Bread of life
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The words I am the bread of life ( ancient Greek ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς ) belong to a pictorial speech of Jesus ( Joh 6,35 EU ). It is the first of a series of seven “I am” words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of John . Further examples of such I-am-words are the sayings of Jesus “ I am the good shepherd ” ( Jn 10.11 EU ) or “ I am the true vine ” ( Jn 15.1 EU ).
context
The talk of the bread of life follows on from the feeding of the five thousand . When the people came to Jesus again the next day, he asked them to “get food that is not perishable” ( Jn 6 : 26-27 EU ). When people then asked what they should do to “do God's work”, Jesus replied that they should believe in him whom God has sent ( Jn 6: 28-29 EU ). As his audience then it on the Manna appeal that the Israelites after the Exodus from Egypt ate in the desert as "bread from heaven" ( Jn 6.30 to 31 EU ), Jesus answered that not Moses gave this bread but that God give them “the true bread from heaven”. This bread of God gives life to the world ( Joh 6,32-34 EU ). The people then asked him to always give them such bread, to which Jesus replied:
"I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not go hungry; and whoever believes in me will never thirst again. "
interpretation
With the utterance of the self-designation as bread of life, Jesus lifts the veil that lay over his previous speech and explains the meaning of the bread in this speech. Jesus Christ himself is the bread that was spoken of. Whoever believes in him will (as it says in verse 40) "have eternal life". The manna that God gave at the time of the old covenant was only a distant announcement of what is now becoming a reality: the gift of bread that truly comes from heaven and can therefore really fulfill what is granted life in earthly bread has already been created.
reception
Jesus' words “Ego sum panis vivus” (“I am the living bread”) introduced a 15th century declaration of the Mass for Holy Mass .
Johann Heermann wrote in his chorale Herr Jesu Christe, mein faithful Shepherd (EG 217) in verse 2 in 1630 : "All other food and drink is completely in vain, you are the bread of life yourself."
The picture is also included in Johann Franck's often edited chorale Schmücke dich, o dear soul (1649, EG 218) in the final verse: "Jesus' true bread of life".
The autobahn chapel on the “Heseper Moor” car park of the federal autobahn 31 (Emden – Bottrop) is called “Jesus - Bread of Life” .
In 1976 the Catholic community Bread of Life was founded.
- additional
The French film Bread of Life was shot in 1955.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stuttgart Explanatory Bible. 2nd edition, German Bible Society, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-438-01121-2 , p. 1340.
- ↑ Kurt Illing: Explanation of the measurement. In: Author's Lexicon . Volume V, Col. 443-446; here: col. 443 f.