The day after the miracle of feeding the five thousand, many sought Jesus, “not because [they] saw the miracles, but because [they] did eat of the loaves,” and their hunger returned (John 6:26). The Savior taught them, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger” (John 6:35). This lesson can help you identify ways that you can come to the Savior to have Him fill your spiritual needs.
Writing exercises. Inviting students to respond to thought-provoking questions in writing can help them deepen and clarify their thoughts. As students respond to questions in writing before sharing their thoughts with the class, they have time to formulate their ideas and receive impressions from the Holy Ghost.
Student preparation. Invite students to think about how Jesus Christ is symbolically like bread and to come prepared to share their insights.
Possible Learning Activities
“I am the bread of life”
Consider bringing bread (and, if needed, an alternative for students who cannot consume gluten) for students to eat. Display the following questions for students to see as they come in. Invite them to use their thoughts from the student preparation activity to help them throughout the lesson.
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Bread
How much bread do you think you could eat?
Regardless of how much bread you eat right now, what will eventually happen?
When the Savior fed over five thousand people using only five loaves of bread and two fishes, some responded to this miracle by seeking Him for another meal rather than for spiritual reasons (see John 6:5–14; Joseph Smith Translation, John 6:26 [in John 6:26, footnote a]). Jesus corrected those seeking Him for more bread instead of seeking Him for eternal life. They questioned His identity and ability to give them eternal life (see John 6:30, 41–42).
Read John 6:32, 35 to see how the Savior corrected the people. Consider marking in your scriptures the Savior’s titles “the true bread from heaven” and “the bread of life.” You could add these titles to your journal entry called “Titles and Roles of Jesus Christ.” (You might have started this entry during the lesson on John 1:1–51.)
Why do you think the Savior would refer to Himself as “the true bread from heaven” or “the bread of life”?
John 6:35 teaches that if we come to Jesus Christ and believe on Him, He can satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst.
Consider writing or displaying the following questions on the board.
Respond to the following questions in your study journal:
What are some of the reasons that you need Jesus Christ daily? In what ways are you currently spiritually “hungry”?
What are you currently doing to seek the Savior’s help to satisfy that hunger? What is going well? What isn’t?
As you continue your study, seek the influence of the Holy Ghost to help you identify ways you can come to the Savior to have Him fill your spiritual hunger. Read John 6:47–58, looking for what the Savior invites us to do and what He promises in return. Consider how these invitations and promises help you better understand how to receive the Savior’s gift of satisfying your spiritual hunger and thirst. You may also want to watch “I Am the Bread of Life,” located on ChurchofJesusChrist.org, from time code 3:20 to 5:08 and follow along in your scriptures. Consider creating a chart like the following to help you.
Consider displaying this chart on the board and filling it out together as a class. Some of the Savior’s invitations are to believe on Him (John 6:47) and to eat the bread of life (verse 51). Some promises include living forever (verse 50) and having Him dwell in us (verse 56).
The Savior’s invitations
The Savior’s promises
What do His invitations and promises teach you about Him?
The account of Enos in the Book of Mormon illustrates how the Savior can satisfy our spiritual hunger. Consider inviting students to read Enos 1:1–8 and to share what they discover. Students could discuss what Enos did to have his hunger satisfied and how the Lord blessed Enos. Students could also reflect on how the example of Enos can help them receive spiritual nourishment from the Bread of Life.
Partaking of the Savior’s flesh and blood
Many people who heard the Savior’s sermon had questions about what it meant to eat the Savior’s flesh and drink His blood (see John 6:52, 60).
Read the following statement by Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to better understand what the Savior’s words mean and how we can accept His invitation.
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Elder D. Todd Christofferson
To eat His flesh and drink His blood is a striking way of expressing how completely we must bring the Savior into our life—into our very being—that we may be one. …
… We partake of His flesh and drink His blood when we receive from Him the power and blessings of His Atonement.
The doctrine of Christ expresses what we must do to receive atoning grace. It is to believe and have faith in Christ, to repent and be baptized, and to receive the Holy Ghost, “and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost” [2 Nephi 31:17 ]. …
I have spoken of receiving the Savior’s atoning grace to take away our sins and the stain of those sins in us. But figuratively eating His flesh and drinking His blood has a further meaning, and that is to internalize the qualities and character of Christ, putting off the natural man and becoming Saints “through the atonement of Christ the Lord” [Mosiah 3:19]. …
… To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ means to pursue holiness.
How would you explain what it means to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God?
When have you or others followed Elder Christofferson’s counsel and felt the Savior satisfy spiritual hunger? What did you do in these experiences that you feel invited the Savior to satisfy that hunger?
Imagine that you were present during the Savior’s sermon in John 6:22–58. Write a journal entry as if you had been there. Include the following in your entry:
What you learned about the Savior and what you learned from Him
Any experiences that you have had when Jesus Christ has provided for your spiritual needs (or any experiences that others have had)
Actions that the Holy Ghost impressed you to take and why
If there is time, encourage students to share their entries with the class or in partnerships or small groups. Consider concluding with a testimony of the Savior as the Bread of Life and inviting students to bear testimony as well.
Commentary and Background Information
Why might Jesus have focused the people on their spiritual needs rather than on their physical ones?
While serving as a member of the Seventy, Elder Carlos H. Amado taught:
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Elder Carlos H. Amado
As a Church we should feed the hungry, relieve the sick, clothe the naked, and give shelter to the destitute. With fast offerings we alleviate the basic and immediate needs of the members, and with the welfare plan we help meet their long-term needs. When there are natural disasters, through humanitarian service we provide assistance for our brothers and sisters who are not of our faith.
Without neglecting these temporal needs, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by commandment of the Lord, maintains the most sublime and lofty labor of service, which is to bless all men by teaching them the doctrine of Christ and inviting them to receive the saving ordinances so that they might gain “immortality and eternal life” (Moses 1:39).
John 6:56. What did the Savior mean when He taught that He would dwell in us?
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:
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Elder David A. Bednar
It is one thing to know that Jesus Christ came to earth to die for us—that is fundamental and foundational to the doctrine of Christ. But we also need to appreciate that the Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to live in us—not only to direct us but also to empower us.
The Father desires all to come to His Son to be saved
Consider inviting students to study John 6:39–40 and to cross-reference these verses with Moses 1:39 and John 3:16–17. Invite them to ponder how these verses help them better understand Heavenly Father’s desire to save all His children. They could focus on what these verses and the promises in them teach about Heavenly Father and the mission of Jesus Christ as the Bread of Life.
John 6:24–27, 48–50. Choosing the spiritual or eternal over the worldly or temporal
Consider inviting students to search these verses and to consider reasons why we choose worldly or temporal things over spiritual things. They could cross-reference these verses with scriptures such as 2 Corinthians 4:18, Mosiah 2:41, Doctrine and Covenants 25:10, and others. Consider asking them to analyze their own daily decisions. Invite them to ponder what they know about the Savior and the plan of salvation that could help them focus more on spiritual things. They could identify ways that they could place higher priority on spiritual things than they currently do.
If students would benefit from studying Jesus Christ healing a man at the pool of Bethesda, consider using this learning experience in place of one of the other lessons.
Invite students to read John 5:2–9, looking for each use of the phrase “made whole.” Ask what they think this phrase means. You might also watch the video “Jesus Heals a Lame Man on the Sabbath” (2:23), located on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Discuss with students what they can learn about and from the Savior by His interactions with this man.
Read verse 14, and ask what it adds to their understanding of being “made whole.” In what ways are the effects of unrepented sin “a worse thing” than the man’s debilitating physical condition of 38 years? Help students understand that Jesus Christ, in His wisdom, does not always heal all physical infirmities immediately, just as He did not heal everyone that day (see verse 3). Even so, our loving Savior can and will make all whole from the effects of sin if they repent and exercise faith in Him.
