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35 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. 41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." 42 They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43 Jesus answered them, "Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." (John 6:35, 41-51 Revised Standard Version Bible)
Happy and Blessed Monday, ConCafe Family! May your prayers be a blessing to many, and may your words, dear Reader, speak truth and hope to all with whom we come in contact. We ask prayers for all who has asked prayers of us, and may we pray for one another, and pray for our needs as well.
We many times take bread for granted. That is, until we don't have any. Someone on social media, who is the son of Holocaust survivors shared a story of his grandfather and aunts, also Holocaust survivors, who came to the USA and loved everything about their new country with the exception of our white bread. The grandfather hated it and said unless they could find "real" bread, they were moving back to Europe. His wife searched their new city until she found a bakery on the south side that sold dark bread like the kind they were used to. Upon presenting it to him, he tasted and said happily, 'Now we can stay in our new country!" During WWII, displaced children in an orphanage had trouble sleeping, and nothing the staff tried could comfort the children enough for them to easily fall asleep, until someone thought about giving each child a piece of bread for each child to hold while sleeping, and that worked like a charm; all children easily fell asleep and awoke happy.
Imagine hearing Jesus tell you that He is the bread of life? This means that whatever role bread in your phsycial life may have played, Jesus' bread satisifes your spiritual hunger forever. Just as physcial bread comforted those children who had trouble sleeping, Jesus' bread likewise can calm your fears. LIke the child who has to go to school with the knowledge there is no bread at home and frets the thought of when school is over for the day, there is nothing to eat when you get home, that whole day instead of the child's mind being on the subjects of school, the thought was on hunger. Jesus says to us, "Hunger no more!" Jesus' declaration was for all people; "I am the bread of life; he or she who comes to me shall not hunger, and s/he who believe in me shall never thrist." While most recevied that as good news, "The Jews" heard that with anger and disgust. They knew Jesus from his childhood and youth; they knew His family, and all his life experiences; how in the world could He make such a claim? Jesus stresses to them that no one could do what He was doing without the Father being behind it all, and quoting them a verse they knew, "And they shall all be taught by God."
If we see bread as a foundational food for life, then Jesus is exactly that for our lives but on the higher plane of spirituality. What Jesus said about earthly bread is still true; "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died," which means that while eating bread may keep us alive, our day of our death will still come calling, and we will die. But, on that part of us that does not die, our spirits, if we invite Jesus in as our bread of life, we will never die; we will have eternal life, for we have been fed from Heaven. It is no surprise to know that at the Last Supper Jesus used bread to illustrate not only His body which would be broken on the cross, but also to support what He spoke about His being the bread of life. Another story is told of prisoners in a POW camp who would hide crumbs of bread which they would use later at night they would use it to celebrate Communion. Once we have had the bread of life, we can settle for nothing less.
PRAYER: Bread of Life, share with us and in us, that we may receive that which we need to live life in all of its fullness. Help us to share with those who are still hungering to know about the eternal bread that is Jesus our Lord. We pray for those who are facing medical challenges and needs, and we pray for their healing and recovery. We offer this prayer in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord. Be the server of fresh bread from heaven to the hungry today!
Receive my blessings of love and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
