The Bread of Life

What would it have been like to live in Galilee or Judea in about 30 to 33 A.D.? What would have been my thoughts and feelings if I had witnessed the miracles Jesus performed and heard his teachings from His own mouth? Would I have been a true disciple? I like to think so.

The feeding of the 5000 men plus women and children was one of the most publically witnessed miracles. The Jews were looking for the Messiah to come - the One who they believed would deliver them from the hated Roman tyrants that ruled them. They recognized great power in Jesus, and they wanted Him to declare Himself their king. He could rid them of the Roman dominion and even provide them with free daily bread, as the Lord provided Moses and the Israelites (manna) to sustain them in the wilderness.

He refused their attempts to make Him king, for that was not why He had come. He understood the Messianic traditions and hopes of the common people - and that they were not much interested in the Gospel He taught, only in what He could do for them in a temporal sense. The day after the feeding of the 5000 a great multitude came to Him again, hoping for a free meal. Instead, He taught them the great sermon on the Bread of Life. He taught them that the only way for them to have eternal salvation was to eat of His flesh - the bread of life. The people didn't like what He said. They appeared to be repulsed by His imagery, refusing to look beyond the literal meaning of his words. Most of those present that day abandoned Him.

The Jews well understood His symbolic language, but they refused to HEAR Him. They didn't want a Messiah who required that they repent of their sins, clean up their lives and follow Him. It seemed easier to obey the outward rules that had been tacked onto the law of Moses than it was to truly love God and their neighbors and live the righteous principles He taught.

Unfortunately, that same kind of problem exists today among many Christians. They think that because Jesus loves them, He will forgive their sins and welcome them into His kingdom in the eternities if they only "believe" in Him. They forget that He never recinded the ten commandments and that He greatly expanded them in His teachings as recorded in the New Testament. They don't think it necessary to "eat His flesh" by repenting, obeying, and following His example. We cannot live in sin, disregard His words, then find ourselves blissfully living with Him in the eternities. Yes, He loves each of us perfectly. But those who refuse to live according to the principles and ordinances He has established will find that His love, without our obedience, will not grant us the full eternal blessings that His great atoning sacrifice has made available to us.

Let us truly partake of the Bread of Life. Symbolically, we do that each week when we partake of the sacrament bread, but in reality we must strive to incorporate His nature - His attributes into our very being.