Week 3 - The Bread of Life
What we talked about In youth on Sunday
Do you ever feel frustrated at God?
Perhaps you’ve been frustrated he hasn’t answered that prayer you’ve been praying for months. Or maybe you’ve been in a hard season of life and are frustrated that God feels absent.
As we turn to John’s Gospel, we meet the Jews at a time when they were similarly frustrated with God. For 400 years the Jews had not heard from God. During that time their land became occupied by Roman authorities, and the prosperous life they thought God would give them seemed lost. The little hope they did have was fixated on the promise of a Messiah, who they thought would break them free from Roman oppression, make them a strong international power, and give them wealth. Yet, because of their ongoing plight and God’s silence, their frustration only grew as their expectations continued unmet.
Looking at John 6:22-40, we see how the Jews’ frustration blinded their ability to see and receive all that God had for them. Up to this point in John’s Gospel, Jesus has been going around doing amazing things. He healed a young boy who was on his death bed. He gave a man who had been lame from birth the ability to walk. And right before this passage, Jesus fed over five thousand people from just a loaf of bread and some fish. However, despite these amazing signs and wonders, the Jews—the people who should have noticed these signs for what they were—were blind to see Jesus rightly, and as a result missed out on the great things God had for them.
Take John 6:22 for example. There we learn that crowds were searching everywhere for Jesus. Word had spread that Jesus fed over five thousand people and (being the next day) they were hungry for more. Finally they found Jesus near Capernaum and asked what he had been doing. But Jesus seeing through their question responds in a way that would have been curious to them. He says, “You are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (Jn. 6:26-27).
The people wanted to find Jesus so he would give them more food, which—of course—anyone who had just seen someone feed over five thousand people out of essentially nothing would try to do. But Jesus, knowing their desires, points them to an even greater reality. Yes, he could give them food every single day to satiate their physical hunger just like God did by giving them Manna when they were in the wilderness. But Jesus, being a different and better Messiah than the people expected him to be, tells the people what they should really be asking of him.
Jesus says to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst… everyone who looks on [me] and believes… shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn. 6:35, 40).
Whereas the crowd simply wanted food that would fill them up for a day, Jesus offered them food that would make them live forever. Jesus is the bread of life that provides resurrection from the dead and never-ending life to those who believe in him. Whether it sounds too good to believe, or we are just so desperate for our daily needs to be met, we often miss out on the incredible, eternal hope that Jesus offers in search of lesser things.
The question we must ask ourselves, then, is: Will we believe that Jesus can raise us from the dead to never-ending life, and live accordingly? Or will we continue asking him to give us less?
Continuing the conversation at home
As parents, the spiritual and religious influence you have on your children’s lives is greater than anyone else’s. As such, your children will likely model your spiritual and religious beliefs and behaviors, not only as adolescence, but also into adulthood. Therefore, as important as it is for your kids to have an answer to the question above, the way you respond to that question is of even greater significance. Do you believe that Jesus can raise you from the dead to never-ending life? Does your life show it? Do your kids know it? This is not intended to shame you—you are doing a great job raising your kids! Rather, it is meant to encourage you to consider how your faith in Christ is influencing your life at home.
Either at dinner or during a quiet moment in the car, ask your kids what they thought about the lesson from Youth on Sunday. Remind them what it was about if needed. Ask them if they find it hard to believe that Jesus can raise them from the dead to never-ending life. Share with them any struggles you may have in believing this. Encourage them that as a family you will strive to live as people who believe this amazing good news.