I am the Bread of Life

 

 I suppose it’s only human nature to have faith in the things we see rather the things we can’t. God knew our nature long before and better than we did. The whole purpose of his incarnation in Jesus was for him to be able to reach us in his humanity through our physical senses. We place out “faith” in tangible things we can see, touch and experience like career, finances, family, relationships, and our own ability to control our lives. Unfortunately, life has a way of reminding us that our faith in those things may be fleeting and not as fulfilling as we planned or expected.

Most of us are likely to experience a significant setbacks in our lives and what we once counted on were no longer as reliable. And even people close to us like our family, and our friends…well are not unkind, just hard to find and are imminently capable of doing what humans do, and disappoint us.

In a very real sense, most of what we invest our faith in falls under the category of “perishable.” After feeding the 5000 with five loaves and two fish, Jesus and the disciples crossed the lake, only to find that the crowd had followed him there. When they approached him, he knew they were expecting a repeat performance of the feeding of the multitude.

Jesus was constantly aware of the dangers of a faith that is based on visible and tangible elements. Getting what you asked for without spiritual elbow grease is not faith. Jesus was calling his followers to a completely different kind of faith. Humans are conditioned to believe in those things they can identify with their five senses. “Seeing is believing,” right? Well maybe not in God’s way of thinking. Jesus was calling his followers to a faith without external props and to things that are felt and not necessarily seen.

When we take the risk of “casting our lot with the one whom God sent” to carry out God’s mission in the world, we experience a peace, a freedom, a quality of life that none of our “perishable things” can possibly provide. When we take the risk of faith, we find the life that God offers truly satisfies us in ways we may never have expected. The only “bread” that can truly satisfy our hunger is the bread that God offers us, the Bread of Life. (John 6:24-35).