What Does Jesus Want Us to Do?
Scripture Reading — John 6:51-59
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven.”
—John 6:51
What a daring claim for Jesus to make! But what he says later is almost outrageous: “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
Who is Jesus? Bread. What does he want us to do? Eat him! Why? So he can get inside of us.
Jesus knows all about temptation, betrayal, rejection, persecution. He knows about sickness and death and family tragedy. So he wants to dwell inside us, strengthening and guiding us so that we will live as he did, fully in love with God and with people.
Jesus also expects us to be faithful disciples, and he knows how difficult that can be. People may ridicule us, hate us, persecute us, even kill us. We will be tempted to deny knowing him. So he wants to get inside of us and empower us to remain committed to him and to his cause.
That cannot happen unless we eat and drink God’s Word. That reminds us of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion), but the Supper only makes visible what we are to do every day. We are to feed on Jesus Christ, the bread of life, allowing him to nourish and strengthen us from the inside. We are to drink from him, allowing him to restore and refresh us with his power.
Gracious Lord Jesus, come inside of me with your power, your obedience, your forgiveness, and your love. Be my nourishment and my strength today. Amen.
About the author — Harvey Stob
Rev. Harvey Stob and his wife, Audrey, served as missionaries in Argentina for eleven years. They then served churches in Cincinnati, Ohio; Ridgewood, New Jersey; and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Harvey retired from full-time pastoral work in 2009. He and Audrey have three children and seven grandchildren.
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