Jesus had important things to say about food. And He used food to demonstrate some of the characteristics of the kingdom of God. Recall that Jesus fed 5,000 people (it was actually many more that that because 5,000 was just the number of men) with five barley loaves and two fish.

4 Now  the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. 

5 Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to  Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?”

6 This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. 

7  Philip answered Him, “Two hundred  denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.” 

8 One of His disciples,  Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 

9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” 

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men  sat down, in number about five thousand. 

11 Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. (John 6:4-11)

Following this miraculous event, Jesus goes into the mountains to be alone and the disciples go down to the sea and get into a boat. After they had rowed a few miles, the skies become dark and the water begins to stir from a strong wind. Then the disciples can’t believe their eyes when they see Jesus coming to them, walking on the water. Then when the people who were following Jesus saw that He and the disciples were not there they got into small boats and sailed to Capernaum seeking Jesus. Now the people knew Jesus did not leave in the boat with the disciples. So when they find Him they want to know how He got there. But Jesus wants to talk about bread. And this is where we pick up the narrative.

25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “ Rabbi, when did You get here?” 

26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you  seek Me, not because you saw  signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

[The way to eternal life is through covenant. Jesus is going to talk to the people about covenant, but they do not understand.]

28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” 

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is  the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He  has sent.”

30 So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a  sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? 

31 “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” 

32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.

33 “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”

34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always  give us this bread.” 

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me  will never thirst.

36 “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.” (John 6:25-36)

The people heard what Jesus was saying, but not with spiritual ears, therefore they did not understand. Remember that Jesus only spoke to the people with parables. Jesus then continues to speak of covenant and eternal life.

37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me [to make covenant] I will certainly not cast out.

38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but  raise it up on the last day.

40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him [repents and makes covenant] will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

41 Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that  came down out of heaven.”

42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” (John 6:37-40)

The people were confused by these words because they could only hear with physical ears. Jesus then again likens Himself as the mana God sent down from heaven.

43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.

44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him [according to Ephesians 2:8-9]; and I will  raise him up on the last day.

[For  by grace you have been saved  through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)]

45 “It is written  in the prophets, ‘ And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

46 “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.

47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes [repents and enters the covenant with Jesus]  has eternal life.

48 “I am the bread of life.

49 “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

50 “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

51 “I am the living bread that  came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” [Jesus gave His fleshly body … the bread of the covenant … so that whoever chooses to enter His covenant will gain the eternal life of the covenant.] 

52 Then the Jews  began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”  (John 6:43-52)

 The people by this time are thoroughly confused. Jesus continues, but the Jews are not understanding. And Jesus does not tell them that He is speaking about entering the eternal covenant because to do so would be to reveal that which is reserved for those who believe.

53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood [the bread and wine of the eternal covenant more commonly called communion], you have no life in yourselves.

54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life [the outcome of the covenant with Jesus], and I will  raise him up on the last day.

55 “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.

56 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. [‘I in you and you in me’ is the objective of a blood covenant. Therefore, eating His flesh and drinking His blood … the bread and wine of the covenant of the covenant-making meal … is to make covenant with Jesus.]

57 “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.

58 “This is the [covenant] bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this [covenant] bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58)

The above verses are not only about food, but also covenant. The food part of the message is what we read or hear with our physical eyes or ears ears. But like the graphic at the top of the article has two words, Jesus’ message has two topics. The hidden part of the His message is covenant. Jesus is declaring that he is the way to the covenant and therefore also eternal life.

The Jews who heard these words of Jesus were confounded because the did not have ears to hear. They wondered how Jesus could give them His flesh to eat. They did not even consider that Jesus was speaking to them with a parable. Jesus was, of course, teaching the people with a parable as was His custom. He wasn’t suggesting that the Jews who were listening to Him should become cannibals, but that they needed to consume His message, that is believe it, and make it a part of their being. That’s true repentance.

That’s why food is an important concept. When we eat food, it goes inside of us and becomes part of who we are. And when two or more people eat the same food, a bond is formed. The covenant meal is important for this reason. Consider Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It wasn’t listening to the serpent that was their downfall, it was eating the forbidden fruit. Their act of eating was what formed their covenant bond with Satan. This kind of intermingling of lives could only be accomplished through a blood covenant. His reference to Him being the bread that comes down from heaven speaks of a covenant meal that foreshadows the Last Supper where the disciples ate the same bread which Jesus said was His body.

The Jews of that day were for the most part not in a place to perceive what Jesus was saying with this or His other parables. Their spiritual eyes and ears were closed and were blocking their ability to understand spiritual things. And remember this: everything Jesus spoke to the people was in parables.

33 With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it; 

34 and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples. (Mark 4:33-34)

Verse 34 tells us that Jesus only speaks in parables. This statement is itself a parable. Through it we learn how God communicates with the people of His creation. It is through parables. The Bible is God’s written communication to mankind. That is why I say the Bible is actually a parable. It contains a multitude of stories of people and nations. But Jesus said that the Scriptures were about Him. 

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.” (John 5:39)

So we see that the Scripture stories of the nation of Israel and of the people actually tell us about Jesus. Therefore, they are all parables. And I contend that all of the Bible is a huge parable that contains a multitude of parables.

The last part of Mark 34 quoted above is also a parable in that it shows us the way God’s people, those who are in covenant with Jesus Christ, understand the parables of the Bible by means of Jesus explaining them to them. This is accomplished through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

To understand the Bible’s parables is critical to understanding the Bible. The fact that parables exist in the Bible, and that Jesus spoke with parables to the people (not some of the time, but all of the time) is actually a parable. When you understand why parables are employed in the Bible, you will have discovered a key to understanding the whole Bible for yourself.

When Jesus spoke to the people with parables, He knew most of them would not understand. In fact, His disciples didn’t understand the parables either. That form of teaching seems to us to be counter-intuitive. Our teaching plan would be to deliver our message as clearly and directly as possible so our students would understand. Jesus explains His rationale to the disciples when they asked Him the meaning of the parable of the sower.

10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 

11  Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven [by understanding the parables of the Bible], but to them it has not been granted.

12 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what [little] he has shall be taken away from him.

13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while  seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

[Jesus speaks to them in parables because they are not in a spiritual place to understand. If He had spoken to them by telling them the meaning of His parables, they would have had knowledge of the meaning of the parables, but not understand of them. And even after knowing the meaning of the parables, the people would not have been in a place to understand Jesus’ parables unless He explained them. Their spiritual position would have remained unchanged. Jesus was interested in changing hearts not making people smart. That is still His mission today.]

14 “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;

15 For the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and the have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart [we understand with our heart] and return [repent], and I would heal them‘

16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

17 “For truly I say to you that  many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Matthew 13:10-17)

So we see that Jesus spoke to the people in parables, not so they would not understand, but because understanding is spiritual and only those who were in a right spiritual place could understand. Most of the people did not understand because their hearts were bound to the ways of the world as well as to the rules, regulations, rituals and traditions of manmade religion which were taught to them by their religious leaders. Keep in mind these are the same leaders Jesus repeatedly called hypocrites.  Since we are born with a physical, fleshly nature, it is necessary, therefore, that we change the attitude of our heart by becoming born again so our spiritual eyes and ears will be opened and we will be in a place to understand the parables of the Bible.

There is a parable in Jesus’ explanation of the parables to the disciples. Jesus is showing us how His disciples of His day and those who follow them will come to understand the parables of the Bible. When Jesus explained the parables to the disciples He did so in the role of the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus explained the parables to the disciples, the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Christ) explains the meaning of the Bible to His disciples today. Understanding the parables of the Bible is to understand the Bible for yourself as it is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit

May God open you hearts and minds to understand the parables,

Peter Giardina