I AM The Bread of Life

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        After Jesus fed the 5,000, He crossed the sea to Capernaum. The next day, the crowd followed Him. When they found Him, they inquired "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves." The crowd was merely seeking after Him for materialistic gain. He then says "Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you." Jesus was rebuking them for only working for transient worldly gain instead of eternal gain. He goes on to say "I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." What did Jesus mean by calling Himself the bread of life?
        When Moses and the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years,  they were starving until God provided bread (manna) from heaven. For the Israelites, this manna was of vital importance. If it hadn't been for God's provision, the Israelites would have always been hungry and eventually died. The same can be said of those who lack Jesus. God sent Him into a starving world to save them from deprivation, to allow them life and life to the full. Without Jesus, the world would have always hungered for something more, and would have wallowed in the squalor of their destitution. However, when we have our fill of the life of Jesus, we are given eternal life and are able to live in the life and death of Jesus, as He lives in us. As God sent manna to the Israelites to allow them live in the desert, he sent us Jesus to allow us to live forever.
        What should this mean to us? Jesus is calling us to not focus on things that promise fulfillment in the life, but to focus on and work toward knowing and having the nourishment of the bread of life. We shouldn't follow Jesus for the tangible rewards offered to us, but for the greater intangible reward. Why do you follow Jesus?


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