(John 6, Rev 18, Psalm 34)
Jesus does it again
Uses everyday stuff to make a point.
(But that's like saying a heart surgeon performs a transplant to make a point!)
Bread is the focus, but miracles were the context.
They, the crowd had just been fed miraculously
Jesus ignores their questions about his arrival into Capernaum.
(But then - how do you explain that you got there because you walked on water?)
Jesus, in a way, continues where he left off.
Their thoughts were still on earthly bread, and therefore the whole of natural life.
Then, Jesus says it:
"I am the bread"
If the millstones fell silent in a first century middle eastern village
It meant disaster.
In a later revelation, the same John says that the millstones were never to be heard in Babylon again (Rev 18 v 22).
When the bread - makers were gone
It indicated economic tragedy.
And here, now, Jesus makes an announcement.
"I am the bread".
No heavy grinding at the mill, no earning it.
This was almost the same as saying
"I am the alternative economy, the real substantive everything".
Bread was always earned in those days
This bread could not be earned.
It was free. He was free.
All that is left for us to do is eat. (Psalm 34 v 8).
And wonder.