I Am the Bread of Life
Pastor Janet Saddel – September 1, 2024
Sermon Series: I Am
John 6:24-35, 47-51, 53-58
24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Jesus replied, “I assure you that you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate all the food you wanted. 27 Don’t work for the food that doesn’t last but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Human One will give you. God the Father has confirmed him as his agent to give life.” 28 They asked, “What must we do in order to accomplish what God requires?” 29 Jesus replied, “This is what God requires, that you believe in him whom God sent.” 30 They asked, “What miraculous sign will you do, that we can see and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” 32 Jesus told them, “I assure you, it wasn’t Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!”35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
47 I assure you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that whoever eats from it will never die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
53 Jesus said to them, “I assure you, unless you eat the flesh of the Human Onea]”>[a] and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me lives because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. It isn’t like the bread your ancestors ate, and then they died. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Sermon Series: I AM – “I AM the Bread of Life”
John Chapter 6 (24-35,47-51,53-58)
The crowd wants more. Their purpose in seeking Jesus is wrong – they’re looking for something that won’t last. They’re not really looking for Jesus himself, instead they’re looking for more bread.
They want bread to fill their stomachs, not the stuff of eternal life. They’re looking to Jesus for the wrong things.
Jesus wants to fill more than our stomachs. He wants to fill our souls. The bread that comes down from heaven will satisfy like nothing else on earth.
Do we come to Jesus looking for him – Or are we looking to get something from Jesus?
We break the bread and drink the wine so that we can commune with God, we can abide with Jesus. This is a mystery – a mystical union with Jesus through his body, the bread. Jesus said, “because I live, you will also live.” Our union with Jesus is not temporary – it is eternal – it will not end when our life on earth ends.
This is spiritual bread – and when we feed on Jesus, we will never be hungry. Faith is about a relationship with a person, the one who is the Bread of life. Jesus wants us to feed on him – to think on him, to feed on him and to be filled with him.
Jesus is the Bread of Life. We will never fully understand – on this side of heaven – but we can “get it” when we receive communion. We take Jesus into us, somehow.
We need to feed on Jesus daily. We not only feed on Jesus through communion at the table this morning, through the bread and the cup, but we feed on Jesus when we spend time with him, through prayer and through reading his Word.
The bread of life – Jesus – nourishes our soul. When we deny our souls our spiritual food, we become spiritually exhausted. And then we try to feed our soul with things other than the Bread of Life. But nothing in this world can satisfy as Jesus can. Apart from him, we can do nothing. There is power in Christ – and when we feed on him in our hearts, we are strengthened.
Jesus will refresh our souls – he will satisfy as nothing else on earth can do, because we were made for him and to have a relationship with him. We are only fulfilled by being in union with him.
