2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Friends,
Yesterday, the Lord guided me through a deeper understanding of taking the sacraments. Today, He reveals the profound meaning of Himself as the “Bread of Life.” I have read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John over and over again over the last 31 years and never tire of them. There is something new revealed to me every time. Matthew shows us Christ as the King. Mark reveals Christ as the Servant. Luke uncovers Him as the Son of God. John (admittedly my favorite) lets us see Christ as Son of Man, revealing His deity in a very personal way. John is able to do this because he is “the one He loves,” His best friend. What an enviable position for this apostle to be in! Because John lived longer than any of the other apostles, his writing has the mark of maturity on it that makes it stand out in my mind. That is why the Lord leads me to spend some time today on JN 6, the chapter that helps us to understand Christ as the “Bread of Life.”
Putting this precious chapter in context helps to deepen our understanding of its significance. Christ had already fed the 5000 and walked on the waters of the Lake of Gallilee by the time that the people were seeking Him out in Capernaum. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they knew the disciples had sailed in the only boat without Him, so they asked in (25), “Teacher, when did You get here?” His answer in JN 6: 26-27 has an important lesson in it for all of us. “I am telling you the truth, you are looking for Me because you ate the bread and had all you wanted, not because you understood my miracles. Do not work for food that spoils; instead work for food that lasts for eternal life. This is the food which the Son of Man will give you, because God has put His mark of approval on Him.” Remember back to MT 3: 16-17, the story of Christ’s baptism? “As soon as Jesus was baptized, He came up out of the water. Then heaven was opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and lighting on Him. Then a voice said from heaven, ‘ This is My own dear Son, with Whom I am pleased.’ “ Naturally, this is not the only place in the Scriptures this all important lesson appears. Matthew related Christ’s words in MT 6: 19-21, “do not store up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. Instead, store up riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal. For your heart will always be where your riches are.” [see also LK 12: 33-34 and 2 TIM 1: 13-14].
When the people asked Christ what they should do to obey God, Christ answered them in (29), “believe in the One He sent.” Their questioning continued, leading the Son of Man to respond in (31), “Our ancestors ate manna in the desert just as the Scriptures [EX 16: 4 and PS 78: 24] say, ‘ He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ “ Remember that Christ is a Jew speaking to others raised in this tradition. If you want to convince people of a truth, you must know those who hear you and bridge the gap between your knowledge and their experience. What they knew was the OT, so Christ and later, Paul, used it liberally to get their teachings across. Finally our Lord brings the people, and hopefully us, to a better understanding of just Who He really is in (35), “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me will never be go hungry. He who believes in Me will never be thirsty.”
This is not an easy concept for the people to grasp, and our Lord understood that. He goes on to give more illumination in JN 6: 47-48, “I am telling you the truth: He who believes has eternal life. I am the Bread of Life.” This repetition is not to bore us, but to help us to understand the importance of this issue. In (53-54 & 56) Christ enlarges on His explanation. “I am telling you the truth: If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood [take the sacraments], you will not have life in yourselves. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood lives in Me, and I live in him. The significance to us of this is even made more profound when we look at JN 14: 9 & 11. Christ said to his disciple, Phillip, and the others “For a long time I have been with you all; yet you do not know Me. Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.” “Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” When we place these crucial teachings of Christ together, what we come away with some pretty significant and profound truths about the nature of our relationship with the Trinity when we understand what the sacraments mean to us. We also see why we should come to the Lord’s table to partake of them. This is the most intimate relationship with Him that we can have before going to be with the Father in heaven! It is real and personal. With true faith, this relationship is the very core of our lives on earth and later, in heaven.
As a believer in Christ, I want to one day have that uninterrupted joy and fellowship with Him in heaven that I spoke of yesterday. How about you? In JN 6: 57-58, Christ makes it clear how this can come about. “The living Father sent Me, and because of Him I live also. In the same way whoever eats Me will live because of Me. This then is the Bread that came down from heaven. It is not like the bread that your ancestors ate, but then later died. The one who eats this Bread will live forever.” Can it be any clearer than that?! Paul takes this teaching one step further in relating it to all believers as a unified Body of Christ. 1 COR 10: 16-17, “The cup we use in the Lord’s Supper and for which we give thanks to God: when we drink from it, we are sharing in the blood of Christ. And the bread we break: when we eat it, we are sharing in the body of Christ. Because there is the one loaf of bread, all of us, through many, are one body for we all share the same loaf.”
PRAYER: O Lord, You feed us Your Bread and by Him, You nourish our spirits. You deserve our thanks and praise for making the ultimate sacrifice of Your Son on the cross so that a Way is made for our salvation through faith in Him. It is clear that Your will is that we should love one another as You have loved us. We can make that a reality by working to edify and uplift His Body, the church. In doing this, we prepare ourselves for the Wedding of the Lamb and to spend eternity worshipping You. What greater blessing can anyone have?! In Christ's name, amen.
Dear Fellow Believers, it is my sincerest hope that God has blessed you by coming on this journey with me. It has taken us the better part of a week, but what a joy it has been. I hope we all know more about the extent to which God loves us. We really do share one loaf, and Christ’s Atonement really is a once and for all time sufficient shedding of blood, so that all of us who believe can be blessed with eternal life. Never again feel like you must shoulder the burdens of life alone and unloved. We all share Bread from one Loaf! Peter and I send you our love.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn