Tuesday | Week 5
Jesus is the bread of life. It’s a very popular phrase from the Bible that we read about here in John 6, but the depth of that statement cannot be lost on us reading this passage in 2020.
First and foremost, the chapter kicks off with Jesus feeding the 5,000. We know from studying this passage that the actual number could have been as high as 15,000-20,000 after you count the women and children who were present that day. The people enjoyed a great meal, but verse 26 shows us that they may have been more interested in the meal than they were the miracle. Jesus then proceeds to explain to the people that he was the bread of life and references the Old Testament days when God fed the people manna and quail to sustain them in the desert.
One of the famous passages from the Old Testament comes from Deuteronomy 8:3,
“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that come from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus was sharing with the people that he was the bread they were to feed on. How were the people to feed on Jesus (v.40)?
They were to look to Jesus.
They were to believe that he was the one God had sent to save the world.
Believing in Jesus meant potentially sacrificing the status that one had worked most of their life to gain. Believing in Jesus meant potentially fracturing relationships with family and friends who were comfortable with the customs and accepted practices in the Jewish community. Believing in Jesus meant approving of and following a man who wasn’t afraid to hang with tax collectors (Zacchaeus) and other “sinners” that were despised by the consensus.
I pray that in our world of distractions, of “commonly accepted norms” and of personal fleshly battles, we would remain grounded in actively looking to Jesus and in actively believing that he is the Savior of the world. I pray that we would have a Peter response when Jesus calls, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68b-69).