Living Bread from Heaven
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51)
The day after Jesus fed the five thousand, the same crowd came looking for him. They wanted him to feed them again so that they didn’t have to work for their food. But Jesus called them out on this. The point of the miracle was not just to feed them. It was to show them that he was (and is) the Son of God. They asked him for another miracle like the manna from heaven that the Israelites ate in the desert. But Jesus gave them his bread of life discourse.
Their forefathers ate the bread that came from heaven but they all still died, and many of them died in unbelief. Jesus is the bread that came down from heaven that gives eternal life. He is the one who came down from heaven to bring life to the dead. Each and every one of us were dead in our sins, with no way of coming to life on our own. But Jesus came down from heaven and gave up his life so that we who believe in him might have eternal life in heaven.
Jesus gave his flesh for ours. He endured the punishment that we deserved for our sins, even though he did nothing wrong. He was the sinless Son of God, who took the wrath of God upon himself for sins like you and me. Because of that, we are able to live forever in the presence of God. What joy to be able to eat this bread that was given for us. Amen.
The song for today is “I Am the Bread of Life” by Jamie Thietten