The Gospel according to John 6:24-35
24When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were [beside the sea,] they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” 28Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
If you go on a diet, one of the first things dietitians say is eliminate or moderate eating bread. The dietitians will tell you, bread is full of carbs. And if you don’t burn it off, it will stick with you as body fat. So, I hear in one ear: “Don’t eat bread!” and I hear in the other ear: “I am the bread of life!” Truly, I get a little confused.
If you are confused too, here is what make sense to me: Bread is full of carbs. In fact, it is a good amount of carb energy. So, if you ate bread and you worked the fields or some other type of labor, you would need the high level of carbs. You would burn them off during the day. Bread is not a bad food, in fact it is the best food loaded with energy producing carbs that will sustain physical activity all day long. To say it another way, if you could eat one thing and you wanted to get the best energy possible from what you ate, you would be alright if you chose bread.
When Jesus says he is the bread of life. He is saying he is the best food to give you the most energy or “spiritual understanding” that you are going to get. Jesus is the bread that sustains us and helps us grow. Jesus is the spiritual root of who we are. When we listen to him, we are the best we can be as a human person. We are more compassionate and emphatic. We are humbler and more gracious. We are more selfless and generous. We are more Christlike.
God sent Jesus to us to show us a new way to connect with him. Jesus announces the forgiveness of God; he announces that God loves us and wants a relationship with us. These messages from Jesus sustain us, give us energy, and help our faith to grow. Just like bread does for our bodies, Jesus does for our minds and hearts.
So today, know how fundamentally important it is to have Jesus in our life. He gives us the energy to live a life in Jesus’ name.
Pastor Gerry