Food, glorious food

A Bible study for Harvest by Captain Carol Frederiksen

STUDY PASSAGE: JOHN 6:1–40

A POSTER outside a church caught my eye. The caption read: ‘Hungry? Try Church this Harvest time.’ My thoughts then turned to the words of Jesus in John 6:35: ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty’ (all quotations from New International Version). What a wonderful invitation in that sentence! It conjures up images of abundance, contentment and satisfaction.

BREAD THAT CAN SATISFY
It is a shameful indictment on our world that vast numbers of the Earth’s population still go hungry every day. We are practically immune to the images of emaciated bodies and hollow, empty eyes that flash before us on television screens or call us to respond from newspaper pages.

And while the Christian might be moved to a compassionate response for the physically hungry, we ignore at our peril the spiritual hunger that also blights our society.

Into this deprivation of body, mind and spirit comes Jesus. He alone can satisfy the spiritual void in our lives. He alone can fill the emptiness. He makes no cheap promise when he claims to be the very ‘bread of life’. As he gives himself, the riches of Heaven are laid before us. Jesus offers joy beyond sorrow, hope beyond disappointment, intimate friendship beyond loneliness and life beyond death. The bread he provides fills not just for a moment, or a day, but satisfies for all eternity. The psalmist experienced this complete provision from God and declared in his testimony, ‘You brought us to a place of abundance’ (66:12).

To ponder
How does Jesus, as the Bread of Life, satisfy all my needs?

BREAD THAT IS SUFFICIENT
What is sufficient for you might not be sufficient for me, and vice versa. So, let us use this word in the sense that Jesus and his followers would have understood it. They knew how God had provided for his people in their wilderness experience. We read in Exodus 16:19 and 20 that the bread, or ‘manna’, that Moses was instructed by God to collect was sufficient only for that one day on which it was gathered. There was always enough manna for their daily needs, but each new day meant another gathering of God’s provision.

So how is the bread that Jesus offers sufficient for all our needs?

We start by recognizing that humanity has an enormous appetite for spiritual matters. Every culture has some form of religion, however loosely it might be defined. People in every age and every place have some object of worship and long for an explanation of their origins and their purpose. People in every culture have asked: ‘Who made all this?’ ‘Why am I here?’ ‘If there is a God, who is he and what is he like?’

Jesus provides answers to all these questions. His reasons for living – why to live, how to live, how to please God, how to live in harmony with God and with others – come in abundance. As we sit at his banqueting table and allow Jesus to nourish and sustain, he reveals his plan for us, gives goals for our lives and provides the power to achieve those goals. He then graciously ensures that we have life beyond this life. As the psalmist puts it, we will ‘dwell in the house of the Lord for ever’ (23:6).

We underline the fact that the offer that Jesus made of himself as the Bread of Life is not stingy or begrudging. He gives enough to everyone, and each person receives an equal portion. As we come to his feast, Jesus has more than enough to fully satisfy our hunger.

We may acknowledge – spiritually speaking – that some people are filled more quickly and more easily than others, but God graciously takes that into account. Read John 6:35 again: the invitation is given, the words of life are uttered. Jesus fulfils the eternal promise to ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34:8).

To ponder
How do I make sure that I have enough of the Bread of Life for each day?

A PRAYER FOR HARVEST
Every time we eat a meal, remind us of your presence. Every time we drink, remind us of your blessings. Every time we see a need, give us the sense of sharing. Every time we enjoy your creation, fill us with thanks and praise. Amen.

• Captain Frederiksen is the corps officer at Ipswich Bramford Road