John 6:51-58 (NRSV)
Read John 6:51-58 on biblegateway.com
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." Verse 52The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Verse 53So Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Verse 54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; Verse 55for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Verse 56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Verse 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. Verse 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."
Devotion
We've seen this conversation before. At a well in John 4, Jesus engaged a woman of Samaria and opened up a whole new understanding of living waters. She heard and was changed. She drank of the water and experienced new life.
Today Jesus is talking with some folks who are pretty sure they know all about manna—the bread come down from heaven. But Jesus opens up a whole new understanding of a bread in which death is no more. Not all who hear this teaching are as receptive as the woman of Samaria was. Some stop following Jesus. But Peter and the disciples choose to stay with this One with words of eternal life. Yet, truth be told, they were called and chosen by this Jesus more than they had any choice. Where do the woman of Samaria and Peter and the other disciples—and we—get this wisdom to abide with life eternal?
Prayer
God, we like to think we have things all figured out. We lean way too hard on our own understandings. Give us wisdom to drink from the well, to feast on the bread from heaven and to abide with you. Amen.