White, Wheat, or Jesus?
So, these folks get fed by Jesus one afternoon with food miraculously expanded by our Savior. He took the meal of a young boy and fed more than 5,000 people.
Some of these people evidently didn’t get it. There was a big message in what Jesus did–and they totally missed the point.
The very next day (This story is found in John 6:22 and following) some of these folks showed up again seeking Jesus.
Well, not really, they were seeking food.
These hungry folks even use Scripture to try to manipulate Jesus into performing yet another miracle to fill their bellies. He does not fall for it, but rather ends up speaking one of the more challenging truths he ever spoke, one that still confuses would-be followers to this day.
“…Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” (John 6:53)
That saying sucked the air out of Capernaum and a lot of people just turned away and left.
If you look back a few verses, the Messiah had been trying to teach them with a bit more gentleness not to seek things that only bring momentary comfort, but to seek him–and he would provide true peace and soothing, or shalom.
They were stuck in a mindset of the flesh.
How ’bout you? Are you living for the bread that is Jesus or the temporary fix?
He Fills the Earth With Food
There is an old hymn, “I Sing The Mighty Power of God” by Isaac Watts and the second verse starts with “We sing the goodness of the Lord that filled the earth with food…”.
In a day of large quantities of processed, preserved, frozen, and transported foods perhaps we do not quite grasp why someone would write such a thing, but it truly is a sign of the goodness and mercy of God. In Isaac Watt’s day famine, drought, and the daily struggle for food was real–and his choosing of the words for this hymn speak to the high value of food, and the generosity of our God in providing us with it.
I suppose we could imagine a world where our Creator would have just given us some bland, grey paste that met all of our nutritional needs and we just had to choke it down a few times every day to be in good health.
Instead, he indeed filled the world with amazingly beautiful and tasty foods that when consumed, cause little chemicals to be released into our brains bringing us into a state of comfort and even happiness.
Not only that, experiencing this chemical burst while eating with others can help us to bond with them.
How much the Almighty loves us and desires to shower us with joy!
Yet in John 6 the Son of God is giving us a vital truth each of us needs to grasp if we are to be truly nourished; HE is the bread that truly brings life.
Truly knowing Christ, abiding in him and he in us (see Jn. 15) is the only path to lasting comfort, joy, peace (Shalom), and power.
So the big question is, how do you understand that “eat my flesh, drink my blood” statement?
Allow me to suggest that as a society we are killing ourselves by over-consuming energy-dense foods and also taking in comfort-chemicals through electronic devices, their resident media, and numerous other way–seeking a comfort and peace that cannot be found in these consumables, at least not in the long run.
If we were to crave being joined to Jesus, time with him, love from and in him, the same way in which we over-feed ourselves with food and amusement–i.e., “eat his flesh and drink his blood,” we would achieve and abiding shalom, overall peace, wellness, wholeness, and purpose.
But if you are enslaved to the easy to reach bread, this can be hard to achieve.
Need help with that? Get your copy of Superhero: Being Who God Says You Are and start by working through the digital detox found in the appendix. This protocol found in the book can be modified to deal with food or any other improper and damaging comfort you have.
White, wheat, or Jesus? Choose the bread of life…
Shalom, Stevo
(Image by Nerudo/Shutterstock)
