Day 130
1 Samuel 8:1-9:27; John 6:22-42; Psalm 106:32-48; Proverbs 14:34-35
Because of the Bread
Earlier in John 6, we have this Gospel’s record of Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Although Jesus had managed to get away from the excited crowd who wanted to make Him king, in today’s Gospel lesson, that same crowd followed Him to Capernaum. Jesus picked up on their motive for hunting Him down. It wasn’t because they really understood the sign of the great miracle they had just witnessed, it was because of the bread.
In the conversation that followed, Jesus tried to help the people understand the spiritual significance of “living bread,” but they were still thinking about free bread for food. Furthermore, they couldn’t receive Jesus’ message that He is the bread of eternal life. “How can (this man) now say, ‘I have come from heaven’?” they complain. “We know who he is: he’s Joseph’s son…” Blinded by their focus on the material world and the physical appearance and family connections of Jesus, they totally forfeit their opportunity to receive the gift of eternal life.
Are we so different? We can get so caught up with our worldly endeavors that we, too, become spiritually blind. May God help us to recognize Jesus as the true gift of “living bread” to nourish our inner life and prepare us for our eternity with Him.
Deacon Janice Miller