John 6:51-58
There’s an old saying you may have heard, "you are what you eat".
At least to an extent, it’s true. If you ate nothing but cream puffs, you will naturally end up resembling one. But it’s true also in other areas of life.
Perhaps a better way to put it would be, "you are what you consume."
If you listen only to the ABC, you’ll end up adopting their views. If you listen only to Sky News, you’ll end up with a very different set of views.
We need to consume in order to live. One can’t survive without consuming food or water. But what do we consume for life?
When St John writes of "life" he means eternal life, and when it comes to eternal life, the saying "you are what you eat" is as true as it is for what we eat for breakfast.
Some turn to exercise, and a vegetarian or vegan diet to prolong life. Billions of dollars are spent on cosmetics to give the appearance that we aren’t slaves to time. We’re told that if we stop burning fossil fuels, then we will prolong the life of the earth.
But even the most conscientiously healthy person will eventually die.
Adopting electric cars and covering the landscape with solar panels and wind turbines won’t prevent hurricanes or bushfires.
These so-called "foods" in which so many people trust to save their bodies or the environment, can never stave off the inevitable.
In the face of this, Jesus says, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you"(John 6:27).
And He says of Himself, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever" (Jn. 6:51).
In Christ Jesus we encounter not another of the empty earthly foods that lead to death; in Christ we find the one "food" that leads to life.
Of course there’s nothing wrong with earthly food or living a healthy lifestyle; Jesus never says that. But the point He wants us to realise is, that He (and He alone) can supply us with life in eternity.
He Himself is the food that leads to eternal life.
He said, "Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life" (Jn. 6:47).
He means believing that He is who He says He is and has in fact done what He claimed to have done - gaining eternal life by dying and raising Himself, triumphant over death, on the third day.
So what are you eating?
There are all kinds of food out there begging for us to place our hope for life in them. They may carry promises of life, wealth, health and happiness, but they all fail to deliver in the end.
Earthly food leads to death, but Christ, the bread of heaven, is the one food that leads to life.