Bread of life
John 6:25 – 7:24
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
While the language is metaphorical, speaking of the way he fulfills the hunger and thirst in our souls, he extends it even further into an image of the meal we know as Communion: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” That person, he says, “remains in me and I in them.”
The language is so graphic it sometimes got early Christians accused of cannibalism.
For us, though, it’s reassuring to know that our most intense hungers and yearnings will be satisfied if only we accept the life that is being offered to us.
Like our spiritual ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and did not go wanting, the spiritual food Christ offers us is also sufficient to the needs of each day. But, like the manna, it requires repeatedly trusting God to provide day by day.