Bread of Life

And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

John 6:35*

The modern American is taught in school to work with metaphors. High school English classes distinguish between the literal and figurative and the real and symbolic. In reading the verse above, no one would think that Jesus was made out of flour or that people ate Him. Obviously, Jesus gives spiritual life to the soul just as food gives physical life to the body.

This concept is not so easy to communicate in a primative culture. Among the Quichua Indians of the Amazon rain forest the figurative and abstract doesn't exist. Years ago, I spent many hours trying to prepare a message on this portion of scripture. It became even more difficult when read in context with John 6:51: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

I understood that faith was taking Christ into our lives just as we take in physical nutrients when we eat, but how could I get this message through to a stone-aged people? I just bowed my head, thanked the Lord that I wasn't a missionary to cannibals, and started working on another message.

Months later, I was at the Quichua Bible Conference in Conambo. Since it was the biggest social event of the year, hundreds of Indians traveled for many days up river or over a jungle trail to get there. The men of Conambo had filled a shed full of baskets of smoked monkey meat, wild boar, and fish. Huge pots of chicha (masticated,fermented manioc root) were ready for drinking throughout the day.

At night the thatched roof church building was packed to overflowing as Quichua preachers shared the gospel and I fired up a portable generator to show a Christian film. The meetings during the day were different. A dozen old ladies, two old men and a sprinkling of children were spread out in the big church hut. All the men and most of the families were still hanging around the kitchen eating jungle meat and drinking chicha.

On the third day of the conference, attendance to the morning sessions was worse and I said to myself in frustration, “When these people seek after Jesus as much as they seek after food they will start to have real faith.” In an instant, I finally understood John chapter 6. When Christ becomes as important to us as our necessary food, He becomes our Bread of Life.

*see also John 6:48