6:32-34
Jesus then makes another of His “truly, truly” claims. First He corrects their misunderstanding of Moses. It was not Moses who had given them the manna from heaven but God Himself (Exodus 16:4). In some ways this was a small mistake to make, but it was now having big consequences, distorting what they were expecting from God. So this was their first mistake. Then we come to the second, and perhaps more important mistake. The people were fixated on the manna, but the manna was only a sign pointing to what was to come, something, or rather someone, much greater. Indeed this was the whole problem for the Jews, they thought the Law was it, when what it was doing was pointing to “it”. Paul in his letters, and the writer of Hebrews make a big play of this on several occasions. So once again we see the consistency of the message in the Bible.
Jesus was the true bread from heaven. He will claim this explicitly in verse 35. For now in verse 33 He says that the bread is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. So Jesus is claiming to come from heaven, to be sent by God, which He has already done, and to give life. Again He has already claimed to be able to do this. So the two key aspects of the Messiah are that He is from heaven (or from the Father), and is life giving.
The people then ask to be given that bread. Like the Samaritan woman and the water of life, they want the bread of life.
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