“Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty…All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” John 6: 35,37

While out on my runs, I’ve been listening to a 90’s music mix a lot.  One song reminds me about this crowd in chapter 6 of John.  The crowd likes big “buts.”  Jesus continues to teach and answer questions about how to come to God and gain eternal life. Yet the crowd has the same persistent response to everything Jesus is saying: “Sure, but…”  

Jesus lays out the foundation for eternal life, but it’s not what the crowd expects or wants.  Jesus is offering belief in Him as the “bread of life”. But the crowd is asking for physical bread, sent from heaven, to feed them every day.  Jesus tells the crowd that he has been sent by God to do God’s will, not His own.  But the people want Him to do their will as an earthly king and savior.  Jesus is offering them a path to eternal life, but the crowd continues to persist in their focus on earthly needs right now.

With all these big “buts” punctuating the teachings of Jesus, the crowd seems to be missing the big idea Jesus is sharing.  Once again, Jesus is redirecting the crowd from thoughts of physical body to the importance of the spirit.  The bread that Jesus is offering nourishes our spirits like physical bread nourishes our bodies.  

Eating and drinking are actions that we take every day to stay healthy.  We need to actively seek out food, and we need to actively eat.  Just like with Jesus, experiencing His spiritual nourishment is a choice we need to actively make every day to stay spiritually healthy.  Just as food helps our physical bodies, the spiritual nourishment of actions taken in the name of Jesus bring us closer to experiencing the eternal life He offers.   This is the promise Jesus is making. “My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life”. 

We’re often a lot like the crowd. We hear the message and see the works, but we still respond with a big “but…” instead of accepting the spiritual nourishment of Jesus.  Think about your daily need for spiritual nourishment.  Where are you saying, “Yes, but…?” Where and how you can start saying, “Yes, Jesus!”

If you’d like to read or re-read the overview/summary of this week’s passage, you can find it here.