not really manna that God made to appear in the desert.

The Israelites would tire of it, and when they went on sinning, God punished them. The generation that came out of Egypt all died. They were not able to enter the Promised Land except Joshua and Caleb. Jesus tells the Jews to look beyond Moses to the Father who gives the “true manna,” the bread that brings life to the world. And this bread that comes down from heaven is not something but someone — it is Jesus himself.

Later, Jesus will tell the Jews, “I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me” (Jn 8:42). Jesus is the Bread of Life; he is the gift of the Father which satisfies the deepest hunger of human beings.

Gospel • John 6:30-35

The crowd said to Jesus: “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

So they said to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”