Christmas Song #4: “Heavenly Food”
Who doesn’t love a good picnic? All the better if someone else brings the food!
What a picnic it must have been, listening to the Messiah teach – a Messiah who miraculously prepared food for thousands of people who had come to listen!
Let’s admit it – people were getting concerned. They had been so carried away with the words – and the miracles! – of the Teacher, that they had not planned ahead. Jesus was the one who pointed out the problem – “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He asked one of the local boys, Philip. But He already knew what He would do.
With five barley loaves and two fish He fed them all – that is to say, He created food for them to eat. What a king this Teacher would make! While the Roman army worried about its supply chains and mobile kitchens, the followers of Jesus would be well fed and healthy. But – where had Jesus gone?
His disciples had left in boats – Jesus wasn’t with them. The search began. No sign of Jesus. But the disciples would know where He was. So, many in the crowd found boats and headed toward Capernaum. And – surprise! – Jesus was there – who knows how he got there.
Jesus knew why they were looking for Him. They were all talking about barley loaves and fish. It was the next day, and they were hungry again.
“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life . . .” Jesus told them.
Sounds delicious! What’s this “work” we’re supposed to do? Sign me up. I’m sure it’s better than spreading manure on my field.
“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
Believe? Fine, we believe. Are you going to show us another miracle? Something really really big this time. After all, Jesus was the Prophet, right? The One like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15)!
But the crowd had their focus all wrong. “. . . it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.”
Fine – details, details. Pass the food baskets!
No, they still didn’t understand. “. . . the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Wait – what? – Jesus is the bread? We must be misunderstanding. He means he’s the source of the bread, right? Well, here we are! “Sir, give us this bread always!”
The crowd saw the analogy, but they weren’t getting the reality. Yes, Jesus Himself is the bread. In fact, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” But if you eat the Bread from Heaven – Jesus Himself – you will be completely and eternally satisfied.
What – like, cannibalism?
No, of course not. What did Jesus mean when He said He was the food, the bread? “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” To eat and drink was the analogy. To come to Him, believe in Him, was the reality.
The crowd had “come” to Him, of course. They had been searching for Him! They believed He could feed them physical food. Jesus could satisfy their hunger. Just as God sent manna in the days of Moses. But Someone greater than Moses was here. The Prophet, the Messiah, the Giver of Life. The crowd believed they had seen miracles, they believed that they had been fed, but they did not truly have their trust in the Christ.
He was the only Saviour, God in the flesh, Lord of Lords, the true Bread from Heaven. And although they had seen, they did not believe.
“And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The flesh that was torn on the cross. The blood that was shed. Those who believed would forever be a part of Christ – and have eternal life in Him (John 6:40).
That is the spiritual truth of Christmas. A physical death, a physical resurrection, that we, through faith, may have life forever. All those who have been drawn by the Father (John 6:44).
“Ponder nothing earthy minded” said our Christmas carol in the first verse. Physical food is a great blessing to enjoy during the Christmas holidays – but all food points to something greater – the Bread from Heaven, who sustains believers for all eternity, through His incarnation and victory on the cross, His victory over death.
And so the carol continues:
King of kings, yet born of Mary,
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heavenly food.
If you’re ready to eat it – ready to do the “work of God” – listen again to the words of the Messiah. “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
Do you believe that He is truly the way to God, the only truth? The life-giver? Find life in Him today – and this will be the most beautiful Christmas ever!
(Read the full story of Jesus and the hungry crowd here – John 6.)