Thoughts for the Day

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 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 for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

One of the greatest problems for the Christian faith is that it's considered by many to be a 'spiritual faith'. Is this why many of us want our worship on a Sunday to be calm and ethereal, and to leave all the mess and muck of our life at home or at work, behind? Certainly I and one of my sons have experienced in the past an irritated person in the pew turning round to "Ssh!" the children who were making a bit of a noise. In such churches it was considered that worship was meant for the adults, and children should preferably not be seen or heard. Thank goodness things have mostly changed.

John in his Gospel uses one of Jesus' wonderful "I am" statements. He says "I am the bread of life". Now 'bread' stands for any food! Try and remember when you last felt starving hungry after smelling something being cooked - was it bacon, or fish and chips, or curry? Jesus says he is there to feed us, he is nourishment for us. But the trouble is we go looking for that nourishment elsewhere in the world, definitely not in the right place, and it doesn't fill us up. Neither do we come to Jesus really hungry for his food, and so we go out with a "Well I didn't get much out of that service" attitude. Yet we are disdaining food that will give us eternal life.

Lastly, we should notice that this little passage tells us that this bread is for eternal life, and that it's a gift that comes from God. Our needs are so enormous in this rushing, hectic, complicated world, but our Lord comes to us not just in the ethereal silence of prayer, but in the everyday hustle and bustle of our world. He also comes to us in ordinary, everyday, food and drink - in bread and wine - when we are open to Him and to His gift.

Heavenly Father,
we open our hearts to You this day,
asking You to teach us what we need to know.
If it be Your will,
forgive our sin,
and nourish us with Your Spirit
that we may receive the bread of life,
from Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.