This passage of teaching seems to go totally over the heads of those who were listening to Jesus, and it’s not a big jump that kids concrete thinking could risk us doing the same thing. Kids struggle with transference, the ability to transfer a quality of one thing to another, developmentally they aren’t there, but they can cope well with symbolism. The people in this story seem to confuse the two. Jesus stops their clumsy understanding and goes back to the basic symbol before starting them down the right transference path. If you can take some time to talk about sharing the bread and wine in church services, that would help to solidify the symbol in their heads. If your kids’ ages are already in double digits, they can probably run with the transference, and you can start to draw lines on how Jesus could be ‘like’ bread.
This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.
Main Passage : John6
Jesus was becoming a celebrity. So far, people had rushed around the sea of Galilee to follow him and Jesus had fed thousands of them with just a tiny packed lunch! Then, he had walked on the water to meet his friends in the boat, and now they were back home in Capernaum. When the crowds realized what had happened, they found boats to bring them back to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
When Jesus heard they were coming, he sighed. He really wanted to teach them all about God, but he knew they just wanted free food. When the crowd got there, Jesus started to teach them.
“I am the bread of life, come down from heaven” Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
“Did he say he came from heaven” mumbled one man?
“I know his dad Joseph and his mother Mary” mumbled another
“What does he mean by saying he comes from heaven, he comes from Nazareth” argued a third?
“What does ‘Bread of Life’ even mean,” argued a forth?
“Wasn’t bread from heaven the manna our people ate long ago in the desert?” said a young man.
“Never hungry or thirsty sounds good, who cares about the rest, I want some of that bread” shouted a thin old man.
Soon the whole crowd was arguing about the words Jesus had said.
“Enough!” shouted Jesus over the noise. “Stop complaining”
“I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate heaven sent bread ‘manna’ in the desert, remember, but they died. I am the living bread sent from heaven. Eat this bread and you will live. The bread I will give will be me, my body. I will do this for everyone in the whole world.”
Even Jesus’ friends looked confused. They, too, were searching, not to fill their stomachs but to fill the empty places in their heart, and the bread Jesus would give them would never leave them feeling empty again.
Today’s hero is Jesus because he shows us the gift of Bread.
