JESUS said: "He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. . . . Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." The sixth chapter of John's Gospel, in which these words occur, is a vivid recital of certain incidents in the second year of Jesus' public ministry, which incited the Jews to plan his apprehension. He had been demonstrating that disease is healed by spiritual means only. Then, when people followed him into the wilderness, he considered their human need, and by feeding them demonstrated the omnipresence of divine Love.
His followers' lack of comprehension of the true significance of this deed expressed itself in an attempt to crown Jesus their temporal king. A little later, after another period of spiritual exaltation, he proved the nothingness of time and space and material law, not only for himself but for them also, by walking on the water to his disciples, and by instantly bringing their boat to the land whither they were going. Yet, after this, the multitude asked him for a sign by which to establish his divine authority! Their materiality revolted when he taught them that the supplying of the loaves and fishes had a deeper meaning than merely the satisfying of their material hunger; that his teaching was to them the "bread of life;" and that his divine mission was to do the perfect will of God.
It is just as important for us to-day as it was for the early followers of the Master to gain the spiritual meaning of his words. However, now we have not only Jesus' words, but the spiritual illumination of them given to us through the works of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. In her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," she says (p. 25): "The material blood of Jesus was no more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed upon 'the accursed tree,' than when it was flowing in his veins as he went daily about his Father's business. His true flesh and blood were his Life; and they truly eat his flesh and drink his blood, who partake of that divine Life."
