Bread of Life

I LOVE the summer, but it was nice to sit on the back patio with some coffee this morning while the sun was shining in the bright, blue almost-cloudless skies and it was a crisp and cool 60 degrees. One of the blessings of heading into Fall...cool mornings, cool nights & still hot days!

While I was enjoying those great moments on the patio, I continued my study of John. At this point, I'm still marking my text, so I'm not always picking out the details that I know will hit me later. For today though, I was struck by some of the names that Jesus is called or even calls Himself.

In the first six chapters alone, He's called the Word, Lamb of God, Son of God, Rabbi, King of Israel, Son of Man, Messiah, Christ, Savior, Prophet, Bread of Heaven and Bread of Life. I'll admit, these last two have me a little perplexed. And they must have some significance, because He discusses either one or the other of these for about 30 verses.

So what does Jesus mean when He says "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him." (v. 56)? It was evidently so disturbing that some of his disciples grumbled and many withdrew from Him (v. 66). I'll admit as I read through this passage, it sounded very morbid and a bit disturbing. Is this simply a foreshadowing of the Last Supper? Does He mean something literal? Or is it that when we accept His sovereignty in our lives, we can expect to endure the same sacrificial purging that He did? Okay, we won't all literally be crucified, but we have to crucify our desires, wants, pleasures, whims and so much more.

I know I'm rambling, but I truly do not understand what this means & will have to ruminate on it some more. With the discernment of the Holy Spirit, I hope to glean something from this passage. But I'll confess that it disturbs me to think of what Jesus may be asking of me...and maybe that's the point!