YWOP - Meeting 3 "I am the bread of life" John 6:48

As a kid growing up in a suburban corner of Auckland, New Zealand, bread was one the foods that was always in the pantry. It appeared it was the same in all my friends household too (except for my indian and chinese buddies, but they use to have some awesome after school snacks)

It's an easy go to type of food, put on some butter and any of your favorite spreads, and voila you have yourself a snack. It's also easy to access, for most of us we go to the store, exchange money for bread, and you're onto it. I have friends that actually make their bread and it's really yummy.

Well it was the same in Jesus time also, however, bread was not as easily accessible as it is in our time. It was a bit of a chore to make bread. First the wheat had to separated from the stem, then ground to make flour to mix in with other ingredients and then finally have it baked into bread. It would take about two hours to make bread, and their bread contained all the nutrition that wheat was originally made to provide our bodies.

In John 6, Jesus Christ performs the awesome miracle of feeding thousands of people with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish provided by a little boy with a will to share. Following this, the people needed more evidence and they hinted at Christ to prove himself by performing a similar miracle in the old testament (providing manna from heaven, didn't Satan do a similar tempation in Matthew 4?). Jesus then proceeds to explain that they need to eat from the flesh, the bread of life, which is him. Well, as you could imagine, they believed Jesus was endorsing cannibalism and inviting them to eat him. But what was he talking about?

A thorough look into the bible will reveal that he was talking about having a through look into the bible. His word is the bread of life. When we partake of the word of Christ we nourish our spiritual being. The bread that Jesus was referring to was his word, the Holy Bible itself.

We are invited to eat from his word and digest on this wholesome bread. So as much as you depended on your breakfast to see you through the day, so it is with you needing his words to sustain your thoughts and behaviour, through the day and life in general.

Why don't you start by reading one of the stories, start with John 1, and you'll soon get to John 6 in no time. Here's a toast to you!

Shalom,

Dave