Day 14 of 47 going through John's gospel - more info at https://www.severnvineyard.org/time-space-jesus

What could happen if you take time and make space with Jesus today? This ten-minute podcast is part reading, part music, and part silence, all designed to help you create a space to picture and feel the scene with Jesus in it. You can use this space in lots of ways, including meditation, prayer, re-reading the passage or thinking about what it means for you today.

Today's reflection: What does it mean to you that Jesus is the bread of life?

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When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, you seek me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Don’t work for the food that perishes, but for the food that lasts and leads to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal on him.”

So they said to him, “What must we do, so we can be doing the works of God?”

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe and trust in the one he has sent.”

So they said to him, “What are you doing as a sign, so we can see and believe you? What work will you do? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it wasn’t Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is the one who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.”

So they said to him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not go hungry, and whoever believes and trusts in me will never be thirsty. But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe.

“Everyone the Father gives me will come to me. Whoever comes to me I will never, ever reject. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise it all up at the last day. This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes and trusts in him should have eternal life; and I will raise them up at the last day.”

This made the Jews whisper and grumble about Jesus, because he said, “I am the bread which came down out of heaven.” They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down out of heaven?’”

So Jesus answered them, “Don’t grumble amongst yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them; and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who hears from the Father and has learnt, comes to me.

“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. Most certainly, I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, they will live forever. And the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”