True Bread From Heaven

JESUS HAS JUST FINISHED FEEDING THE 5,000 AND IS DEPARTING THE AREA. HE HAD JUST DISPLAYED HIS POWER AND AUTHORITY AND REVEALED THE GLORY OF GOD. ONE WOULD THINK IT WOULD BE SEARED IN THE MEMORY OF ALL 5,000 PEOPLE. NOT QUITE!

WE ARE TOLD, BY SCRIPTURE, THAT THEY WERE ACTUALLY A BIT OFFENDED THAT JESUS WOULD JUST “GO OFF AND LEAVE THEM” SUDDENLY AND SWIFTLY. APPARENTLY, THEY WEREN’T THROUGH WITH HIM YET. THEY CATCH UP TO JESUS AND THEY WANT ANSWERS.

HOWEVER, JESUS ALREADY KNOWS THE INTENTIONS OF THEIR HEART. JESUS SAYS, IN VERSE 26, “I TELL YOU THE TRUTH, YOU WANT TO BE WITH ME BECAUSE I FED YOU, NOT BECAUSE YOU UNDERSTOOD THE MIRACULOUS SIGNS.” JESUS CALLS THEM OUT! HE IS SAYING, “YOU ONLY FOLLOW ME TO GET FREE STUFF!”

JESUS IS EMPHASIZING TO THEM THAT THEIR PRIORITIES WERE BACKWARDS. HE WARNED THEM NOT TO DESIRE AND PURSUE AFTER MATERIAL THINGS, BUT ONLY AFTER SPIRITUAL THINGS. THEY MISSED HIS MESSAGE AND PURSUED SUBSTANCE OVER A SAVIOR. THEY ARE LOOKING TO FOLLOW A PROPHET WHO PROVIDES FOR THEIR NEEDS AND WILL DELIVER THEM AS THEIR POLITICAL LEADER.

THEY WANT ANOTHER MOSES! THEY THINK THEY HAVE FOUND HIM, BUT THEY HAVE NOT. THEY HAD YET TO REALIZE THAT THE FOOD JESUS WAS TEACHING ABOUT WAS A METAPHORE TO HELP THEM UNDERSTAND THE TRUE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF WHO HE WAS AND THE PURPOSE OF HIS MISSION.

JESUS CORRECTS THEIR PURELY MATERIALISTIC NOTIONS TOWARDS THE KINGDOM OF GOD. THEY MISUNDERSTOOD JESUS AND THOUGHT HE WAS REQUIRING THEM TO DO VARIOUS WORKS TO EARN EVERLASTING LIFE. JESUS IS HELPING THEM UNDERSTAND THAT HE IS THE SOURCE OF EVERLASTING LIFE.

THE ONLY WORK GOD DESIRED WAS FAITH AND TRUST IN JESUS AS THE MESSIAH AND SON OF GOD. THE “WORK” THAT GOD REQUIRED WAS TO BELIEVE IN HIS SON, JESUS.

THIS IS WHY PAUL WROTE IN EPHESIANS 2:8-9, “GOD SAVED YOU BY HIS GRACE WHEN YOU BELIEVED. AND YOU CAN’T TAKE CREDIT FOR THIS; IT IS A GIFT FROM GOD. SALVATION IS NOT A REWARD FOR THE GOOD THINGS WE HAVE DONE, SO NONE OF US CAN BOAST ABOUT IT.”

PAUL WOULD ALSO WRITE THIS IN HIS LETTER TO TITUS IN 3:5, “HE SAVED US, NOT BECAUSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS THINGS WE HAD DONE, BUT BECAUSE OF HIS MERCY. HE WASHED AWAY OUR SINS, GIVING US A NEW BIRTH AND NEW LIFE THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT.”

UNFORTUNATELY, THE MESSAGE DIDN’T RESINATE IN THEIR HEARTS OR IN THEIR HEADS. THEY DIDN’T COMPREHEND IT. THEY QUESTIONED HIS TRUE IDENTITY AS THE MESSIAH, SON OF GOD. THEIR SHALLOW, SELFISH CURIOSITY DEMANDED THAT JESUS PROVE HIS IDENTITY BY PERFORMING ANOTHER MIRACULOUS SIGN.

JESUS DEMONSTRATED HIS SONSHIP THROUGH FEEDING THE MULTITUDES ON TWO OCCASTIONS THAT TOTALED 9,000 MEN (NOT COUNTING WOMEN AND CHILDREN). THESE WERE MIGHTY AND UNMISTAKABLE MIRACLES THAT MORE THAN PROVED WHO HE WAS.

HOWEVER, THE PEOPLE NEARLY SCOFFED AT JESUS BECAUSE, TO THEM, THIS WAS A SMALL MIRACLE COMPARED TO WHAT MOSES DID. IN ORDER FOR THEM TO BELIEVE IN HIM, THEY WOULD NEED TO SEE JESUS FEED THE NATON OF ISRAEL ON THE SAME SCALE THAT GOD USED WHEN HE SENT MANNA AND FED THE ENTIRE NATION OF ISRAEL DURING THEIR FORTY-YEAR WILDERNESS WANDERINGSWITH MOSES.

THEY WERE QUOTING FROM PSALM 78:24, AND USING IT TO DEMAND THAT JESUS OUTDO MOSES IF THEY WERE TO BLEIVE IN HIM. IN THEIR SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS, THEY WERE THINKING OF PHYSICAL BREAD. JESUS REMINDS THEM FAIRLY PLAINLY THAT HE WAS SPEAKING OF HIMSELF. HE IS THE TRUE BREAD FROM HEAVEN!

THIS IS THE SAME RESPONSE JESUS GAVE TO THOMAS, IN JOHN 14:6, ““I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. NO ONE CAN COME TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME. JESUS IS THE MESSIAH, SON OF GOD, AND OUR WAY OF SALVATION.

THE FREE METHODIST DOCTRINE ON JESUS THE SON, STATES: “JESUS OF NAZARETH WAS GOD IN FLESH, TRULY GOD AND TRULY HUMAN. HE CAME TO SAVE US. FOR US THE SON OF GOD SUFFERED, WAS CRUCIFIED, DEAD, AND BURIED. HE POURED OUT HIS LIFE AS A BLAMELESS SACRIFICE FOR OUR SIN AND TRANSGRESSIONS. WE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT HE IS OUR SAVIOR, THE ONE PERFECT MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND US.”

SO, WHAT DO WE DO WITH THIS? WE BELIEVE, BY FAITH, THAT JESUS IS THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF GOD. AS THE HOLY SPIRIT LEADS US, WE CONFESS OUR SINS THAT HAVE BROKEN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND ASK FOR HIS REDEEMING FORGIVENESS.

ONCE WE REALIZE THAT WE ARE FORGIVEN AND FREED FROM BOTH THE GUILT AND THE PENALTIES OF ALL THOSE SINS, WE ARE RESTORED AND AT LIBERTY TO LIVE OUR LIFE SURRENDERED AND IN RADICAL OBEDIENCE TO HIM IN A LOVING RELATIONSHIP.

WE CAN NOW “GO ON TOWARDS PERFECTION” TO LIVE A SANCTIFIED LIFE AND TO LOVE GOD WITH ALL OUR HEART, SOUL, MIND AND STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS AS OURSELVES.