by Pastor Lawrence
Just because we’re breathing doesn’t mean we’re living. True life is more than merely existing even if we exist well. Many people spend their entire lives trying to get better instead of figuring out who they truly are.
What if we spend our whole lives refining & perfecting whatever it is we’re doing? What if we keep getting better at what we’re doing instead of becoming who we were supposed to be?
The Bible is bread for daily use, not cake for desired special occasions.
The context of John 6 was the Loaves and Fish miracle and now Jesus is revealing himself as the bread of life. He is drawing people beyond selfish appetites to eternal purposes. They seem unaffected by his words. They merely longed for "more bread" and "more healing” without truly longing for more Jesus.
In response Jesus withdrew from them. Their enthusiasm about Jesus was born from the pursuit of their wants.
PS. 23:1 The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. NIV
Three times Jesus said I am the Bread of Life. Each time Jesus is getting more direct (vs. 32, 35 and now vs. 48) as we continue in John 6.
JOHN 6:48-51 "I am the bread of life. 49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51 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." NIV
Jesus is now all in. The idea of drinking blood violated the Law. Deut. 12:23 says not to eat the blood of the animal.
Realize Jesus is introducing something here that is an entirely new dispensation of heaven into the earth. The rest of this verse explains why they were commanded not to eat the blood of animals saying, “The blood is the life.”
Now Jesus is saying 'take eat my flesh and drink my blood.' The life is in the blood. Jesus was trying to reveal true life that had come and was now available to all humanity! Their religious, doctrinal positions kept them from seeing what God was doing.
JOHN 6:52-55 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." NIV
Ten references to “life” in this brief exchange. They were so full of themselves and how well they had kept the Law that they missed the very one that the Law was given to reveal.
JOHN 6:56-59 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. NIV
I am the Living Bread giving more than Moses gave your fathers. As the crowd was fed and hungry again so were your fathers fed and hungry again.
If we're not careful we will miss one of the most important components of this entire portion of Scripture. Jesus was trying to reveal true life that had come and was now available to all humanity!
JOHN 6:51 "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." NIV
Jesus said he would give his flesh for the world – not just Israel. Jesus was stretching them in every direction! Jesus is always progressively revealing more to us. Looking back to John 6:35 we see where he was teaching on this
JOHN 6:35 I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. NIV
The living Bread, like the living water offered to the woman at the well, brings enduring satisfaction.
JOHN 4:13 Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. NIV
No success, no following, no amount of $$, etc., will ever satisfy your life.
PS. 23:1 The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. NIV
GP4RL:
Read Psalm 23 every day this week, inviting a more intimate revelation of Christ into your life.