John 6:35-42

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

Reflect:

For Jesus to say that He was the bread of life was a challenge to the Jew’s most basic beliefs. It ran against every preconceived notion and idea they had ever held. For one, Jesus was saying he was greater than their forefather, Moses, who called on God to bring bread (manna) from the sky. To the Jews listening, this was a radical shift in how they were to view their history, culture, and identity. Secondly, Jesus was bringing into focus the difference between mere sustenance and true life. Jesus would not provide bread in the sense that they Jews were expecting, but He himself was the bread of life. For the Jews, the problem of Jesus’ claim was not that it was too confusing, nor did they misunderstand him. The problem was that it was too outrageous. In the end, they chose to hold onto their own judgments and beliefs and were unable to embrace Jesus’ message.

Respond:

As we hear Jesus’ words, “I am the bread of life,” we are faced with a choice - Do I believe in Jesus and what he says about Himself or do I believe in myself more? Jesus’ claim of who he is challenges our core beliefs. The Jews could not see past their doubts; they could only see who was in front of them, a neighborhood boy. In the same way, today are we holding onto our own ideas and beliefs about life, choosing to believe ourselves more than Jesus? Jesus invites us to embrace who he says he is. He invites us to believe that the one who is life can give life. Jesus says, “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” We can pray today with confidence that as we embrace who Jesus is, he will give us not just mere sustenance, but true life.