Words from the Rock
I am the bread of life. . . . I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
John 6:48, 51 NIV
Jesus doesn’t simply compare himself to food—he plainly states that he is food. He is the Bread of Life. He has been sent from heaven. Anyone who eats of him will live forever.
These are hard words for his listeners to swallow. Again their minds leap to things like cannibalism, and they recall some of the strange heathen religions where people do creepy things like sacrificing humans. Surely that’s not what Jesus is saying! Or is it?
Again Jesus puts emphasis on the fact that he came from heaven. He’s not earthly bread. He’s not trying to introduce a new cannibal religion. He just wants his listeners to open their spiritual ears and really hear what he means. He wants them to know that he longs to be as closely connected to them as that chunk of barley bread and olive oil they consumed for lunch, which gave them energy and nourishment. Jesus wants to be as immersed into their beings as the red wine with which they washed down the bread is immersed into their bloodstream. He doesn’t want this to happen in the physical sense—you get that by now—but in the spiritual sense.
Jesus loves us so much that he wants to be a vital part of our lives. He wants to be tightly connected, to be united, to be one with us. He wants to flow through our lives, and he wants us to welcome his presence in the same way our bodies welcome wholesome food.
My Prayer
Dear God,
I invite you to fill me with all the goodness you have for me. Help me to ingest you into my being until I am full.
Amen.
Final Word
He satisfies the thirsty and fills up the hungry.
Psalm 107:9 NCV
Stone for the Journey
Jesus is the Bread that gives me life.