I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.  And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.  For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:38-40).

Did you read the verses cited above?  Take a minute to do it, or do it again, if you please.  I’ll wait …

There’s a lot going on here.  In the middle of his “Bread Sermon,” Jesus starts talking about God’s will and “raising up” and “the last day.”  All good and necessary things, but what’s it all doing in the middle of a sermon that is so focused on “bread”?

Each of this week’s Connect Devotionals has creatively and uniquely explored the fundamental connection between “bread” and “life.”  We cannot live unless we receive “life” from outside ourselves.  Physical life and vitality depend on “outside” resources, particularly food, and spiritual life similarly requires “life” from “outside.”  We are not self-generating or self-sustaining.

God is the Living God, the God of Life.  Life, true, real life, is God’s idea, God’s creation, God’s gift.  God’s will is that everyone, everywhere, would truly live.  In order for that to happen, God has sent Jesus, not as a teacher or prophet or healer or spiritual leader; in Jesus, God has shown up in person.  To know God’s will, we must know Jesus.  

But we must know Jesus personally and intimately; just as we must eat our daily bread, receiving it personally into our lives, in similar fashion we must feed ourselves on Jesus, who is the Bread of Life.  We might be “familiar” with food and nutrition, but if we don’t allow good and nutritious food into our bodies, we die.  Same holds true of our spiritual lives.

How do we “do God’s will”?  By coming to Jesus, as a desperately starving beggar would come for freely offered bread.  Our physical hunger tells us that there is “food” out there to meet that hunger.  Our hunger to live and not die similarly indicates that there is a “life” that is stronger even than death.  Any hungry ones who come to God, Jesus says, will always find a warm welcome.  Jesus will never lose what God his Father gives him, and that Father’s will is that everyone who believes in Jesus will have eternal life – and be “raised up” on “the last day.”

Everyone who comes to Jesus and entrusts their lives to him has (present tense, in the “now”!) eternal life – and will be raised up (future tense, God’s “forever”) at the last day.

Try saying that last sentence out loud a few times, and really “chew on it.”  It’s really good news!

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