Jesus said to 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)

The natural instinct of human beings is always to turn religion into Law; into rules for what we are to do or not do. From this follows the equally natural instinct to turn Jesus into a new Moses, giving a new Law to a new people of God, just as Moses gave the Law to the Israelites in the Old Testament.

This was the mistake that Jesus was addressing in this famous statement. He is speaking to members of the 5,000 who had been miraculously fed the day before, but who seemed curiously unimpressed by what they had experienced. After all, feeding 5,000 wasn’t much compared with Moses’ achievement in giving the Israelites “bread from heaven” (manna) to eat in the wilderness, was it? (vv.30,31)

Jesus retorts that His listeners have misunderstood both Moses and Himself. It wasn’t Moses who had fed the Israelites in the wilderness; it was God who had given them “bread from heaven”. And Jesus wasn’t a new Moses, sent to introduce a new Law for God’s people. Rather, He was the new manna, sent by God to give life to the world.

So what does it mean to “come to Jesus”, the bread of life, today? Jesus gives a number of clues to this elsewhere in this chapter: recognising that He has “the words of Eternal Life” (v.68), eating His flesh and drinking His blood in the Lord’s Supper (v.54), believing in Him as the one sent by God (v.29).

Word, sacrament, faith: the daily life of the Church and of us as Christians. Here is no new Law, given by a new Moses. Rather, here is new Manna, as we come to Jesus and receive, as a gift, the Life that He came to give to the world.

Lord Jesus, may we come to You not as the new Lawgiver, but as the new Manna, the Bread of Life, whose Word satisfies every hunger and quenches every thirst. Amen.

He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,
yet he opened not His mouth,
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so He opened not His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)

In this passage, the prophet Isaiah, foretells us of the coming of Jesus, the Servant King. As this verse recounts, Jesus did come into the world to save sinners. He was betrayed, scorned and abused on our behalf, led to the cross to die.

I often complain about my lot in life and the cross I have to bear – but Jesus came into the world for me and carries all our crosses, for us. He does not complain and He knowingly took this burden on His shoulders, for me, and for us.

LORD – We thank You that Jesus came into this world to save us.

Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, The Spirit who calls out, “Abba; Father.” (Galatians 4:6)

Many years ago I was having a look around an open-air market in Jerusalem.  All of a sudden, I heard a young child crying out “Abba, Abba”.  This youngster, in the midst of all the people, had become separated from his father, and he was crying out in anxious longing to be reunited.  He was lost, afraid, and needing the assurance of his father’s care.  Fortunately, his father also heard the cry and came running to the child, to comfort and assure him that he was safe.

Today we begin our journey together through Lent.  And as we do so, we may feel a bit like this child described above; lost, afraid, not sure where our Heavenly Father is.  Sin and doubt may be blinding us to our Father’s presence.  However, our Heavenly Father comes to us today in His Word of Life and Comfort to assure us that we are His children, in which His Spirit dwells.  We are not lost, but the Good Shepherd has found us and brought us back to God by laying down His life for us.  We need not be afraid because, “if God is for us who can be against us?”  We need not be shrouded in despair and darkness because Jesus Christ is the Light of the world.  We are baptized children of God, sons and daughters of a loving, Heavenly Father, who comes to meet and to welcome home the prodigals with open arms.

Father, we thank You for making us Your Children through Baptism.  Give us always the faith to know that You are our “Abba” through Jesus Christ, Amen.

Our Lenten devotions will appear here, starting on Wednesday 6 February. A new devotion will appear each day.

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