January 30

The Bread of Life

                 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.  I am the bread of life.  Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”  The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”  So Jesus said to them, “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. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.  Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.  Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

John 6:47-58

            Jesus was becoming too popular.  There was free food, great sermons, healings and lots of feel-good experiences each day.  People were beginning to follow Him because the crowd was doing it instead of following Him because they were faithful to His teaching.  He decided to thin out the ranks with some challenging theology…like cannibalism. 

            Was Jesus literally asking the crowd to devour him?  No.  They would have figured that out if they had asked Jesus their questions instead of just asking each other.  Jesus compares himself to manna, sent from God to nourish and sustain His people.  Moses and the Israelites wandered through the desert, completely dependent upon God to provide food for them for decades.  They had no control, no ability to create manna on their own.  They had to trust God and follow where He led if they wanted to live.

            Jesus is the one that sustains us, that feeds our souls and allows us to continue.  Not our careers.  Not our successes.  Not our kids.  Not “Me time” or video games or online chats or binge-watching television series or cooking or shopping or any of the other thousands of things that we do to try to recharge.  Jesus. 

            I had some friends who were expecting their firstborn and we got to talking about how their lives were going to change once they had kids.  Their expectation was that their routine would stay fairly consistent with the couple still starting their days by going out for coffee and journaling in order to listen to what Jesus had to say to them that day.  I smiled and nodded.  No need to be the one to end that dream.

            I have found that my best opportunity to pray and receive from Jesus involves either doing dishes or taking a shower.  Those are the two times that I am home that are minimal on child interruptions.  I will admit that the dishes happen more frequently than the showers, but both of them offer a chance for me to ask Jesus where He is at and what He is doing in the midst of a…stimulating household.  Hearing God’s words for me regenerates me more than hours of Civilization or watching football ever could.

            As the crowd was dispersing, Jesus turned to his disciples and asked if they wanted to leave Him as well.  Peter replied, “Where would we go?  You have the words of eternal life.” Peter knew that there was nowhere else they could go…no one else that they could talk to who would have the wisdom and power and clarity of their master.  His teachings could be confusing and hard, but real life resided in His words.   If we have any desire to hear from Jesus, we need to be creative and intentional about carving out space in our days to hear the words of eternal life.  Empty spaces do not just happen for parents.  We have children awake in our house from 6am through 1am.  Every time that I think that I’ll just get up and pray before they wake up or that I’ll have a quiet time after everyone is down…I get about five words into praying and end up asleep.  I have to get creative.

            We often run on fumes and feel stretched past the point of breaking.  We are so hungry for rest and hope and encouragement and love.  Jesus has all that and more.  He invites us to come to Him, receive from Him, and allow Him to feed and sustain us.  He is the Bread of Life, yesterday, today and forever.

A moment to reflect:

What do you turn to when you are coping with stress?  Today try talking to Jesus instead of that thing and see what happens.