Jesus, The Bread of Life
Let’s step back from the branches of this tree (chapter 6) and take a look at the whole thing once again. Jesus led a large crowd of people, 5,000 families, into the wilderness of the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee until they were far beyond any place to find enough food. When this was obvious, Jesus fed the 5,000 with the meager contents of a boy’s lunch, and there were more leftovers in the end than there had been food to begin with. That same night, the disciples tried to get across the lake but struggled against a squall, and when Jesus walked on the water and got into the boat, they immediately came to the far shore near Capernaum. Now there, the crowds have been stunned to find Jesus there, but now, after all these things, they have begun to question his divinity and even his honesty, partly because they know his parents and his brothers and sisters. Jesus has used this doubt of theirs to assert his relationship with God the Father, and now he is continuing that point:
46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. (NIV)
No sinful human being can see God and live (Exodus 33:20). But Jesus is the one who came down from heaven; he is from God himself. Jesus knows the Father because he himself is the Son. God the Father draws us to himself by drawing us to his Son. God the Father teaches us by the teaching of his Son.
Think of God the Father as someone who wants to talk with us from far away. He calls a number, but without a phone we can’t hear him. Jesus is that phone—the phone that God the Father gave us. Whether I pick up and listen and then tell you about it, or whether there’s a recorded message we can all listen to together, or whether He calls and I put him on speaker phone so that we can all listen together—no matter what, we need Jesus, the Phone, the Communication, the Logos, to hear our Father in heaven. And so we listen to Jesus, and we put our faith in him.
And “he who believes has everlasting life.”
Something Extra:
Ecclesiastes 2:3
3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. (NIV)
In this verse, Solomon is just continuing what he said in verses 1-2. Another kind of pleasure is the pleasure of wine or any alcohol. We could apply this to any substance people use for pleasure, but we’ll keep using Solomon’s own word, “wine.” Solomon doesn’t say he got falling down drunk, since his mind was “still guiding” him “with wisdom.” Solomon is talking about enjoying, not abusing, his wine.
But even though the mere enjoyment of alcohol for its own sake, in moderation, isn’t sinful (1 Timothy 5:23), it has to be evident to anyone, that getting buzzed is not the point of living. God’s plan for us goes beyond the pursuit of happiness, and goes beyond even happiness itself. God’s plan for us is the rescue of our souls, and that comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Abusing the pleasures of life, such as wine, is also destructive. Getting drunk is a violation of the Fifth Commandment, since we are hurting and/or harming a human being’s body—our own. And when we fall into this sin, as with any other, we ask God for forgiveness and for the strength and courage to turn away from this temptation in the future. His forgiveness covers over our sins, and in our thanks, we keep on asking for his help.
His mercy endures forever.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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