Christmas Family Devotional Guide

Jesus, the Bread of Life (John 6:25-35)

With all of the low carb diets that exist today, bread has fallen out of popularity as a part of every meal. When Jesus lived, however, bread was a big part of what they would eat. The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand with five small barley loaves and two small fish is evidence that bread was likely the main part of each meal. What does it mean, then, when Jesus calls himself the “bread from heaven,” and the “bread of life?”

John 6:25-27
Jesus had just fed the five thousand men and their families with the little boy’s bread and fish. After this event, Jesus went away to be by himself on a mountain. The people went and looked for Jesus, thinking He would make a great king because He gave them all the food they wanted. Why do we seek Jesus? Jesus tells those who were looking for him that they should not “work for food that spoils, but for good that endures to eternal life.” Jesus’ first words to these people teach us the right reason for seeking Jesus. We seek Jesus because He will satisfy us forever, not just a little while. How does what we pray for show what we want to get from Jesus? Do we pray most asking for stuff that will make us happy until we get bored with it? Do we pray to Jesus like we talk to Santa when we are sitting on his lap, asking for a list of fun toys, or do we pray asking Jesus to be everything that we need all day long? Even though a good, hot, soft piece of homemade bread with butter is satisfying to the belly for a moment, Jesus, as the bread of life, satisfies even better and longer, much longer.

John 6:28-29
This amazing bread of life about which Jesus taught made the mouths of His listeners really begin to water. They were even willing to work hard to get it. So they asked Jesus what kind of works they would have to do to get this bread of life. Jesus told them that the kind of work they had to do to get this bread, which would satisfy them forever, was to “believe in the one that he [God] sent.” Attaining real satisfaction in life comes not from working hard for earthly satisfaction, but rather from believing that Jesus, who came from God to bring use into a relationship with God, can truly satisfy. Do we really believe that trusting in Jesus to forgive us from all our sins, and walking with Jesus as our master each day will satisfy more than hard work? In America, we work to be able to afford to play. So work becomes satisfying because it lets us play. The time and energy we devote to our jobs, school, and play reveals how much we believe that it will satisfy us. The time and energy we spend trying to know Jesus and be like Him reveals how little we believe that He came from heaven to satisfy our deepest hunger. Jesus as the bread of life really will satisfy you best.

John 6:30-35
Those listening to Jesus were having doubts that Jesus really satisfied as He claimed. So they asked for a miracle as proof, like when God let manna fall from the sky to feed the Israelites wandering in the desert. Jesus takes their example of the manna to teach them one more thing about the bread of life. Jesus tells them that the miracle that God did through Moses in giving them manna was not the real miracle. The real miracle is God sending Jesus into the world to die so that His need to judge sin would be satisfied, and so that we could find true peace in a relationship with the God who created us to know Him. Jesus clearly tells them that the “true bread of heaven,” who is the “bread of God,” is the one whom God sent to us. Jesus’ listeners said “wow, we want that kind of bread from now on.” They still thought the bread of life was something they could eat with their mouths. Jesus finally states in unmistakable terms that the bread of life was not wheat, rye, or barley bread, it was Jesus himself. Eternal contentment is not found in toys, careers, friends, or anything in this life. It is found in knowing Jesus personally by trusting that: He is the Son of God who became human so that he could take the death that we deserved, in order that we might be forgiven for our sinfulness, so that God could satisfy us with himself. Jesus, as the bread of life, is the biggest miracle of all.

God, help me not to seek to be satisfied by Christmas, but by Jesus for whom we celebrate it.