How does man live? What is the
essential thing for life? How are we going to calm down the incessable desires to
have more? Is it a way out of this seemingly boundless covertness hidden deep
inside in mankind? Where can we find out the ultimate settlement in body and
soul? Where is not found cries and yearnings? Could we pass one day without
making a cry of sigh? Here is a passage in the tiny corner of the Scripture which
tells of the true bread of life, Jesus Christ. He fed so many people with five
loaves and two fish. It just reminds of Moses’ time when the manna fell down
from heaven to feed over two million people daily for forty years during the
wilderness wandering. Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” God feeds man and all
his creatures in the universe. He provides the needs because he knows exactly
what they are in need. Rain falls down and sun shines on the earth to produce grains,
vegetables, and fruits. He gives not only in the physical aspect of life, but in
the realm of soul which is far more significant and affective. What are we in
need? Food and shelter. Of course, but much more than that. How do we subdue
things like anxiety, fear, guilt, worries, etc? The burden and pressure of our
lives are tremendous and unfathomable. Christ Jesus meets our needs indeed because
he is compassionate and merciful that he died for our guilts and sins. Jesus is
a way out because he paid the price on our behalf. Whosoever comes and believes
in him shall have eternal life. The good news is in our midst because Jesus is
available anywhere and whenever in spirit. He is the bread of life for all who
believes in him.
“The apostles gathered around Jesus
and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people
were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to
them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ So they
went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them
leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead
of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them,
because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many
things. By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. ‘This
is a remote place,’ they said, ‘and it’s already very late. Send the people
away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy
themselves something to eat.’ But he answered, ‘You give them something to eat.’
They said to him, ‘That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go
and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?’ ‘How many loaves do
you have?’ he asked. ‘Go and see.’ When they found out, they said, ‘Five—and
two fish.’ Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups
on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking
the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and
broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the
people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were
satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of
bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.” (Mark
6:30-44)
First, people are hungry and
thirsty. For what? Everything. When the Son of Man was speaking the words and healing
the sick, people were astonished and began to follow him everywhere he went. Economically
difficult in the first century? Yes. How about politically? Crucially
difficult. There were lots of challenges and struggles for the people just like
us. As Jews they were, they had Tora, worship, sacrifices, promise, and the patriarchs.
They had a lasting legacy which they cherished as the treasured traditions. Those
were the pillars and backbones of their society.
However, something’s missing and
lacking severely. They did not recognize the promised Messiah though he was
seen plainly everyday before their eyes and minds. What’s the problem? They
were busy-minded, being stricken and overwhelmed by day-to-day things which
should have been done. Paying the bills, taking care of kids, dealing with
health issues, the burden and pressure of lives were crushing them down. The
newspaper headlines were all depressing and shockingly despicable. So are these
days. No difference at all. Precisely the same. Injustice and immorality are
everywhere in our cities and communities. Though church buildings are found in
every corner, it seems they do nothing for the community.
In reality and truth, all people is
crying and crying over the misery and sorrow they are experiencing and
witnessing. In a word, all is in thirst and hunger. The problem is that we do
not know what we are thirsty and hungry for. Virtually everything. How daunting
and scary it is to quench the thirst of man! Impossible. The people were
thronging to Jesus, hoping to find out something missing and lacking in their
lives and thus to quench their thirst and fill their hunger. Likewise, people
are dashing to someone or something if they think it may possibly give back for
them. It would be career, money, or both. People desire to be rich and successful,
thinking that it may give and relieve stress and pressure hanging upon their shoulders.
People are weary and tired in the first century and in our days as well.
Second, Jesus is only the one who
meets all thirst and hunger for mankind. Jesus is compassionate on the people
in the solitary place, a wilderness where Jesus wanted to have rest with his
disciples. Jesus is compassionate because the people are like without a shepherd.
Jesus is always compassionate and merciful for all people because they are like
without a true shepherd. Shepherd feeds sheep, leading them into green pastures
and protecting them from the ferocious wolves.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.” (Psalm
23:1-3)
How has our Lord Jesus become a
true shepherd for man? Jesus fed five thousands with five loaves and two fish. He
broke the bread again and again until all the people in the remote place had been
filled and satisfied in full. It was out of nowhere in the wilderness. But the
food was abundantly supplied to make ends meet. How could it be? The Father in
heaven outpoured them in response to the Son’s prayer. It is a picture, showing
that God’s blessings is coming down on people through the Son Jesus Christ.
Why only through Jesus Christ does God’s
blessing come down from heaven? Because Jesus paid the price with his own
blood. God’s love has been rekindled by the blood of Jesus. God is giving eternal
life to those who keep on believing in the Son. In order to give life, Jesus
broke his body to the point of death. He is the bread of life. He says, “I am
the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever
believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35) What man really hungers and
thirsts is not material things in the world, but God alone. Man is made in God’s
image and his likeness. That is why. Our food, the real food cannot be something
from this world, even the silver and gold. That is why tremendous achievements
and success do not quench the thirst of man.
Things in the world could be
glittering and charming and even tempting. Yes, they seem to be like solving
the problem of our hunger and thirst. Money is one and powerfully seduces many throughout
the centuries. Reputation is another and lures many a great deal for the young
and old. Recognition is still another and attracts every man and woman. Sex is
yet another. However, those things cannot make the ends meet because man is made
in God’s image. It seems so, but fails miserably. It seems offering much, but
fails with no reservations. So, only things in heaven can make man satisfy and
fulfill in the fullness of life.
How can we obtain things in heaven?
It is a hard problem for man. So, God chose his Son to be the price to redeem
man from the fall and the lost. No man can find a way out from darkness, a
mystery of darkness to where man has been fallen since in Adam. It is not a
simple darkness but the dark forces of evil in heaven. It is a real being, the
fallen angel who rebelled against God. This angel masqueraded himself as an
angle of light and deceived the woman to fall down to death. We weren’t even
born when that happened. So, how could we know a way out of darkness? It is
impossible. Man doesn’t understand that they are lost and fallen in the
darkness. But the fact is all man is fallen and lost as the victims of the malevolent
evil one, the devil according to the Scriptures.
That is why God sent his only Son
for the sin of the world to liberate man from the bondage of the devil. No things
in the world can win over the devil who is cunning and crafty. He is a liar and
the father of lies. No man can win over the devil. So, the destiny of man is
doomed except a divine intervention according to the promise of God in the
Scriptures. It is that Jesus broke his body on a cross, paying the full ransom price.
It was not an afterthought, but meant to be even before the creation of the
world. The Son of Man came and bound the devil and finally delivered the
prisoners because he is stronger than the evil one.
“When a strong man, fully armed,
guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger
attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted
and divides up his plunder.” (Luke 11:21-22)
The old allegiance for the devil
has been broken up and the new one for God has just begun through the death of the
Son Jesus Christ. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has
come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Whatever we
need, Jesus is whatever we need. He is the bread of life. In truth, he lives in
us, making his eternal resident in us, the hope of glory. Need love? Jesus is
love. Need light? He is light. Need strength and conform? He is. Need forgiving
someone? Christ is the life and the resurrection. We don’t walk always in line
with the truth revealed but fail over and over again. No, we don’t achieve the
goal in a day. Rather, it is a lifelong process, learning that we are eternally
inadequate how to handle lives. It is the full submission to the Lord Jesus Christ
just like he did to the Father in heaven. Because the Son of Man on the earth
was in the likeness of man. He was tired and thirsty and hungry as well. He slept
at night. He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness forty days and nights. He
was poor and broke. So, the Son of Man depended everything on the Father from A
to Z. He believed that the Father would feed five thousands. Jesus believed
that God the Father would act out of his infinite mercy and compassion as he prayed.
Jesus had nothing in the world, but everything in the Father. He remained completely
selfless, always being in the Father and he in the Son. He even gave up his
life to the Father. “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but
whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35)
So do we. We do not have anything dependable,
being broke in entirety. The Scripture calls man in Adam the wicked and corrupt,
so were we by nature deserving of wrath. “As for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways
of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now
at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one
time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and
thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” (Ephesians
2:1-3) But in his great mercy, God raised us up from the dead, making alive
with Christ. We have been saved by grace. Also, God seated us with Christ in
the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6). For what? “…in order
that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,
expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:7) In Christ,
now we have what it takes. It is him who indwells in us by means of the Holy
Spirit.
Therefore, we do not live by sight,
but by faith. Because it is not done by works. We had nothing to deserve his
grace. Still, we don’t have anything to deserve his grace. We simply trust and
believe in him. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this
is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can
boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) That is it. Keep on believing and we will keep on
living his life, the eternal life. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in
Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
(Ephesians 2:10) We are not here on earth by accident. We are not here to hunger
and thirst endlessly. We are here for purpose to do his work which is to love and
forgive one another with the resurrection power of Jesus Christ the Lord. We are
here to learn how to handle lives in Christ. That is to submit ourselves to the
Lord as he did to the Father from A to Z.
March 8, 2019
© 2018-2019 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.
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