Monday, September 7, 2015
John 6:26-27 Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life ..."
MORE THAN A BREAD KING
The crowd that hunted Jesus down in Capernaum wanted free bread. He had done miracles, but what really stuck with them was that they had gotten a free meal. Maybe Jesus could be their "Bread King." They could live in perpetual vacation, never having to work for food again.
But Jesus had something much more valuable to give them than loaves and fishes. He called this something "food which endures to everlasting life" (John 6:27).
The food they had eaten on the other side of the lake was already used up. It may have been miracle bread, but it was still just bread. It had been consumed by their bodies, and now they needed more.
But the bread Jesus wanted to give them wouldn't be consumed. When taken in, it would remain. It would endure all the way to eternal life.
How foolish they were. What they did was like picking an ice cream cone over a cure for cancer. But perhaps we do the same thing today. Do we ever look to Jesus as the provider of nice stuff, while ignoring the really valuable gifts he offers? Do we see Jesus as merely our "Bread King"?
God the Father "set His seal" on Jesus. That is, he marked him as the Savior of the world through the miracles he performed, and through the prophesies that he fulfilled. But God the Father didn't mark Jesus as the Savior so that he could be some glorified Santa Claus. He was marked as the Savior because it would be from his nail pierced hands that we would receive the gift of eternal life.
If we're going believe in the real Jesus, He can't just be our Bread King. The real Jesus provides better food than that.
