September 1

The Bread of Life  

Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.  ––John 6:53-54

The sticking point was over bread.

No sooner had Jesus performed arguably his greatest miracle yet—feeding 5,000 men (plus women and children) with only five small loaves of bread—that the people were asking for more. Specifically, they wanted to make him king by force (John 6:15), so he fled alone to a nearby mountain. Not finding him around, the disciples left in boats back for Capernaum, only to get caught in a violent storm. Jesus walked on the water, calmed the sea, and rejoined the disciples. The crowd followed him from the far side of the sea and eventually caught up with him.

This time, rather than performing a miracle involving bread, he told them to “not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (John 6: 27).

They responded by saying that their ancestors had received manna from heaven to sustain them. But Jesus told them that “it is not Moses who has given [them] the bread from heaven, but it is [His] Father” (verse 32). And then the zinger: “I am the bread of life. … For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (v. 33, 35, 38).

At this, many in the crowd—including many of Jesus’ disciples (other than the Twelve)—began to grumble. It wasn’t what they wanted to hear. While the Jews were looking for a political and military king to lead and feed them, Jesus was offering them something they had a hard time comprehending. How could they eat His flesh and drink His blood?

Jesus was using hyperbole to drive home a critical point: No one comes to the Father but through the Son. Today we have the benefit of 2,000 years of context and Christian study to wrap our heads around Jesus’ words. The bread of life is a metaphor for the fact that eternal life only comes through Jesus; He is the only “bread” that sustains us spiritually.

As God’s men, we need to understand that most people still seek “manna”—temporary fixes to meet their physical and emotional needs—rather than God’s eternal bread of life. It’s still a hard teaching for folks. But here’s the thing: We are not called to judge them for their ignorance; we are called to use words and actions that point them to the bread of life that sustains and redeems. (Why should we expect non-believers to “just believe” if we don’t show them the Father through our words and actions?)

Who in your sphere of friends, co-workers, and family members is seeking temporary manna for a hunger that can only be satisfied by the bread of life? Pray into those situations and ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to meet people’s felt needs in order to meet their REAL need.

Lord, thank You that You are the bread of life everlasting. Help me be a reflection of Your light to those who do not yet know Jesus.