In my last post I talked about the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand by Jesus and related this to the spiritual hunger that only Jesus can satisfy.
After this, again in chapter six of John beginning in verse 16, Jesus now talks more about the spiritual food that satisfies. But before that there is an interesting event takes place where the disciples learn one more lesson on faith. At the end of the day, Jesus sent the disciples back to Capernaum from the Eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, a distance of maybe 6-8 miles. Depending on exactly where they were. So they took the only boat available and set off while Jesus stayed behind. Sure enough, the Sea of Galilee did its thing as it often does and responded with mighty waves as soon as a wind sprang up. The disciples were terrified and they had rowed about 3-4 miles when yet another terrifying sight frightened them even more. Jesus appeared to them walking on the water toward the boat. As soon as Jesus entered the boat He told them not to be afraid and they immediately found that they were at the dock! It took many such incidents like this to make them learn that they had to depend totally on Jesus if their ministry was going to be successful. I often wonder if we would have learned that lesson any quicker than they did.
The crowd that continued to search for Him were equally mystified about how Jesus had arrived when they knew He did not get in the boat with the disciples, but stayed behind.
Jesus now begins a “teaching moment” with them. He pointed out that they were searching for Him, not because they saw a miracle, but because they were fed. But there is something in all of this that they were missing. There is such a thing as spiritual food and that is even more important than physical food. He said “don’t work so hard for your physical food that you forget your need of spiritual food.” Physical food lasts until the next meal. Spiritual food satisfies, as Jesus said, “to eternal life.”
The people then asked the natural question “What should we do to get this food?” It is a natural question that all of us tend to ask. It is a performance question. It asks what kind of special performance or task will work in order to get this food or to please God. Jesus responded that there was only one thing and it is paramount – believe in Him. But the people persist in their thinking by asking for some kind of sign that would convince them that the solution was indeed that simple, as if they had missed all the signs that they had already witnessed.
Jesus didn’t directly answer their question, but instead reminded them that they were fed manna when they were wondering through the desert escaping from Egypt long ago. He pointed out that it was not Moses who provided the manna, but God. The kind of food that Jesus is talking about is similar in that it too comes from God alone.
OK said the people, then give us this food. Now comes the shocker for them; Jesus said simply “I am the bread of life.”
There are thirteen times in this Gospel where Jesus uses the term “I am…” It is typical of John that he wants his readers to know without a shadow of doubt who Jesus is. Later in the book he will tell us why. This is the first one in the list. Jesus further said “he who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
The rest of the chapter is given over to Jesus teaching about this “Bread of Life.” Jesus came down from heaven, sent by the Father, just as the manna was sent by God to feed the Israelites. It is the Father’s will that Jesus come so that everyone who believes in Jesus will have eternal life. This gave the people in the area some problems because they knew Him as the carpenter’s son from Nazareth and they could not reconcile what they knew with what Jesus told them.
Jesus told them two very important things. First, don’t grumble about what you don’t understand because no one will unless the Father draws him to Himself. Second, what we learn, we learn from God. He then repeated what He said already, “He who believes, has eternal life.”
Jesus then made it even more difficult for His audience, when He told them that when the Israelites ate manna, eventually they died. But when you eat of the spiritual food that He provides you have eternal life. There is no other way. To be spiritually fed we must eat of Christ and drink His blood, otherwise we have no life. In other words, without Christ in our life we are spiritually dead. And we have a thirst and a hunger that we don’t even understand, but it never leaves and is never satisfied.
Many in the crowd simply said this is too much; we can’t take any more of this and went their way. But Jesus told them specifically that it is the Spirit of God that gives life. What strikes me about this whole story is that the people simply could not understand what Jesus was talking about. Some said, in today’s vernacular, “this guy’s nuts; I can’t take any more of this!” And they walked off shaking their heads. The miracle of the food was obviously a miracle, but the key there, as Jesus said, was that they were fed. The larger significance was lost on them. To think that there was any such thing as spiritual food was a concept they could not understand. When you look at their questions carefully, each one refers to some physical act or behaviour. But Jesus says that it all starts with belief in Him, and even that is a work of God in itself.
So what do I get from all this? I get that I need a continual reminder that I need to look after my spiritual nourishment at least as much as my physical food. I get that from Jesus. It comes in several ways, but the primary one, the one of first importance is from the Bible. It is through God’s word that the Spirit can give me the spiritual nourishment that I need. When I ignore that, I suffer. Our spiritual hunger can only be satisfied with a relationship with the life giver. That relationship is in part developed and maintained by a constant meditating on His word. As Peter so aptly and concisely put it, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of life.” There is no substitute to the regular reading and studying of God’s word. It’s much more important than breakfast, lunch or dinner, but we all need to be reminded of that, including me. Today’s world is so fast paced and so busy that we can very easily neglect the most important meal of the day!
Faith for Life 