(From John 6)
Does anyone know the story of Jesus feeding the crowd of Five Thousand?
(Pause and let them answer).
Jesus performed a miracle by taking a boy’s lunch of five loaves and two fish and fed a huge crowd. It was really more than five thousand people because the five thousand only includes the men that were counted. Scholars say it could have actually been as many as 20,000 people total! The Bible says all the people ate until they were fully satisfied, and there were still leftovers. Isn’t that amazing?
The next day, the crowd of people that had eaten the bread and fish came to Jesus. Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (John 6:35).
What do you think this means?
(Pause and let them answer).
Jesus means that just like the actual bread satisfied the crowd’s hunger, He can fully satisfy all we need and could ever want spiritually, which is even better than bread!
The disciples and the crowd were pretty confused and started grumbling to each other. So Jesus went on to say “I am the living bread that came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, He will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
After that, it seems like the people were still confused because they continued arguing with each other, so then Jesus said “Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Wait a minute. Do you think Jesus literally meant that they should eat his flesh and drink His blood?
(Pause and let them answer).
Of course not! This cannot be taken literally, that would be pretty gross, right!? Jesus was using physical items to teach about spiritual truth.
Eating Jesus’s flesh means trusting or believing in Him, that He died on the cross and took the punishment for our sins. Similarly, drinking His blood means to trust that His blood was shed on the cross, poured out for our sins.
Romans 3:23 says that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That means me and you. All of us. Our sins deserve punishment. But guess what!? Jesus took this punishment for our sins when He died on the cross. Then, He was raised three days later and now reigns in Heaven, seated at the right hand of God the Father! When we believe and trust in Jesus, when we “eat the bread of life” like He says, we can have eternal life with Him! This is the Gospel. Did you know that the word gospel means “good news”? This is the best news ever!
Jesus,
Thank you that you are the Bread of Life. Thank you for your Word, that is trustworthy and true and teaches us about Who you are. Please help us to trust in you, not in our feelings, on the baseball field and every day. Help us to receive the Truth of your Gospel today, the best news ever- and show us how we can let others know about your love and truth.
In Jesus’s Name,
Amen
Pinestraw Mountain 