John 6:25-42
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” [1]
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What struck me in this passage were Jesus’ words regarding why the crowds were looking for Him. They wanted more of the bread which does not endure. They were not drawn to the significance of the sign itself, what it said about who He is and the ultimate gift He had come to bring. Instead, their focus was on their hunger and the perceived promise of never experiencing physical hunger again.
They had missed that Jesus was offering them what they truly needed most – Himself. Instead they seemed to be indicating that if they had sufficient bread, they would have all that they needed. We can do the same thing when we look to other gifts that God supplies and see in them the key to satisfaction and sufficiency for life: If I had more money . . . If I had perfect health . . . If I were more beautiful . . . If I had more knowledge or education . . . If I was more successful or famous or popular . . . If my life had more pleasure . . .
It is so easy to look in these or other directions for our sufficiency instead of Christ. It is not merely a matter of Christ offering in Himself a better way. He is in fact the only way to what is needed for not just eternity, but true joy in this life as well. When we build our lives around acquiring or holding on to any of these other “breads” that do not endure, we will always hunger for more of them, and will never be satisfied. In fact, instead of being a bread we can eat, they will eat us up.
But Jesus is the bread of life, the bread that endures, the bread that gives life that endures and overcomes all that is fallen in us and in this creation.
Lord Jesus, turn us away from the food that does not endure, but set our hearts on you, that we may find in You all that we need.
What is the Word leading you to pray about today?
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[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Jn 6:25–42). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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