miracle of the manna, and hinted that, if He expected them to accept
Him, He must do as Moses had done, or something like it. Probably
there was a Jewish tradition in existence then to the effect that the
Messiah was to repeat the miracle of the manna. But, at all events,
Christ lays hold of the reference that they put into His hands, and He
said in effect, 'Manna? Yes; I give, and am, the true Manna.'

So this is the third of the instances in this Gospel in which our Lord
pointed to Old Testament incidents and institutions as symbolising
Himself. In the first of them, when He likened Himself to the ladder
that Jacob saw, He claimed to be the Medium of communication between
heaven and earth. In the second of them, when He likened Himself to
the brazen serpent lifted in the camp, He claimed to be the Healer of
a sin-stricken and poisoned world. And now, with an allusion both to
the miracle and to the Jewish demand for the repetition of the manna
sign, He claims to be the true Food for a starving world. So there are
three things in my text: Christ's claim, His requirements, and His
promise; the bread, the eating, the issues.

I. Here is a claim of Christ's.

As I have already said, in the whole wonderful conversation of which I
have selected a portion for my text, there is a double reference to
the miracle of the loaves and of the manna. What our Lord means to
assert for Himself is that which is common to both of these--viz. that
He supplies the great primal wants of humanity, the hunger of the
heart. There may be another reference also, which I just notice
without dwelling upon it. Barley loaves were the coarsest and least
valuable form of bread. They were not only of little worth, but
altogether inadequate to feeding the five thousand. The palates,