2nd Verse, Same as the First

As a child, I remember singing in Sunday School class with my friends.  We didn't have music sheets, so If we could not remember the second verse of the song we would say at the end of the first, "Second verse, same as the first"  and then we would sing it again.  Today's prayer devotional is the second verse to yesterday, but it is really more of the same.

Jesus stated, "I am the Bread of Life."  He makes this statement as a teaching point in the context of the feeding of the thousands (John 5-6).  So many lessons to learn from this story.  With the five barley loaves and two fish Jesus fed five thousand men, but who knows how many women and children were there too.   It was the gift of a boy that made the Soup Kitchen possible.  His faith fed the thousands, yet the disciples were going to send the people away because there was no food and no way to pay for such a feast for so many anyway.  Yet, there were 12 baskets of leftovers.  There is always more than enough of God's grace to go around.  There is always a way to serve and minister to the people if we have the desire to do so and care not about the costs.   God will provide if we are willing to put forth the effort.  Should we ever just send them away because we don't care or because we don't believe that we have the means?  I love this part; Jesus multiplied the fishes and loaves, but the disciples who had lacked the faith to feed the people were responsible for serving the meal.  That is good stuff!  Their "hands on service" would challenge and grow their faith.  He teaches them and us to care for the helpless and hungry and look for a way to feed them.  Jesus states, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you."

As we serve, we come to realize that the bread doesn't run out.  Jesus states, "I Am the Bread of Life.  He who comes to me will never go hungry." We also grow to understand Jesus is all we really need.   Just as the Israelites learned to trust in the daily manna from above so we have manna in our Lord who proclaimed,  "I Am the Bread of Life that comes down from Heaven."

The beauty of Jesus lesson is that it is multilayered.  Just like a Vidalia onion from Georgia, this lesson will make you cry.  Maybe the greatest lesson Jesus teaches is not about Himself, but about serving others no matter the cost and no matter the obstacles.  There in that faithful and sacrificial service is the real bread for life.  Do you have faith enough to feed the thousands?  One of my favorite prayers I learned in Israel near the likely location of this miracle:

God bless to us our bread.
And give bread to those who are hungry.
And a hunger for Justice to those who are fed.
God bless to us our bread.
Amen