“Give Us This Bread!”
John 6:25-35
If you look back to the beginning of chapter six, you’ll see that this story takes place after the feeding of the multitude.
So many times in the gospel our Lord Jesus uses things that are of this world (earthly) to teach us spiritual truths. Looking at the context of the scripture we see that Jesus is speaking with a crowd of people that have followed Him after much diligent search. And when they found Jesus, He said unto them, “I know why you are looking for me, it’s because you ate the loaves until you were full. Here our Lord is using food to relay a divine truth. The people in our passage came to Jesus hoping for bread. They sought Jesus because he was the means to satisfying their appetites. He could do something for them.
Matthew 6:33, But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Don’t worry about or be overly concerned with the cares of this world such as food, drink, shelter or clothes. Our Father who art in Heaven sits high and looks low. He knows the things we stand in need of and He will provide those things.
This is why Jesus tells the people not to “work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.” Their desire for bread wasn’t wrong in itself. The problem was that what they wanted from Jesus was so much less than he is. They wanted Jesus to give them regular bread to eat, but he wanted to give them himself, the bread of life who gives eternal life. Christ has given us the bread of life; he has given us himself. So come, take and eat!
Bishop Curtis L. Curry Jr