John 6:35 Better than Costco
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
John 6:35 NASB
Not and Never. No. Not. Ever. Never.
What is it that is negated, cancelled, denied?
Hunger and thirst.
Who?
Those that come to him.
Simple. Profound. Powerful. True.
Jesus demonstrated this integration between the physical and the spiritual when he was traveling with his disciples through Samaria. The disciples went to buy food and when they returned, encouraged him to eat. His reply to them: “I have food to eat that you do not know about. My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” John 4:32, 34 NASB
Real food. Real drink.
Eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping are about the most basic physical needs I have. I will not survive in this body if I take a bite once a year, possibly on Easter or Christmas. The rhythms and cycles of my body demand regular care. It’s no small coincidence that I was created to need — demanding daily, moment by moment, immersed in need — and my Father declares that He fulfills them all. They reflect a spiritual reality that is just as demanding and needy, which He sustains just as readily. But it is very difficult for my natural mind to make the journey to the spirit. It is easily stumbled. At the end of this confrontation with the Jews, Jesus makes a statement to his disciples in which contextualizes the entire conversation — but is applicable here:
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
John 6:63 NASB
But make no mistake, the life Jesus lives and gives isn’t divided between the flesh and the spirit. They are intrinsically interwoven. You see the one with the other. He just gave them physical bread. And now he is giving them spiritual bread. It’s the same transaction. He is the source. Jesus is that bread. It’s our adversary who would like to segregate them, then point to the flesh and encourage us to demand physical food or healing isolated and apart from the real feast of Jesus and his forgiveness.
My family had the privilege of being involved in a Christian relief organization called Food for the Hungry and went to Nicaragua for a summer as part of their outreach. The idea was to deliver physical food supplies, while also providing spiritual bread to a hungry people. I love this approach because it’s integrated. It’s real. It satisfies tummies while placing the source of supply in the center of the transaction. As we open our heart to the true bread, the physical bread will follow. It’s impossible for the spirit of life in Christ to visit me without becoming a source of bread, water, and breath that springs up and feeds not only me, but those near me as well.
Jesus made many “I am…” statements. Just like God said to Moses at the burning bush when he said “tell them that I am… has sent you” Jesus is the “I am” in the flesh. What do I need today? He is… what I need him to be. He is my meal.
Additional verses about our food:
I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.
John 6:48-51 NASB
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
John 4:13-14 NASB
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
John 7:37-39 NASB
These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat;
Revelation 7:14, 16 NASB
Pray, then, in this way..Give us this day our daily bread.
Matthew 6:9, 11 NASB
On other occasions the Lord said, “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12), “I am the good Shepherd” (John 10:14), “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25), “I am the veritable Vine” (John 15:1).