Jesus the Bread of Life

Bread from Heaven

John 6:35-40 (TPT)
Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life. Come every day to me and you will never be hungry. Believe in me and you will never be thirsty. Yet I’ve told you that even though you’ve seen me, you still don’t believe in me. But everyone my Father has given to me, they will come. And all who come to me, I will embrace and will never turn them away. And I have come out of heaven not for my own desires, but for the satisfaction of my Father who sent me. My Father who sent me has determined that I will not lose even one of those he has given to me, and I will raise them up in the last day. For the longing of my Father is that everyone who embraces the Son and believes in him will experience eternal life and I will raise them up in the last day!”

Father,

As we look at this familiar passage that hearkens back to the Exodus narrative, I ask that you would open our minds and hearts to deeper meanings today. Thank you that Jesus came to feed us with himself, not in a literal sense, as the pharisees understood him, but how he actually meant it. Holy Spirit, come. Help us to put aside our preconceived notions about this passage.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Whoooo, this is a weird one, isn’t it? How can Jesus literally be food and drink for all who come to Him? For all that the Father gives Him? Rely on Him, as we do on food and water. He is our provision, he is our sustainer. Not just in the mundane physical and fiscal realities, but in deeper ways as well. If He came to show us the Father and to show us the Way to the Father, who is the Source of All, then how would those things we often worry ourselves sick over not be taken care of by Him when we get our priorities straight? Could it be that The Way has been obscured? Just as it was for the jews of His time, by their religious “leaders”? Could we have been sucked into the exact same situation, where our “leaders” are just milking us dry in return for stale bread that never satisfies for long? For a donut that you regret the instant it leaves your mouth?

How, then, is Jesus our bread and water? We need to re-source ourselves. He was not talking purely about physical needs, which he had just met in the crowd he was addressing in this passage. He was talking about spiritual needs, the true way to God, to provision that never fails. He is speaking to us even now, if we will listen. He wants to remove those burdens from us. He wants us to grasp that He is there to provide those things that through worry consume our time, so that we can be with Him, so that we can walk unencumbered.

What is the Bread of Life? What is the Bread of Heaven? What is this Water that keeps us satisfied? It is His Words and Word, guiding us into All Truth. It is daily, moment-by-moment dependence on Him, rather than trying to solve problems that we do not have answers for. He has those answers. It is childlike humility. It is not a never-ending casting about for another preacher or teacher to give us a morsel every weekend. It is going to the Source of the morsels, Jesus Himself. He waits for each of us to realize this, and it breaks His heart that we miss it so often. I include myself in this. I miss it far too often, and struggle to move the needle to provide for my family on my own, fighting for hours with search engines or other things, only to not see appreciable change. I do not press in often enough. This Provision from Heaven is accessible to any who will press in, drop their sophisticated thinking, their fear, and their other perceptions of their situations, and just receive. Believe that it is there FOR YOU. It is. He is. Always. We can trust Him to ALWAYS meet us, so we can lay down these worrisome burdens that only hurt us. Below is a link to a great, simple song from Housefires, about this very thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoVDOL_wZ4A