April 25 - Eat the Bread

April 25 – Eat the Bread

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 forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. (John 6:41-59)

I am lousy at quoting movies, books, television shows … nearly anything.  I have no memory for those things.  Maybe some Star Wars references, but the rest just slips out of my head. Except for Tommy Lee Jones in “Men in Black” when he’s lost his gun inside the alien cockroach.  He screams at the thing.  “Eat me!  Eat me!”  And it does … and he gets his gun.

So, I apologize for the fact that I am telling you this story in reference to Jesus’ words, “Whoever eats me will live because of me.”  Yah … it’s a strange little sense of humor I have.

Jesus had been going through the metaphor of bread of life over and over with these people and they still did not understand.

In every culture, grain provides life.  Most cultures make some type of bread.  It is one of those foundational life-giving foods.  It is easy to make and can be made from nearly any ground grain.  In any culture, people understand what bread is.

Does Jesus want them to walk up to him and take a bite out of him?  Oh, for goodness’ sake, no. 

Passages like this though, were instrumental in many of the early persecutions of Christians.  Those who came after them heard these words and rather than investigating, decided it was just better to be safe.  They didn’t want any strange blood-drinking, flesh-eating cult on their hands. 

He wants them and us to understand that He is the spiritual foundation of life – just as bread is a foundation for physical life.  The moment that a person believes in Him, their eternity is guaranteed.  They will live forever.