I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” vs. 51
Ephesians 4:25-29
There are a number of passages in scripture that tell stories about miraculous feedings. Obviously there was the experience of the Israelites with manna in the wilderness, and everyone knows about the feeding of the 5000 at the hands of Jesus. But John here goes beyond the mere satisfaction of hunger that was at the core of other stories. His words, “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever” tell us that in Jesus we can experience true life. He calls it “eternal life” and implies that it begins now and endures forever. And even more significantly, he says that this new life isn’t just for believers, but for the whole world! Of course we can only imagine what this new life might entail. It’s almost too much for our minds to comprehend. Certainly it’s much more than the notion that if we believe in Jesus we’ll go to heaven when we die. That conditional sense of eternal life puts all the emphasis on us and leaves little room for the extravagant grace and mercy that is God’s passion. But it does feel good to know that life is more than what we’re experiencing from day to day on our journey around the sun. And sometimes we can actually feel that new life ooze into our pores. And someday that new life will be ours forever.
Thought for the Day: How do I understand the new life?
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