TWICE, JESUS TELLS THE CROWD, “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE” (Jn. 6:35, 48) — and the image glows with the radiance of moonlight, giving us a surprising glimpse of the feminine face of Christ.
The twin proclamations reveal the essence of the “Bread of Life Discourse” (Jn. 6:25-59). The evangelist has Jesus deliver this discourse to a crowd of followers in Capernaum on the day after he fed five thousand of them with five loaves and two fish. The discourse both interprets and amplifies the meaning of the miraculous feeding.
When the crowd asks Jesus to work another sign, they refer to the Exodus miracle of the manna, the “bread from heaven,” that their ancestors ate (Jn. 6:30-31). Jesus replies, “[T]he bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world … I am the bread of life” (vv. 33, 35).
In other words, Jesus shifts the exchange to the symbolic mode by telling the crowd he is the true manna (see also vv. 41, 49-51). His metaphor says we realize eternal life by integrating Jesus spiritually (and ritually), a process that is symbolically akin to the Israelites accessing the life-giving properties of the bread from heaven by physically eating it.
Once introduced into the discussion, the symbolically rich manna tradition evokes echoes of the equally rich wisdom tradition. Nehemiah, for example, refers to manna as an instructing spirit (9:20). In Deuteronomy, Moses says we do not live “by bread alone, but by every word … from the mouth of God” (8:3). Giving life and guidance are among the functions attributed to Lady Wisdom (Sophia) as she is described and personified in the Jewish wisdom literature.
In our text, Jesus says those who come to him will never be hungry or thirsty (Jn. 6:35). This saying not only alludes to Sophia’s claim that those who “eat” and “drink” of her will “hunger” and “thirst” for more (Sir. 24:21), but also suggests an identity of Jesus with Sophia in which he now fulfills what was earlier only a promise. The identity of Jesus and Sophia is reinforced in John’s Eucharistic allusions to the bread of life as the “flesh” of Jesus, in a passage where his “blood” clearly implies Eucharistic wine (Jn. 6:53-58). When flesh and blood are transposed back to the ritual bread and wine, this “hard saying” of Jesus calls to mind Sophia’s words of invitation, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed” (Prov. 9:5).
Thus, the symbolism of the Bread of Life Discourse shows Jesus to be the incarnation of Sophia. So, we need to understand who Lady Wisdom is. Proverbs 8 portrays her as God’s co-worker in the creation (see Prov. 8:22-31, my Mist on a Breeze #3 posted 11/29/20). The Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach suggest she is a child of God and all but divine herself (see Wis. 7 & 8, my Mist on a Breeze #2 posted 11/25/20, and Sir. 24:1-22). Throughout the biblical wisdom literature, Sophia, Lady Wisdom, is praised as an agent of God’s providence, God’s grace, and God’s salvation (for the latter, see especially Wis. 10:1-19, 11:1).
Because all of Sophia’s attributes are also attributes of Christ, we can see now how the Bread of Life discourse reveals Christ’s feminine face. In order to see this face, of course, we need to be able to “read” the depth of meaning in the symbolic images. When we have the eyes to see, however, Christ as Wisdom comes into view, a “moon shadow” dancing in the moonlight glow. She is a fitting complement to the solar glory of the masculine Logos (the Word) in the gospel’s prologue (Jn. 1:1-5, 14), bringing balance and wholeness to our image of Christ.
If you’d like to see more of the feminine face of Christ, please read my book, Moonlight Shines in the Darkness. Click here to learn more about it.
Soul Spirit Wisdom 