John 6:35; 41-51 (NRSV)
Read John 6:35; 41-51 on biblegateway.com
Verse 35Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Verse 41Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." Verse 42They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Verse 43Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. Verse 44No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. Verse 45It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Verse 46Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Verse 47Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. Verse 48I am the bread of life. Verse 49Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. Verse 50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. Verse 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
Devotion
When Jesus boldly proclaims, "Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never by thirsty," he is quite certainly talking about a hunger and a thirst that goes deeper than our physical needs. Jesus is speaking of a spiritual reality and a wholeness that comes from our relationship with God.
All of us have deep hungers and thirsts. We hunger to be in union with the cosmos; we thirst for peace and justice to fill our world; we hunger for wholeness and to be made "alive;" we thirst for forgiveness from sin; we hunger for the endurance to make it through one more day with dignity and courage. Ultimately, we all have a desire to experience God in our lives, and this is a hunger and a thirst that is sated in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Prayer
God, quiet our hunger and quench our thirst with the love and peace that we have in Jesus. Amen.