Wednesday, August 21, 2024  

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Today's Scripture
John 6:41–51

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (NRSV)

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Reflection

Earlier in this chapter Jesus had been traveling around performing miracles (feeding 5000 people with two fish and five barley loaves, walking on water) and teaching. People traveled after him to hear him teach and decided He was the prophet they had been waiting for. They had become huge Jesus fans.

Then he said that he was the bread of life sent from heaven. Somehow, even after all of the miracles they had observed, this was a step too far. These people know Jesus, they know his family, and they watched him grow up. He was just like them, they reasoned, so how could what he was saying be true?

We think of this story as an illustration of familiarity breeding contempt. It is easy to feel superior to those of Jesus’ time. How could they have been so blind? It should have been obvious to them who Jesus was, we think.

But we are not so different. It is our nature, as well, to view the world through our experiences, because that is what we know. Just as Jesus was so much more than simply the son of the neighborhood carpenter, so God is so much more than we can imagine.

Like those long-ago crowds, we need to open up our imaginations to the possibility that God may speak to us in unexpected ways. Only by remaining open to hearing and seeing God in the everyday, in the world, and in the people around us, can we be open to God’s plan for us.

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Prayer
God, give us the imagination to hear your voice in unexpected places. Help us to remain open to your message, even where we least expect it. Thank you for your guidance and presence in our lives. Amen.

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Written by Juli Crabtree, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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