Bread of life

​8-22-21
Today I want to revisit a verse that I based my daily devotion on several weeks ago, John 6:68, “Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
What makes a particular teaching hard? Can’t understand it? Too deep? Outside my experience? Don’t trust the teacher? Some or all of the above could prevent learning.
Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue drew the attention of a crowd of would-be disciples, but in the end, many couldn’t accept the lesson. Jesus’ claim to be the ‘living bread come down from heaven to give life to the world’ (verse 51) was difficult, but when he told them that for eternal life, they must eat his flesh and drink his blood, that was too much!
Even his own disciples were taken aback. Yes, they said, our ancestors ate the manna in the desert, and yes, they died.  But now, you tell us you are the living bread from heaven, and we must eat you to live forever? You say that’s the real food, the real drink? Without it, we have no life in us? Try as they might, they couldn’t fathom it.
By staying and trusting, especially when our Lord’s teaching seems unclear and even hard, the disciples that day and we allow the Spirit of Life to reveal the truth of Jesus to us. We find him to be indeed the Bread of Life, broken for this hungry and thirsty world in which we live. Jesus alone has the words of eternal life.
Please pray with me the prayer for today: Stay with us, Lod Jesus, for you are the Living Bread. You alone have the words and the power to make us truly alive nourished for service in your kingdom, Amen.