"35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never 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 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes 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 that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die."
John 6:35-50
These verses develop our Lord's argument. Not only does He give the bread of life to men, He is that bread. And, therefore, it is in a personal relationship with Him that souls are fed and satisfied. The bread of life is not a blessing we receive, it is Himself. Nor is this anybody's simply for the asking (34), but only for those who are drawn by the Father to the Son (37, 39, 40). Belief in the Son is possible to men because He is incarnate, and can be seen by them (36), yet, though they have seen Him they have not believed. This is ultimately a mystery, to be understood in terms of divine, electing grace (37ff). The Jews murmured at His words (41), making clear that what was said in 34 was a complete misunderstanding of the situation. They knew Him, they said, but their knowledge was a knowledge after the flesh, not a spiritual discernment of Who He was, and therefore not true, saving knowledge at all. Belief in the Son (44) is the work of the Father, as Isaiah says in 54:13. What our Lord adds in 45b is an extremely important statement, particularly in relation to what we sometimes call comparative religion. The test of the truth of any religion is ultimately its attitude to Christ. If any man - be he Hindu, Muslim, Taoist or animist - has been truly taught of God, then they will truly respond to Christ as soon as they hear of Him. This applies alike to the Jews, and to all religious folk who claim they worship God. If they do so truly, they will embrace Christ; if they do not come to Him, it means that the God they have been worshipping is not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the true and living God. This is the great, the conclusive test: 'What think ye of Christ?'