Living in the Spirit

August 7, 2021

Scripture Reading: John 6:35, 41-51
Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

I am on a self-imposed low-carb diet, so I rarely eat bread. In a society like first-century Galilee and Judea, where bread was indeed the staff of life, these verses meant more to the reader than they may mean to us today. I see the boney pictures of undersized babies in Yemen and get some idea of how starvation looks. I do not know how it feels, nor do I fully appreciate the pain forced upon parents watching their malnourished children fade away. I wonder if our too comfortable life, where we are more likely to overeat than starve, limits our ability to understand Jesus’ teaching

While I am sure Jesus wanted all to have adequate bodily nutrition, the above scripture targets spiritual starvation. We may need this lesson more than those first-century people who knew well literal hungry. Unfortunately, our society tends to substitute material wealth and values for the food that feeds our souls. There is no substitute for the love of God, the teachings and examples of Jesus, the Christ who offered himself for our shortcomings, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Until we accept God’s spiritual food, we will continue to languish as we search for God in all the wrong places.

Prayer: God of Love and Mercy, forgive us for substituting the things of the world for your abundant love. Grant us the wisdom to turn around and seek and follow your guidance. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.