Lenten Daily Devotional 2022
Monday, March 14, 2021
Day 13: "I Am the Bread of Life"
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35 (NIV)
In this passage Jesus begins with "I am the bread of life." He begins with that most basic of human needs: food. Yet the bread Jesus talks about is not that kind of food.
Jesus just finished the miracle of feeding 5,000 folks from five little loaves of bread. Jesus just fed a great throng of folks in what at that time must have been the world's biggest picnic. It created quite a sensation and, as Jesus says, that is why so many people are still following him around. However, he tells them, and us, what type of nourishment is really needed – “food that endures to eternal life.”
Clearly whatever else Jesus means by his talk of a bread that will last, he is not envisioning some wonder bread that will keep you from physical death on this earth. Eventually in the church the way to confirm that you believe that core message of the gospel would become enshrined in the Lord's Supper--the table of our Lord where bread and wine would become our way of connecting again and again with the Christ whom we believe is the very Son of God.
When I celebrate communion I often dwell on Christ’s sacrifice and, as significant as that sacrifice is, I should also celebrate that Jesus makes my eternal life with God possible.
When I eat the bread and drink the juice of communion, I must believe that Jesus is God's man, that he is the one sent from heaven, and that by ingesting him by faith I am nourished with a life that won't die even when the doctors pull out the last tube of my existence on this earth.
--Roe Darnell
Jesus just finished the miracle of feeding 5,000 folks from five little loaves of bread. Jesus just fed a great throng of folks in what at that time must have been the world's biggest picnic. It created quite a sensation and, as Jesus says, that is why so many people are still following him around. However, he tells them, and us, what type of nourishment is really needed – “food that endures to eternal life.”
Clearly whatever else Jesus means by his talk of a bread that will last, he is not envisioning some wonder bread that will keep you from physical death on this earth. Eventually in the church the way to confirm that you believe that core message of the gospel would become enshrined in the Lord's Supper--the table of our Lord where bread and wine would become our way of connecting again and again with the Christ whom we believe is the very Son of God.
When I celebrate communion I often dwell on Christ’s sacrifice and, as significant as that sacrifice is, I should also celebrate that Jesus makes my eternal life with God possible.
When I eat the bread and drink the juice of communion, I must believe that Jesus is God's man, that he is the one sent from heaven, and that by ingesting him by faith I am nourished with a life that won't die even when the doctors pull out the last tube of my existence on this earth.
--Roe Darnell
Prayer Focus: Prayer for our musicians at Centenary. They have been so flexible during this season! Prayer for their health and wisdom as they continue to find new ways to lead Centenary in worship.
Present Day
In today's passage, we read that the location Jesus was teaching at was in the synagogue in Capernaum: "He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum." John 6:59 (NIV). These pictures are of Capernaum and where the synagogue is believed to have been located. These present day pictures are not of the synagogue Jesus taught in, but one built in the same location in the Byzantine era, possibly the 5th Century.
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