Bread and Fish
Bread and Fish, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=49953 [retrieved August 13, 2021]. Original source: Wikimedia.
Spiritual Practices: Keyword Listing
Keyword listing is a method of observational Bible study. It doesn’t require any special skills, tools, or training. You can read more about the process of keyword listing here. You can choose any word or short phrase to study using keyword listing. For this passage, we suggest the following keyword(s) to start your study.
Starting Points
Keyword listing is a method of observational Bible study. It doesn’t require any special skills, tools, or training. You can read more about the process of keyword listing here. You can choose any word or short phrase to study using keyword listing. For this passage, we suggest the following keyword(s) to start your study.
Starting Points
- bread/flesh - Explore what Jesus says about his flesh as the bread of life
- feed - Explore what Jesus says about feeding on him
Exploring the Text: Jesus as the Bread of Life
As the people Jesus is talking to in John 6 become more confused about what Jesus is saying he takes an interesting track. Instead of trying to explain himself and make the metaphor about his being the bread of life clearer, he instead leans into their confusion and pushes it further. It is almost like he is intentionally trying to create confusion instead of clarity. Perhaps he is. Maybe he knows that the more confused they are now, the more this thought will stick with them, swirl around in their thoughts, and ultimately bring understanding.
We live in a microwave generation. We want instant gratification and instant answers. Jesus doesn’t always provide that, however. He didn’t here. He knew what he was saying. He knew that during a future Passover meal he would take bread, break it, and tell the disciples that this represented his body that was about to be broken and crucified for our sins. He knew that throughout the rest of history, people who believed in him would take bread and juice or wine as a reminder of his sacrifice. He knew that this metaphor meant that they would need to believe in him and his sacrifice on the cross to find their way back to God and to eternal life with him. He knew all of these things, but he didn’t explain them yet. We live in a microwave generation. We want instant gratification, but Jesus plays a long game. He knows that real understanding, real transformation, real growth, real change, takes time; it doesn’t come from a microwave.
So Jesus played the long game. Rather than alleviating their confusion, he deepened it. It’s not that he didn’t want them to know what he meant, it’s that when they realized it, he wanted it to become deeply embedded into them. What we achieve cheaply we don’t value; what costs us we value much more. Jesus wanted them to wrestle with the confusion so the truth would be much more profound and transformative to them.
Jesus still plays the long game. We want instant answers, instant gratification in our lives. Jesus doesn’t always provide it, however. Sometimes he deepens our confusion so that when we come through on the other side, the transformation is much deeper. Be patient with confusion and misunderstanding. Learn to sit with the questions. Embrace wrestling with doubts. When we do, we engage in the long game with Jesus that will ultimately take us deeper into our relationship with him than we could ever get with instant answers.
David W. Dalton
As the people Jesus is talking to in John 6 become more confused about what Jesus is saying he takes an interesting track. Instead of trying to explain himself and make the metaphor about his being the bread of life clearer, he instead leans into their confusion and pushes it further. It is almost like he is intentionally trying to create confusion instead of clarity. Perhaps he is. Maybe he knows that the more confused they are now, the more this thought will stick with them, swirl around in their thoughts, and ultimately bring understanding.
We live in a microwave generation. We want instant gratification and instant answers. Jesus doesn’t always provide that, however. He didn’t here. He knew what he was saying. He knew that during a future Passover meal he would take bread, break it, and tell the disciples that this represented his body that was about to be broken and crucified for our sins. He knew that throughout the rest of history, people who believed in him would take bread and juice or wine as a reminder of his sacrifice. He knew that this metaphor meant that they would need to believe in him and his sacrifice on the cross to find their way back to God and to eternal life with him. He knew all of these things, but he didn’t explain them yet. We live in a microwave generation. We want instant gratification, but Jesus plays a long game. He knows that real understanding, real transformation, real growth, real change, takes time; it doesn’t come from a microwave.
So Jesus played the long game. Rather than alleviating their confusion, he deepened it. It’s not that he didn’t want them to know what he meant, it’s that when they realized it, he wanted it to become deeply embedded into them. What we achieve cheaply we don’t value; what costs us we value much more. Jesus wanted them to wrestle with the confusion so the truth would be much more profound and transformative to them.
Jesus still plays the long game. We want instant answers, instant gratification in our lives. Jesus doesn’t always provide it, however. Sometimes he deepens our confusion so that when we come through on the other side, the transformation is much deeper. Be patient with confusion and misunderstanding. Learn to sit with the questions. Embrace wrestling with doubts. When we do, we engage in the long game with Jesus that will ultimately take us deeper into our relationship with him than we could ever get with instant answers.
David W. Dalton
Spiritual Practices: Breath Prayer
Overview
The people who were listening to Jesus talk about being the bread of life did not understand what he was trying to say. He was sharing a metaphor that would make sense to them after the last supper and the crucifixion. They couldn’t understand it yet because not everything was in place; more things needed to happen, they needed more information. Jesus knew what was coming. He knew the rest of the pieces would fall into place. He knew that it was not yet time for them to understand. He knew that they needed to wait to put it all together.
The same thing happens with us today. Sometimes we have questions, concerns, or struggles that we want Jesus to speak to, but it seems like he only gives more confusion, not clarity and answers. Like the crowd in John 6, we need to trust that Jesus knows more than we do and we need to trust his timing for the answer rather than ours. That is what this breath prayer is about.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, help me trust your timing.
Overview
The people who were listening to Jesus talk about being the bread of life did not understand what he was trying to say. He was sharing a metaphor that would make sense to them after the last supper and the crucifixion. They couldn’t understand it yet because not everything was in place; more things needed to happen, they needed more information. Jesus knew what was coming. He knew the rest of the pieces would fall into place. He knew that it was not yet time for them to understand. He knew that they needed to wait to put it all together.
The same thing happens with us today. Sometimes we have questions, concerns, or struggles that we want Jesus to speak to, but it seems like he only gives more confusion, not clarity and answers. Like the crowd in John 6, we need to trust that Jesus knows more than we do and we need to trust his timing for the answer rather than ours. That is what this breath prayer is about.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, help me trust your timing.