John 6:30-35
So they said to him,
"Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do
you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, `He
gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus then said to them,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from
heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is
that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world." They said
to him, "Lord, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them,
"I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who
believes in me shall never thirst."
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Do you hunger for the
bread of life? The Jews had always regarded the manna in the wilderness
as the bread of God. There was a strong Rabbinic belief that when the
Messiah came he would give manna from heaven. This was the supreme work of
Moses. Now the Jewish leaders were demanding that Jesus produce manna from
heaven as proof to his claim to be the Messiah. Jesus responds by telling them
that it was not Moses who gave the manna, but God. And the manna given to Moses
and the people was not the real bread from heaven, but only a symbol of the
bread to come.
Jesus then makes the
claim which only God can make: I am the bread of life. The bread which
Jesus offers is none else than the very life of God. This is the true bread
which can truly satisfy the hunger in our hearts. The manna from heaven
prefigured the superabundance of the unique bread of the Eucharist or Lord’s
Supper which Jesus gave to his disciples on the eve of his sacrifice. The manna
in the wilderness sustained the Israelites on their journey to the Promised
Land. It could not produce eternal life for the Israelites.
The bread which Jesus
offers his disciples sustains us not only on our journey to the heavenly
paradise, it gives us the abundant supernatural life of God which sustains us
both now and for all eternity. When we receive from the Lord’s table we unite
ourselves to Jesus Christ, who makes us sharers in his body and blood and
partakers of his divine life. Ignatius of Antioch calls it the "one bread
that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food
that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ." This supernatural food is
healing for both body and soul and strength for our journey heavenward. Do you
hunger for God and for the food which produces everlasting life?
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"Lord Jesus
Christ, you are the bread of life. You alone can satisfy the hunger in
my heart. May I always find in you, the true bread from heaven, the source of
life and nourishment I need to sustain me on my journey to the promised land of
heaven."
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