“By
this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is
a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. Send the people
away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy
themselves something to eat." (Mark 6:35-36, NIV)
Observation/Interpretation:
I asked
myself what I learn about the disciples.
They were concerned about the
people who were gathered to hear Jesus. That was noble of them but they
still did not get it. Jesus saw the crowd gathered as sheep without a
shepherd. Jesus decided to become their Good Shepherd. A shepherd makes
sure their sheep is fed and taken care of. If it were up to the
disciples they would have sent the sheep on their own way to find their
food. Not Jesus though for Jesus makes a profound statement to the
disciples.
“But
he answered, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "That
would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that
much on bread and give it to them to eat?" (Mark 6:37, NIV)
The disciples still did not get
it. Anytime Jesus had sent them to do something, Jesus always provided
for them. Jesus wanted them to depend on Him instead they go of on a
rant about it costing eight months of a man’s wages. Still, they do not
outright say they will not do it but ask Jesus a question. Jesus answers
them with a question & command and the disciples respond.
“How
many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see." When they found out,
they said, "Five—and two fish." (Mark 6:38, NIV)
“Then
Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the
green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking
the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave
thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set
before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.” (Mark
6:39-41, NIV)
As a Good Shepherd, Jesus
decided to feed the crowds physically with bread and fish as He looked
to heaven, gave thanks and broke the loaves. The cause and effect
relationship was that they all ate and were satisfied. Afterwards,
twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish were left. The
number of those eaten was five thousand plus because the children and
women were not counted.
“They
all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve
basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who
had eaten was five thousand.” (Mark 6:42-44, NIV)
This is awesome to know how many
people Jesus fed. Jesus not only cared for their spiritual needs as He
taught them but He also cared for their physical needs and health. As I
thought about what Jesus did, it reminded me of another passage from the
Gospel of John. John 6:10-13 records Jesus feeding the five thousand!
John 6:25-26 records Jesus’ reaction to the crowds that gathered later
again.
“When
they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, ‘Rabbi,
when did you get here?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, you are
looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate
the loaves and had your fill.’” (John 6:25-26)
Interpretation:
I asked myself the significance of Jesus’ reaction
to them.
The people were looking for
Jesus because of what they could get out of Jesus and not because of
seeing miraculous signs done by Jesus. Jesus wanted them to believe in
Him for the miraculous signs He had done rather than for the food they
were able to eat and be filled.
Basically, Jesus was letting
them know if they were seeking Jesus just because of the food, they have
missed the point of His coming. Jesus did not come to give them food
alone but more than food. Feeding the 5000+ was a means of taking care
of their physical needs but Jesus emphasized what is more important is
there spiritual health and the spiritual food they receive which can
come only from Him. He is their Good Shepherd to take care of them, His
sheep.
Implications I:
I saw important implications for
my own life studying these verses and the verses that later follow. When
I serve Jesus because of what I can get out of Jesus then I have missed
the point and my personal relationship with Jesus is conditional. It
becomes based on what Jesus could give me and very shallow. The basis
becomes, ‘If Jesus gives me what I want, then I will believe Him but if
I don’t get my way then I don’t serve Him or believe in Him.’ That is a
slippery path to walk on.
You know there was a time in my
life when I thought because I became a Christian, only good things
should happen to me because Jesus is my Lord and Personal Savior. When
things did not go well for me, I was mad with Jesus.
My mommy took me to the side and
asked me, “Ramesh, do you love Jesus
because of what you can get out of Jesus or for who He is?”
That was a powerful question and
made me think what my loyalty to Jesus was based on! I should believe in
Jesus for who He is most of all!
Jesus is the Bread of Life and
those coming to Him will never be hungry again and those believing in
Him will never thirst! Reading additional verses from John, chapter 6
reiterated to me that Jesus cares not only for our physical needs but
mostly our spiritual well being.
Jesus knew how much the people
loved eating the bread that He had given them. So Jesus uses that as an
analogy to preach a mini-sermon to them. I learned a lot from that too.
Jesus
said, “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the
wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from
heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which
came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live
forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give
for the life of the world.” (John 6:48-51)
Observations:
I looked for words/phrases that
are repeated over and over because repetition usually implies
importance! What stuck out in these verses is BREAD. It is mentioned 7
times in these verses alone:
-
I am the BREAD of life.
-
Your fathers ate the
manna in the wilderness and died.
-
This is the BREAD which
comes down from heaven.
-
This BREAD can be eaten
and one who eats it will never die.
-
I am the living BREAD
which came down from heaven.
-
If anyone eats of this
BREAD, he will live forever.
-
The BREAD that I shall
give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.
Within these 7 listings alone, I
saw lots of precious nuggets of Truth which have been spoken by Jesus
and confirmed with repetition. Seven is a number of completion too!
1 & 5 can be paired together.
3 & 5 can be paired together.
4 & 6 can be paired together.
All these pairings are brought
together and summarized in a nutshell with #7!
I found these 7 points very
fascinating and exciting to look deeply into!
Observations/Interpretations:
I
asked myself what types of bread are represented here?
1. Dying bread!
2. Living bread!
I
asked myself what ‘dying bread’ means?
What came to my mind when I
thought about dying bread is the manna that the Israelites ate in the
wilderness. It was a type of bread that was going to rot if it was not
used in the specified time and amount that the Lord had allotted for
them to eat it. Also, this bread was not going to help them live
forever. Those that ate of it eventually died. This bread could not
sustain life forever.
I
asked myself what ‘Living Bread’ means?
What came to my mind is Jesus
Christ for He claimed to be the ‘Living Bread’.
Not only that but He is the ‘I AM’ that
introduced Himself to Moses at the Burning Bush. It is Jesus that gave
them manna to eat. Now Jesus does not just introduce Himself as
‘I AM’ but as ‘I AM
the BREAD OF LIFE’. It is this Bread that gives life but there is
a condition.
Those who want to continue to
live forever need to eat this Bread. Just as the Israelites had to eat
the bread that fell from heaven to stay alive physically, following the
rules set by God, Jesus is letting his listeners know that they need to
eat a new kind of Bread that came from Heaven to stay alive eternally,
following Him.
All the manna eaten would not
give people Eternal life but Jesus said He could give it to them.
The statement Jesus makes is so
profound that Jesus introduces His credentials first before making the
statement, “If anyone eats of this bread, he
will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I
shall give for the life of the world.”
I
asked myself what are the credentials that Jesus introduces for Himself?
1. I AM
2. Come down from Heaven
The people of that day would
have been familiar with ‘I AM’ especially
since that is how God introduced Himself to Moses. The people knew that
God spoke from Heaven. Jesus uses those same words with a description:
‘I Am the Bread of Life’. Jesus does not
stop there but lets them know He is the I Am from Heaven!
People needed to believe in His
credentials if they were going to accept what He was going to tell them.
Right after speaking about His credentials, Jesus talks about eating.
Jesus wants them to eat the
Bread of Life to live forever and makes it clear to them He is the key
to make that happen. This is evidenced by “and
the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life
of the world.”
What cannibalism? No, No, No!!!
Jesus is foreshadowing His death
to come when His body would be broken, symbolized by bread, and given
for the life of the world.
Jesus starts of with
‘I Am the Bread of Life' and concludes here
with ‘Given for the life of the world.'
If these two are put together
for a nutshell summary it comes of as “I Am the Bread of Life given for
the life of the world.”
I
asked myself what is the ‘life of the world’ mean?
What came to my mind is that
physical bread such as manna was not enough to keep the world from
dying. People were eating and living but their souls were still dying
because they were separated from God due to missing the mark set by God.
No one of the world has been able to achieve the mark and the people of
the world have not been able to live forever. Their eternity has been
hampered because of them missing the mark.
Finally, God decided to
intervene as the Son of Man and became a new kind of Bread with living
qualities called the Living Bread so those who partake of Him will never
die.
God made Eternal life available
to the life of the world so people of the world would not continue to
die eternally. But it had a price!
Jesus was going to give His life
for the life of the world for only life could give life. Jesus was
foreshadowing His sacrifice for the world but wanted those there to
follow Him right there. He was going to sacrifice His life so the people
of the world could have life. There is a condition though.
Jesus is letting them know that
as they follow Him, their life will continue forever eternally because
it will be interwoven with His Life.
Implications II:
I saw important implications for
my own life.
Life starts with Jesus, for He
is the Bread of Life. Just because I am living does not mean that I have
Eternal Life and will live forever. It begins with Jesus. This means no
one else can give Eternal Life. Jesus is making the Absolute claim that
He is the ‘I AM’, He is from Heaven, and He
is the Bread of Life given for the life of the world.
No one else claimed what Jesus
claimed, not Buddha, not Krishna, not Mohammad, not anyone else. If I
wanted a religion to follow, I could have stuck with Hinduism. For me it
is not about religion for religion can save no one. In fact, people
following a religion have caused more havoc in the world and have made
people see that religion can become the death of the world, not the life
of the world.
It is God who saves, who
revealed Himself as ‘I Am’ to Moses and has
revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ. Jesus wants us to partake of Him
to receive Eternal Life. I am so glad that I do not follow a religion
but now follow a relationship with Jesus Christ who wants me to partake
of Him. For He has become my Bread of Life!
I
ask you now dear friend what kind of bread do you eat?
Dear friend, all the earthly bread we eat regardless of who it is
blessed by will not save us to live forever eternally unless we
believe in Jesus as our Lord and Personal Savior. Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life offering Himself to you. He
gave His flesh for you on the Cross of Calvary. His body was broken for
you. He wants you to eat of Him in a symbolic sense.
Partake of Him in your life by
allowing Him to come live in you. One way we do this is by taking Holy
Communion! The first is the bread that represents Christ’s body broken
for you and me. When we eat the bread, we are saying that we do remember
what Jesus did for us on the Cross of Calvary and He did it to give life
to the world of which we are part of. The second part of Holy Communion
is the wine/juice symbolic of Christ’s cleansing blood when His blood
was shed for you and me.
To eat the bread, symbolizing
the broken body of Jesus to give you life, is telling those around you
that you do follow Jesus Christ and have a relationship with Jesus
Christ because of what He did for you. To drink the wine/juice,
symbolizing the cleansing blood of Jesus to give you life, is also
telling those around you that you do follow Jesus Christ and have a
relationship with Jesus Christ. Both bread and juice must be taken.
There cannot be one without the other!
Eating of the bread or drinking
of the juice at Holy Communion without acknowledging Jesus as Lord and
Personal Savior, just becomes a religious ritual of religion which
cannot save for only a relationship with Jesus Christ can save you and
me!
Friend, Jesus has offered
Himself for you too. Yes, He has! The world is full of sin and since the
world is full of sin those who inhabit it are infected and become
sinners. But the Good News is, Jesus came as the Bread of Life to give
His life to give you Eternal Life. While we
were yet sinners Jesus died for us.
Friend, this means you do not
need to be perfect or have everything right in your life before you come
to Jesus. If you wait for that to happen, you maybe waiting until it is
too late.
Come as you are and allow the
Lord Jesus to work in you. No matter how stained your sins are and you
cannot forgive yourself, Jesus lends a Helping Hand and wants to forgive
you. Jesus reminds us
though our sins are
scarlet red, He can make us white as freshly fallen snow and
though they are crimson red, Jesus can make us
white as wool.
If I allowed my sins to control
my life, then I have given control over to Satan and he has won but I
have come to accept Christ’s grace and merciful forgiveness to move on
and remain His child. For He reminds us friend that
“To all who received Him, He gave them right to
become children of God, all they needed to do is trust in Him to save
them”
Won’t you do that friend?
You could be reading this and
already have a personal relationship with the Lord. That’s great!
If you feel this would be helpful to
someone who does not have a relationship with the Lord, won’t you share
it with them? If you do not have a relationship with the Lord as
you desire, now is the time of Salvation. Don’t wait, for Jesus is the
Bread of Life and wants to be part of your life. Yes, He does! May you
make Jesus part of your life today! Amen!
Bread
of Life
by Ramesh C. Reddy
You came as the Bread of Life
Offering deliverance from eternal strife
You ask me to eat
Offering me a seat
From the place you came
Heaven is its name
So I come with my heart
Asking you for a new start
Now I will eternally live
For Eternal Life you give
Jesus, my Bread of Life!
Jesus, my Bread of Life!
Amen!
“Beautiful Redeemer Emancipates Always Delivering!” (B.R.E.A.D)/”What
kind of bread do you eat?”
Make this your prayer. Don’t let
the enemy deceive you into thinking you need all the answers before
coming to Christ. Let me just assure you though you may not have all the
answers right now before coming to Jesus, He will answer them slowly.
Yes, He will for I know our Redeemer will! Amen!
Prayer:
Jesus, I thank you for being the Bread of Life. You are the Living Bread
of my life. Thank you for coming from Heaven and giving your life for
the life of the world. You sacrificed yourself for humanity. Thank you
Lord when we eat of you symbolically making you part of our life,
digesting what you teach us by following you, we can be living
Eternally, and the fruit that comes will reflect and resemble your life.
I want that Father God. I want that Lord Jesus! I want that Holy Spirit!
I know of a lot of people who partake of Holy Communion where the bread
represents your body broken for their sin and the juice represents your
blood shed for their sin. When we partake of Holy Communion, we are
reminded that we are remembering you. I want to remember you always Lord
Jesus. But for me to remember you always, I need to know you and
acknowledge everything you said you are. So right now I acknowledge that
you are my Lord and Personal Savior who died and rose again to give me
life from sin. So right now, I come to you and say how sorry I am for my
sin and living a life on my own. I repent of my sin and ask you to
forgive me of my sin with your cleansing blood which I accept. Wash me
and I will be clean from this infection of sin. Come Lord Jesus and
please become part of my life as you live in me and I will live for you.
I thank you Jesus for coming into my heart and making my heart your
home. Thank you for living in me Jesus and I will live for you and serve
you the rest of the days of my life. I do need your Spirit to reside in
me and work in me and through me so I surrender all that I am and will
be to you. Whatever your will is for me, please give me the strength and
willingness to bear it and rejoice in you. Thank you so much Jesus. I
thank you Jesus for becoming my Lord and Personal Savior. I thank you
Jesus you have heard my prayer and have answered me. I thank you that I
am your child Oh God. I thank you for becoming my only Way to Eternal
Life. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
Friend you may feel something
or may not feeling anything but do not go by your feelings. When you ask
Jesus to come into your life, He will and does. He will take over from
here as you depend on the Lord and let Him work in you and through you!
This is exciting friend! May each one that came to know Jesus be filled
with His Holy Spirit forever more and those that know Jesus come to know
Him more and more! Amen!
Get yourself involved in a campus Bible study,
fellowship, and most of all find a Bible believing church and be involved
to grow in your Christian walk with the Lord. They all need to be
supplements for your own precious time with the Lord in prayer and
meditating on His Word. If you need a Bible, please let me know!
As the movie DaVinci Code opened across the
theaters on May 19, 2006, which speaks against the church and most importantly
degrades the Name of Jesus Christ, we need to make ourselves available to
speak the truth to the falsity presented in the movie and the novel. If you
plan to watch the movie or have read the book and have questions or your
faith seems to be shaken, please email me or give me a call at 412-720-4579
so we can discuss the false claims in the book that are presented as fact
even though the book itself and the movie is presented as fiction. May the
Lord bless you and guide you!
If you need anyone to talk to, pray
with, or study the Bible with this Spring or Summer of 2006, you can email
me at reddy4hisglory2004@yahoo.com or call me at 412-720-4579.
Please do not hesitate. One-one Bible studies
can be so powerful to because the Holy Spirit is still in the
midst.
"This is my work and I can do it
only because Christ's mighty energy is at work within me." (Colossians
1:29, TLB)
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