Life Notes—July 30, 2009
“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.” John 6:51
In the verses that precede this passage from the sixth chapter of John, the Jews are complaining that Jesus is claiming to be the “bread that came down from heaven.” They say they know this Jesus and they know his mother and father; so how could he be anything more than a carpenter’s son from Nazareth?
We do this with people, don’t we? We say, “That child will never be an athlete—I know his parents and, well, there’s just no way…” Or we claim, “I know that kid will never amount to anything. His father was worthless, as was his father’s father…” It is comforting to pigeon-hole people into boxes that define (and limit) our expectations of them. It lessens our risk of being disappointed or hurt by them.
But Jesus declared he was much more than a boy from the nothing-town of Nazareth! He was much more than a regular man of flesh and blood! By partaking of his life—his flesh—we gain access to the Spirit, the 100% God-part of his being. It’s like eating bread that gets absorbed into every fiber (a little pun) of our being, except this bread is never converted to energy and burned away. It ingrains (another pun—sorry) itself into every part of our life and connects our spirit to His—our soul to God. When we share communion, we take a part of Christ’s body into ourselves, making us One with Christ, who is One with the Father. This is no ordinary bread. Jesus was no ordinary man.
Who are you underestimating? Yourself, maybe? Aren’t we really more than the sum of our ancestors and our environment encased in flesh and blood? We are also spirits connected to the Eternal. The possibilities are endless when we see them through faith.
This week Tom’s sermon title is “Refraining from Complaining.” The scripture is John 6:35, 41-51. Life worship is at 10:45 in Brady Hall. Traditional worship is at 8:30 and 11:00 in the sanctuary. Contemporary worship on the west campus begins at 9:30.
Wishing you more than you know,
Greg Hildenbrand, Life Worship Music Coordinator
Contemplating Grace 