Jesus spelled it out for us in John 6:51-65. He was frank, brutally so, and very direct. There was no mistaking his message. Pastor Josh made His points quite eloquently. Jesus is the bread of eternal life. Verse 51 also says that the bread that he gives is his flesh. Just prior to this Jesus had fed the Five Thousand with five barley loaves and two fish.(John 6:1-14) It was a miracle.
Jesus left them but they followed and wanted to know why he left. He answers that they are not paying attention (in my own words). He performed miracles and they missed it. Don't follow him just to eat, but realize that you're tagging along after the Son of man who can give you everlasting life. Ignorantly they continue and want to know what they can do. Jesus says it real simple, "believe on him whom he (God) hath sent. Now they want a sign.
Okay. It's beginning to look like Jesus could talk to these folks until he's blue in the face and they won't get it. There's a little discourse on the manna in the wilderness. Jesus is trying to get them to see with their spiritual eyes. He says it. "I am the bread of life:" (John 6:35) He repeats himself "I am that bread of life." (John 6:48) The bread that came down in the wilderness was not living bread. The ones who ate that bread are long gone. Jesus is offering them living bread. If they eat of this bread, they will not die.
This is living bread. Jesus is giving his life (flesh) for the sake of the world. By now, they're getting peevish. Jesus had fed them earlier just like Moses fed their forefathers in the wilderness. Now he was offering them the bread of life and all they could focus on was eating flesh. How repugnant.
Jesus was not asking them to be cannibals. He was asking them to believe on him. Back up to John 6:27. Jesus warns against working for the meat of this world because it will perish. Instead work for the meat that endures forever. Their response: what can they do to work the works of God? He answered, "This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent."
All of that discourse from John 6:24 to 60 was a pointed talk to open the spiritual eyes of those following Jesus. Even the twelve disciples grumbled among themselves. But when Jesus confronted them, Simon Peter spoke up and said that Jesus had the words of eternal life. (John 6:68-69) He got it along with others of the twelve. So, there it is. Jesus is still in the soul-saving business. Today the adversaries are no different now as then. One billionaire is an atheist and the other is a Christian. One believes that Jesus is the bread of life and the other one doesn't. It's a story that has yet to come to a conclusion. But it will. It's in John 6:40. It's called the last day.