I'm teaching a series on the seven I Am statements of Jesus in the book of John in our College and Young Singles class. Last week was introductory, concentrating on the "I Am that I Am" from Exodus and the glorious "Before Abraham was, I am" in John 8:58. Tomorrow's lesson is from John 6, where Jesus declares himself to be the Bread of Life.

Early in the chapter, Jesus feeds the five thousand. And from that point on, the crowd is only focused on one thing, all the way to near the end of the chapter when Jesus purposefully loses the crowds with this declaration: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

What were they focused on until that time? Well, pretty much just bread. They couldn't get their minds off of it. This man, this Prophet, had fed them. Just have a listen . . .

. . . so they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” (And he's got BREAD!)

. . . perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king . . . (And just maybe I can swing a job in the Royal Bread Distribution Task-force.)

Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. (Because maybe he will give us some more bread!)

Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? . . . as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' (so, hint hint . . . can you turn the bread spigot on again?)

They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” (and by "this", we mean like you did before. This time, can you give us some nice sourdough, or maybe some Pita, rather than the barley we had last time?)

As you read the chapter, Jesus continues to try to point them higher. “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” In other words, the bread you want from me doesn't last. It will only feed you for a day. I can give you bread that lasts forever. In fact, I am the bread that came down from heaven. I am the bread of life; partake of me, and you'll never be hungry again!

We've had recent conversations in this space regarding whether Jesus makes life better. I believe that following Christ always makes life better (note: if you disagree with that, please consider that it might be semantics. Most likely I agree with you . . .), even though circumstantially following Christ can - and probably should - make life in this world more difficult. I also think that immersing oneself in Jesus, in his word and wisdom, often can lead even to temporal "better" in this life, though that's not an ironclad guarantee.

We are indeed fed from the Lord's hand, generously.

I'm going to write more about that in a later post that's been percolatin'. But at this point I just wanted to say this . . .

Choosing temporary "better" over eternal BEST is crazy. Read John chapter 6. You can sense Jesus' frustration with the crowds. The bread was a gift, but only a temporary one, meant to point them to the real Gift, the real Bread, Himself. Yet when he finally got through to them with the answer to what they really needed, to partake of, to eat the real Bread of Life which was sent to heaven, in the person of Jesus whose body was to be broken for them . . . well, that was a bit too much.

I don't know about you, but I know that I am so often satisfied with the little, temporal "betters" of this life, the gifts from the Lord's generous hand. Just don't ask me to jump in too deep Lord. Shame on me.

Jesus offers us eternal glory with him. To choose or value a temporary better over and above that is whacked.