Jesus the Bread of Life

Good Morning!

The last devotion I picked up this weekend comes from Pastor Jim Holmes sermon last Sunday.

John 6:22-25 (English Standard Version)
I Am the Bread of Life
22On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

You will notice that nowhere in the Scripture reading is the statement “I am the Bread of Life”. The reason is that these verses are the “set up” to the teaching where Jesus does tell the people that He is the Bread of Life. But these verses are important.

To get a flavor of what is happening, the previous day Jesus had used two fish and five small barley loaves to feed 5,000 men plus women and children. It is estimated that the crowd numbered over twenty thousand people … but all of them were fully satisfied to the extent that there were twelve baskets of leftovers … one for each called disciple. After the meal, Jesus perceived that the crowd was going to attempt an insurrection with the goal of having Him made King … but it wasn’t time. So He withdrew from the crowd. His disciples then took a boat from Tiberias across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum. Jesus came to them later (walking on the water).

In the morning, the crowd realized that Jesus wasn’t with them in Tiberias … and deduced that He was probably in Capernaum. So they came to Him with the question “when did you come here”. That is an interesting question. They didn’t ask how He got there … they knew He hadn’t been in the boat with the disciples and they knew that the other boat was still at Tiberas. They knew He hadn’t walked all the way around the seashore. But they didn’t ask how He got there.

The crowd’s biggest concern was when He came … and Jesus concern was the reason they were seeking Him. You see, they had seen Him feed all those people and they recognized that He was special … but they didn’t really believe He was who He was. They had not yet reached the understanding that Jesus was the Messiah … and many never did … because they could only believe what they saw – not what was obvious. How He got there was much more important than when He got there. The miracle of feeding the multitude was just the tip of the ice burg. He could do so much more … but they had to believe who He was.

The question is whether or not we believe who He is … and can trust Him to care for us. You see, we have our category of “impossible” - things we think can never be achieved or dealt with or satisfied. I talked about that Monday … you might remember. With man, things are impossible … but with God – people are healed; people are fed; obstacles are overcome; heartaches are soothed.

Have you given God your list of “impossible”? Today would be a great day to do so. Have a good weekend … just perhaps God will give me a few more devotions…

Agape’


Mr. Jim

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