Believe – John 6:35, 41-51

A text – John 6:35, 41-51

6:35 Jesus 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. 6:41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 6:42 They 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’?” 6:43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 6:44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. 6:45 It 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. 6:46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 6:47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 6:48 I am the bread of life. 6:49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 6:50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 6:51 I 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.”

A reflection:

In this passage of the Gospel of John, Jesus promises us that all those who are drawn by the Father to Jesus will be raised on the last day. If we believe that promise, we have eternal life. We will die, but yet we will be raised, just like Jairus’s daughter, just like Lazarus, just like the son of the widow of Nain, and just like Jesus himself. We may not be restored to our grieving family, but we will be raised to eternal life with God.

Jesus even likens belief in this promise to the faith the Israelites had when they received bread from heaven every day in the wilderness. They sustained life in that way, but they died at the end of their lives without a promised a resurrection at the end of time. But Jesus promises here in John that we will be raised to live forever.

It’s hard to be sure. To believe. That’s what faith is for. How much do we believe the stories about Jesus and his life here on earth? If we are pretty sure he lived as a man with disciples and was put to death, gave up his life, here on earth, only to rise again, we can probably just about believe in the resurrection. And on the days we can’t quite do it, the Holy Spirit helps us to believe. God is forever bringing us closer to God’s eternal life. It is happening, whether we can believe it or not. The Triune God – the Creator, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – works on us all the time. Jesus says, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.” He makes no exceptions. You might have perfect faith, but probably like me you don’t. Still, we are all beloved children of God and life is waiting for us.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for letting Jesus save us for eternal life and give us confidence that all we have to do is believe. Thank you for not making salvation be a contest, won only by the most sinless person. Help our believing every day so that we can be seen by others to be confident in you. Amen.