John 6:35-51 (NRSV)
Read John 6:35-51 on biblegateway.com
Verse 35Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Verse 36But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Verse 37Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; Verse 38for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Verse 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. Verse 40This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day." Verse 41Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." Verse 42They 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'?" Verse 43Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. Verse 44No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. Verse 45It 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. Verse 46Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Verse 47Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. Verse 48I am the bread of life. Verse 49Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. Verse 50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. Verse 51I 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."
Devotion
When I was little, one of my favorite dinners was minestrone soup and hot bread, fresh from the oven. I could smell it from my room and would run down the stairs to steal a piece before dinner was on the table, and I’d eat so much then that I couldn’t eat much when dinner was ready! God has set before us a banquet of love, of bread that never runs out, and that fills us beyond what we could have expected.
Prayer
Generous God, fill us with the knowledge of Jesus, the true bread come down from heaven. Amen.