The bread of life

August 11, 2021

 

I have been reflecting on tribes and villages. For some reason humans like to build walls and draw lines to decide what and who belongs to a tribe or village. In religion we also like to distinguish “we is us, and they is them.” We build theological walls to keep people out, or is that in?

 

Let me make this simple. Jesus said, “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” [John 6:35 ESV] The older I get, the more I distrust “religion.” By that I mean tags we give one another based on our tribes. Names on churches, theological distinctions, or ecclesiastical (how we do church) are irrelevant to the simple fact: Jesus saves.

 

What Jesus was stating was that we need to “come to” Him and “believe” in Him. Let’s skip the mental gymnastics for moment. When we argue over pronouns, it’s a sure indication that our argument is too weak to stand on its own. When we impose something (a theological idea or context) from another text, we may be in trouble. When I was learning about hermeneutics (the science of interpretation), on rule was “Scripture interprets scripture.” Possibly this comes from the Reformation affirmation of “Sola scriptura.” However accurate this mantra is, it can also be abused to lead to conclusions out of context of what is being said…

 

Belief is a slippery thing. In English “belief” is some level of mental agreement. Jesus noted there may be different and significant levels of “belief.” What Jesus said was, “But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.” [John 6:36 ESV] We have an expression, “Seeing is believing.” We also tend to trust our eyes (or the optics of a situation). There is another layer beyond seeing. The people Jesus was talking too had also experienced miracle of “feeding the 5,000.”

 

So how can we see and experience and not “believe?” I am so glad you asked! John explains, “So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” [John 6:41 ESV] John notes they were “Jews.” This is an important point. The bread from heaven, in Jewish history was the “manna” God provided in the wilderness. Again, “The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” [John 6:52 ESV]

 

Going back to hermeneutics for moment. We can look back for context but not forward. This is emphasized by the fact this crowd was Jewish. They were thinking “manna.” Jesus was connecting Himself to that provision. Eventually, this foreshadows what we call “communion.” The point is we draw our spiritual life from Jesus. The manna, bread, and body of Jesus (communion formula) emphasize this point. Our bodies cannot survive without food.

 

Before your mind wonders to far from the path. Jesus clears the confusion in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” [ESV] The disciples were confused and offended thinking Jesus was talking about eating flesh and drinking blood. Jesus flips this whole discussion into the spiritual, not physical. But our problem is our background and training. Under stress we always go to ground.

 

Imagine this, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” [John 6:66 ESV] Why would many of His DISCIPLES turn back? They simple could not believe in a way that made a difference. They saw, they experienced, but they were unwilling to let that change them.

 

Bonus thought, Jesus never made it easy to follow. If you faith is easy, situational, or complicated then it is time to sit down and have a long conversation with the Holy Spirit.