Sunday 11 August 2024
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." (v. 35)
Background
Jesus has just fed the 5000 and the crowd are still pursuing him. He says they have seen how God’s grace enabled them to be to fed, but, instead of their hearts turning to God, all they are thinking about is more food. They should instead be looking to Jesus to be spiritually fed. In Jewish minds being spiritually fed conjured up the story in Exodus 16 about how the Israelites were fed in the wilderness with God-provided manna, literally bread from heaven.
It was a belief among some Jewish rabbis that some of the manna had been kept preserved in a pot and that this pot had been placed in the Ark of the Covenant, the portable wooden chest coated with gold that contained the tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The Ark was eventually housed in the inner room (the Holy of Holies) in Solomon’s newly built Temple in Jerusalem. There are various versions of what might have happened to the Ark when the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC. One version claimed that not only was the Ark successfully hidden away, but also that the prophet Jeremiah managed to hide the pot of manna and a jar containing holy anointing oil. It was believed that the pot would be uncovered by God’s Messiah and the manna used once more to feed the people. The crowd were therefore demanding to be fed by heaven-sent manna as proof that Jesus was the Messiah.
Jesus reminds them that eating manna did not prevent the people dying in the wilderness, and the crowd should be thinking of what will bring eternal life. However, his description of himself as 'the bread of life' evokes their ridicule.
To Ponder:
- Why can the crowd not see Jesus as being heaven-sent? Is Jesus’ humanity still a block today in people seeing him as the son of God?
- What does it mean to be spiritually fed, and how do we best obtain such spiritual nourishment?
- Jesus links the bread of life imagery to his coming crucifixion. Does this affect the way you approach taking Holy Communion?
Prayer
Lord, thank you for being the bread of life. Help us, by faith, to feed on you, and so nourish our souls to eternal life. Amen.
Bible notes author: Gary Best
Gary was Headmaster of Kingswood School from 1987 to 2008 and Volunteer Warden of the New Room in Bristol in 2009-2019. He has published over 20 books, including A Christian Alphabet, a study book for home groups.