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Humble Hero
Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in
Him whom He sent.” The price of heaven is Jesus. The way to
heaven is through faith in the Lamb of God.
Selfish Hopes Unfulfilled
Jesus had done the very work that prophecy had foretold the
Messiah would do, but the people had not seen what their selfish
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hopes had pictured as His work. In the days of Moses, Israel had
been fed with manna forty years, and they expected far greater bless-
ings from the Messiah. Why could Jesus not give health, strength,
and riches to all His people, free them from their oppressors, and
exalt them to power and honor? He claimed to be the One sent from
God, yet He refused to be Israel’s King. This was a mystery they
could not fathom. Did He dare not assert His claims because He
Himself doubted the divine character of His mission?
Half-mockingly a rabbi questioned: “What sign will You per-
form then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You
do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave
them bread from heaven to eat.’
“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses
did not give you the bread from heaven.’” The Giver of the manna
was standing among them. Christ Himself had led the Hebrews and
had fed them daily with the bread from heaven. That food was a
symbol of the real Bread from heaven. The life-giving Spirit is the
true Manna. “For the bread of God is He who comes down from
heaven and gives life to the world.”
Still thinking it was physical food, some exclaimed, “Lord, give
us this bread always.” Jesus then spoke plainly, “I am the bread of
life.”
Moses had said, “Man shall not live by bread alone; but man
lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”
Deuteronomy 8:3
. And Jeremiah had written, “Your words were
found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing
of my heart.”
Jeremiah 15:16
. The teaching of the prophets made
plain the spiritual lesson in the miracle of the loaves. If Christ’s
hearers in the synagogue had understood the Scriptures, they would
have understood His words, “I am the bread of life.” As the multitude