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The Weekly Word: Jesus is the ‘Bread of Life’

By The Rev. Daniel Larson, Cross Lutheran Church

We live in a time when it has been said “God is dead.” Indeed, it seems as if most people no longer believe in God. Even many who call themselves Christian have little time for the church anymore.

Instead, we say that we are “enlightened” and we have developed our own ways to cope with struggles, and that science has the answer to everything we don’t understand.

The Rev. Daniel Larson
The Rev. Daniel Larson

Christians who cling to their faith are seen by many as being weaklings, in need of a crutch to get through life. However, in spite of it all, God is still alive and well, for God cannot die.

Someone once wrote, “The most extraordinary thing about this age in which we live is the failure of God to die. It did not take place. Somehow, God survived, flourished even.”

Still, many people continue to live without God in their lives. Maybe you know someone like this. That person may be obsessed with their physical health, but he thinks very little about his spiritual life. He thinks he can get by on a spiritual starvation diet.

If he even has a Bible, he rarely opens it or attends church. Oh, he may occasionally nibble on the spiritual junk food found in some self-help books. Radio talk shows, snippets of TV preachers, and the advice of friends are about all the theology he gets.

Does all that sound familiar to you?

Then consider how God, who continually blesses the world with food for physical life, also has a nourishing spiritual diet prepared for us as well. Jesus came to be this “food” for our souls. This is why He calls Himself “the Bread of Life” (John 6:35).

So, how does Jesus feed us this food that is so necessary for our spiritual survival? He feeds us through His Word and holy Sacraments, bringing us His grace, forgiveness, peace that our souls need.

Look — the human conscience hungers for true righteousness. Jesus gives it.

The early Christians knew they had “been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). The heart hungers for true and lasting love. God declares to His people, “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3).

Jesus reminds us that we do not live by physical “bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

In Christ, the questions regarding our meaning and purpose in this life are answered and fulfilled. And Jesus also fills us with hope, joy, and confidence for the future as well. In all respects, Jesus satisfies a person’s spiritual hunger.

• • •

Are you hungering to learn more about Jesus, “the Bread of Life”? All of us at Cross Lutheran Church would like to share Him with you. Come, and “taste” that the Lord is good!

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