Jesus: the bread that nurtures a healthy life
Daily Scripture
John 6:27-35, 41-50
27 Don’t work for the food that doesn’t last but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Human One [or Son of Man] will give you. God the Father has confirmed him as his agent to give life.”
28 They asked, “What must we do in order to accomplish what God requires?”
29 Jesus replied, “This is what God requires, that you believe in him whom God sent.”
30 They asked, “What miraculous sign will you do, that we can see and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat” [Psalm 78:24]. 32 Jesus told them, “I assure you, it wasn’t Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 They said, “Sir [or Lord], give us this bread all the time!”
35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
41 The Jewish opposition grumbled about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
42 They asked, “Isn’t this Jesus, Joseph’s son, whose mother and father we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 Jesus responded, “Don’t grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless they are drawn to me by the Father who sent me, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God [Isaiah 54:13]. Everyone who has listened to the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. 47 I assure you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that whoever eats from it will never die.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
This week we’ve studied Jesus’ teaching about avoiding judgmental attitudes, and about his kingdom working like yeast to affect a large amount of “flour” for good. Both ideas came together in his teaching about himself as “the bread of life.” A large crowd loved it when Jesus fed them miraculously—but they wanted him to be a political king who changed their circumstances, not a spiritual king who changed their hearts. The people’s earthbound outlook got in the way of Jesus’ desire to share the truth of God’s eternal world. “Believe in him whom God sent,” he pleaded. “I am the bread of life.” Pastor Hamilton wrote, “In his words, ‘I am the bread of life,’ Jesus draws from the Passover seder and the manna by which God sustained the Israelites in the wilderness. He does so to point to the deliverance he will bring by his death, and the way ongoing belief in him sustains his disciples.” *
- Jesus invited his hearers to choose what kind of “food” they valued most: “Don’t work for the food that doesn’t last but for the food that endures for eternal life” (verse 27). Physical food isn’t bad—he’d just fed the hungry crowd with bread and fish—but it doesn’t give lasting life. How clear is your sense of the two kinds of food Jesus spoke of? Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” In what ways are you regularly nourishing yourself spiritually on him? How can trusting in Jesus’ forgiving, purifying love keep you from looking down on others with a judgmental spirit? How can it make you a grain of yeast, helping to spread the good news of the kingdom throughout all the parts of the world where you have influence?
Prayer
Dear Jesus, make me a force for good in your world, not by criticizing others from a self-righteous perch but by spreading your good news wherever I can. Amen.
GPS Insights
Elizabeth Starr
Elizabeth Starr is a junior at Shawnee Mission East High School. She is actively involved at Resurrection Leawood, attending youth group and discipleship groups, as well as serving as a middle school mentor on Wednesday nights.
To have a good relationship with a friend you need to put in the work to make the friendship last. In order to grow the friendship you will need to be willing to put in time, time to listen to your friend, time to be with your friend. In turn, your friend will be there for you. An important part of a friendship is to be there for each other, not only in the good times but also in the bad times.
John 6:27 says, “Don’t work for the food that doesn’t last but for the food that endures eternal life.” Just like you have to put in effort for a friendship, you also need to put in effort to have a good relationship with God.
There are many ways to have a good relationship with God. You can connect with God by reading your Bible, going to church, praying, and so much more. It is important to not only reach out to God in the hard parts of life but in the good times as well. I go to youth group and Sunday school every week. When I am there I am surrounded by people who love God and love me. Seeing everyone’s relationship with God, and getting to share my relationship with God with the people around me has really helped me become more connected to God and grow in my faith. I encourage you all to take the time to figure out what may work best for you, and to try it this week.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Adam Hamilton, John: The Gospel of Light and Life. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015, p. 67. (For a more detailed study of John 6, see pp. 64-68.)
