Then Moses said to God,
“If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
God said to Moses,
“I am who I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
(Exodus 3:13-14)
Imagine what it sounded like when Jesus claimed . . . I AM the bread of life! It would be similar to a person in Saudi Arabia declaring, “Allah and me, we’re one in the same!” Jesus’ declaration so angered the Jews that they tried to stone him for blasphemy:
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, ?I am.” So ?they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple (John 8:58)
Free food!
A day before this declaration (I AM the bread of life), Jesus had taught a great number of people in the wilderness. At the end of the day, Jesus, as a good host, fed them with bread and fish he had miraculously multiplied. The people, being poor, immediately remembered how Moses had fed the nation in the wilderness. Surely he is the prophet whom Moses said would come! they thought. The text says:
“This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” (John 6:14)
We’re not much different. We too try to use God to help us achieve our own goals and plans, don’t we?
The bread of life
The people then tried to blackmail Jesus. Moses gave us a sign – he gave the people food, they said. If you give us the same sign, then we will follow you. (John 6:30-31). That’s not true, Jesus said.
Moses didn’t give the people bread (manna), God did! And that was just physical food, not bread from heaven as you called it. God wants to give you true bread, the bread of life.
Jesus as the bread of life and my life
Jesus is the bread of life. His words are life. When Jesus asked the Twelve… “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life! (John 6: 14).
Without daily fellowship with Jesus, through prayer and reading of his word, we have no other source of spiritual food. Spiritually we will starve.
Unfortunately, we are prone to seek God for the wrong reasons, looking for what we can get from him – his blessing and his help. God made us for fellowship with him. He offers gives us spiritual food. It is up to us to feed on this provision daily, through fellowship with Jesus, through prayer and through reading, through meditating on his word.
