“I am the true bread that came down from heaven. JOHN 6:58
The day after Jesus miraculously fed the multitude with five loaves of bread and two fish, the crowd caught up with him again in Capernaum. They loved being around Jesus. Not only were they awed by his miracles, but he kept their bellies full too!
Jesus, though, hadn’t come to earth to be the world’s most powerful food caterer. He came to save souls. So he told the people, “Don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval” (John 6:27). Confused, the crowd asked him for a sign to prove that he was sent from God, mentioning how God used Moses to miraculously provide manna to the Old Testament Israelites (Exodus 16).
Wow, talk about short memories! The people had either completely forgotten or disregarded Jesus’ fish-and-loaves miracle from twenty-four hours earlier.
Jesus chastised them for their lack of faith and replied, “I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever” (John 6:58).
Sadly, many of Jesus’ followers left him that day. They didn’t believe that he was God’s Son.
WHAT’S IT MEAN?
The people that day were more concerned with their stomachs than their hearts. They also didn’t realize that the Old Testament story of the manna foreshadowed (or looked ahead to) much greater things to come. When God provided bread from heaven to satisfy Israel’s physical needs in the desert, it pointed ahead to God’s provision of his Son—“the true bread from heaven”—to satisfy his people’s spiritual needs. Jesus is infinitely better than floating flakes of bread!
After much of the crowd left, Jesus asked his twelve disciples if they wanted to leave too. Peter answered, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69). It was a beautiful moment of faith!
So who will you be? Will you be like the disbelieving crowd who dismissed Jesus, or like Peter and the disciples who put their faith in Jesus as the true, life-giving bread from heaven?”