5 Jesus said to the crowd, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe. 37 All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw 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 my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. 40 This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

John 6:35-40 - World English Bible

In John 6:35, Jesus declared his origin and mission in one phrase: "I am the bread of life." To expand the analogy, bread came from a baker (in this case, the Father) and was consumed by the customer (in this case, the believer); the contents of bread (the Christ) gave sustenance that supported life. However, the analogy broke down with the type of life sustained. The Lord came to give eternal life; to receive this life required more than the physical activity of chewing; it required faith.

The phrase could also be translated: "I AM the living bread." This view emphasized the origin and mission of the Christ as divine. The evangelist employed the phrase "I AM" to refer to YHWH; he also used the adjective "living" as a modifier to indicate the active nature of YHWH's revelation ("living" stressed God as the One who works in history more than an omnipresent being to contemplated). Translated this way, God, in the person of the Son, acted in the world to share his life with the faithful. Since his life was unending, the believer would rise on the last day and also live forever.

When you receive Communion, do you reflect on living bread that came from "I AM?"