Living Bread

Slightly warm, freshly baked, thickly sliced and slathered with butter–that’s my kind of bread. Oh how I love bread. I really do. There is just something so incredibly satisfying about smelling the aroma of it baking and then savoring every bite.

Bread. Whether it’s Naan bread from India, Tortillas from Latin America, or sliced whole wheat in the U.S., bread is a common food around the world. Because of its common nature and use, it makes a globally recognizable analogy.

Jesus, in His great wisdom, used the concept of bread to explain some very important Biblical truths. Contextually, this takes place *after* Jesus feeds the 5,000. Let’s take a look at His words in John, chapter 6 when people are asking what they must do to do the works God requires.

“Jesus Answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’ So they asked him, ‘What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’

Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’

‘Sir,’ they said, ‘always give us this bread.'” (John 6:28-34) Let’s stop there for just a moment and take note of what’s happening. The people are asking for a sign, though they *just* saw one at the feeding of the 5,000. They still do not believe. And yet, they want the bread, always. It sounds much like the woman at the well, in John 4, who wanted the living water, doesn’t it?

Jesus has moved on from physical bread, like what he fed the multitude, to explaining that the Father gives the “true bread” from heaven. This is the kind of bread that gives life.

Let’s keep reading. “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. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.'” (John 6:35-36)

Now, if the people would believe, there is such a great reward. Let’s pick it up in verse 47, “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:47-51, emphasis mine).

Manna has been referenced a couple of times in this chapter and is used as a comparison to the bread, however there are a couple of important distinctions between the two.

Manna was lifeless and it had to be gathered to be eaten. It was only good for the day. Essentially, it was only useful to provide for one day’s worth of hunger. However, the bread that Jesus is talking about, when eaten (in other words, believed), is not just good for a day’s worth of hunger, but is enough to take care of one eternally.

“Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:57-58, emphasis mine). If you haven’t seen my post on the Living God, you can check it out here.

Isn’t that incredible?

The manna sent from heaven was a sign of God’s daily sustenance for His people. Jesus, sent from heaven, was a sign of God’s eternal sustenance for His people.

We have a Living Father who sent Living Bread that we might eat of it and spend eternity in His presence.

Friends, the next time you take a bite of bread, whether it’s a scrumptious cinnamon role or a gluten free bun, be reminded of, be grateful for, and be radiant for, the Living Bread who came from heaven for us.

Let us go be radiant this week.

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