The Bread of Life
Tony Nester
John 6:35,41-51
So here's Jesus saying, '''I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty (John 6:35 NRSV).
There have been only two justifiable responses to Jesus' words: ''You can't be serious!'' and ''Oh, my God!''
''You can't be serious!'' shows up in today's Gospel reading. Here's John 6:41-42 (NRSV):
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''?'
Every Jew who heard Jesus that day knew the back story to which Jesus was referring. It was the story of the manna in the wilderness. Moses had led the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt and escaped into the wilderness. But soon they ran out of food. Hungry, they complained to Moses that he had taken them on a foolish journey only to starve them to death.
The Scripture tells the story like this:
The whole Israelite community complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert. The Israelites said to them, ''Oh, how we wish that the Lord had just put us to death while we were still in the land of Egypt. There we could sit by the pots cooking meat and eat our fill of bread. Instead, you've brought us out into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death.'' (Exodus 16:2-3, Common English Bible).
No solution seemed likely, but then God provided: Then the LORD said to Moses, 'I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.'' (Exodus 16:4 NRSV).
The next morning the people discovered a white substance on the ground that they had never seen before. It was a fine, flaky something. The Israelites kept saying, ''What is it?'' which in Hebrew sounds like ''manna?''
They ground it and baked it and turned into flat bread. The ...
Tony Nester
John 6:35,41-51
So here's Jesus saying, '''I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty (John 6:35 NRSV).
There have been only two justifiable responses to Jesus' words: ''You can't be serious!'' and ''Oh, my God!''
''You can't be serious!'' shows up in today's Gospel reading. Here's John 6:41-42 (NRSV):
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''?'
Every Jew who heard Jesus that day knew the back story to which Jesus was referring. It was the story of the manna in the wilderness. Moses had led the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt and escaped into the wilderness. But soon they ran out of food. Hungry, they complained to Moses that he had taken them on a foolish journey only to starve them to death.
The Scripture tells the story like this:
The whole Israelite community complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert. The Israelites said to them, ''Oh, how we wish that the Lord had just put us to death while we were still in the land of Egypt. There we could sit by the pots cooking meat and eat our fill of bread. Instead, you've brought us out into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death.'' (Exodus 16:2-3, Common English Bible).
No solution seemed likely, but then God provided: Then the LORD said to Moses, 'I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.'' (Exodus 16:4 NRSV).
The next morning the people discovered a white substance on the ground that they had never seen before. It was a fine, flaky something. The Israelites kept saying, ''What is it?'' which in Hebrew sounds like ''manna?''
They ground it and baked it and turned into flat bread. The ...
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