cryptic Christ

Posted on June 16, 2018 by Jefferson Vann
marmsky June 2018 (16)

cryptic Christ

Devotions from Jefferson Vann # 2414

John 7:2-10

Joh 7:2 The Jewish Festival of Shacks was near.
Joh 7:3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave from here and go to Judea so your disciples can see your works that you are doing.
Joh 7:4 Because no one does anything privately while he’s seeking to be public. If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.”
Joh 7:5 (Because not even his brothers believed in him.)
Joh 7:6 Jesus told them, “My time has not yet presented itself, but your time is always ready.
Joh 7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it does hate me because I am testifying about it– that its works are evil.
Joh 7:8 Go up to the festival yourselves. I’m not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet completely come.”
Joh 7:9 After he had said these things, he stayed in Galilee.
Joh 7:10 But after his brothers had gone up to the festival, then he also went up, not openly but privately.

cryptic Christ

The term κρυπτός in John’s narrative adds a layer of meaning that is easy to overlook. It describes something hidden, concealed from public view, carrying the sense of a message not yet meant for open display. When Jesus chose to go to the Festival in this κρυπτός manner, the decision was not driven by fear, embarrassment, or hesitation about His ministry. The concealment served a purpose woven into the larger fabric of His mission. His public revelation operated on a divine timetable, and that timetable aimed steadily toward the cross. Every step, every appearance, every withdrawal moved Him closer to the moment when He would be offered as the sacrifice for sin. To go publicly at this point would have accelerated the conflict prematurely. To go privately allowed the plan of redemption to unfold in the Father’s appointed rhythm.

This distinction becomes clearer when considering the difference between “time” in this passage and “hour” in chapter 5. There, Jesus spoke of two “hours”: the hour in which the dead hear His voice and live, and the hour of resurrection at the end of the age. Those “hours” refer to decisive moments in God’s redemptive work—moments anchored in divine authority and eschatological fulfillment. In the present section, however, Jesus uses the word καιρός, a term that points to the right moment for a public action, the opportune season for stepping into visibility. His brothers could act publicly whenever they wished; their choices carried no redemptive weight. Jesus, by contrast, lived under the constraint of a mission that required precise timing. His καιρός was not determined by convenience or opportunity but by the Father’s will.

The contrast exposes the difference between ordinary human agendas and the divine purpose embodied in Christ. His hiddenness was not a retreat but a strategy. His restraint was not passivity but obedience. The One who would later stand openly before crowds, authorities, and executioners first moved quietly through the festival because the path to the cross required it. The concealment served the revelation; the hiddenness prepared the unveiling.

The mystery of κρυπτός becomes part of the mercy of God. The Savior who once moved unseen did so in order that, when He finally stood in full view, it would be to offer life to the world.

LORD, thank you for the season of hiddenness that prepared the moment of salvation.

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we love you, go away

Posted on June 15, 2018 by Jefferson Vann
marmsky June 2018 (15)

we love you, go away

Devotions from Jefferson Vann # 2413

John 7:1-5

Joh 7:1 And after these things happened, Jesus moved around in Galilee, since he did not want to move around in Judea because the Jews were looking for him to kill him.
Joh 7:2 The Jewish Festival of Shacks was near.
Joh 7:3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave from here and go to Judea so your disciples can see your works that you are doing.
Joh 7:4 Because no one does anything in secret while he’s seeking to be public. If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.”
Joh 7:5 (Because not even his brothers believed in him.)

we love you, go away

It is striking that the region where Jesus grew up did not embrace Him when He returned with a reputation for healing the sick, casting out demons, and restoring broken lives. One might expect His hometown to celebrate Him as a favored son, but the opposite happened. Their resistance went deeper than the familiar proverb about a prophet lacking honor among his own people. Once Jesus began explaining the true meaning behind His miracles—signs pointing to His divine identity and His unity with the Father—public enthusiasm began to cool. Crowds loved wonders, but they hesitated when those wonders demanded a redefinition of reality. The question beneath their discomfort was simple and unsettling: was there room in their world for another “I AM,” one who spoke and acted with the authority of God Himself?

Even His own brothers felt the tension. They had grown up with Him, shared meals and chores, and knew His humanity intimately. But when Jesus spoke openly about His unique relationship with the Father—clearly not referring to Joseph—they recoiled. Accepting His claims would require reshaping their entire understanding of God, family, and themselves. Instead of wrestling with that upheaval, they preferred distance. Their attitude amounted to, “We care about you, but it would be better if you carried this message somewhere else.” Affection remained, but acceptance did not. Their response mirrored the broader rejection Jesus faced: admiration without surrender, familiarity without faith.

Anyone who has ever felt like a stranger among their own people, or misunderstood within their own family, has tasted a small portion of what Jesus endured. The irony is profound. The One they pushed away was the only source of permanent life, the only voice offering a hope stronger than death. Rejecting Him was not merely a personal slight; it was a turning away from the very life they longed for.

The scene reveals a sobering truth about the human heart. Proximity to Jesus does not guarantee openness to Him. Those who knew Him best resisted Him most when His identity confronted their assumptions. Yet the invitation remained, and still remains, for all who will receive it.

LORD, draw hearts toward Christ rather than away from Him, and grant courage to welcome the One who brings eternal life.

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courage for fickle times

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Jefferson Vann
marmsky June 2018 (14)

courage for fickle times

Devotions from Jefferson Vann # 2412

John 6:66-71

Joh 6:66 From that moment many of his disciples went away and no longer walked with him.
Joh 6:67 That was why Jesus said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to leave too, do you?”
Joh 6:68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, whom would we go away to? You have the words of permanent life.
Joh 6:69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One from God.”
Joh 6:70 Jesus replied to them, “Didn’t I select you, the Twelve? Yet one from you is a devil.”
Joh 6:71 He was referring to Judas, from Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, because he was going to hand him over.

courage for fickle times

Peter’s confession at this moment in John 6 is profoundly significant. When many disciples were turning away, unsettled by Jesus’ hard words, Peter anchored his loyalty in a single, unshakable truth: Jesus possesses the ῥήματα ζωῆς αἰωνίου—the words of permanent life. It was not the miracles, not the crowds, not the excitement of ministry that kept Peter close. It was the hope of resurrection, the promise of a life that death cannot touch. That promise outweighed confusion, cultural pressure, and the shifting opinions of the crowd.

Peter lived in a world as fickle as ours. Public admiration could turn into hostility overnight. One moment, society celebrated spiritual leaders; the next, it condemned them. Peter understood that the only secure place to stand in such a world is beside the One who offers permanent life. Even when Jesus’ teachings were difficult, even when the path of discipleship was costly, Peter recognized that no alternative could offer what Christ offered. To walk away from Jesus was to walk away from life itself.

That same clarity is needed today. The world still shifts. Approval rises and falls. Faithfulness is sometimes applauded and sometimes mocked. But the hope Jesus gives—the hope of resurrection, the hope of permanent life—remains steady. It is worth holding onto when others let go. It is worth standing for when others fall away. Christ’s words do not change with the times; they anchor us through them.

LORD, give us the courage to stand by you, even while others around us are falling away.

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hard word test

Posted on June 13, 2018 by Jefferson Vann
marmsky June 2018 (13)

hard word test

Devotions from Jefferson Vann # 2411

John 6:59-65

Joh 6:59 He said these things in the synagogue while teaching in Capernaum.
Joh 6:60 That was why, after many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This word is hard. Who can listen to it?”
Joh 6:61 Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, asked them, “Does this offend you?
Joh 6:62 Then what if you were to watch the Son of Man ascending to where he was formerly?
Joh 6:63 The Spirit is the one who makes someone alive. The flesh is not at all useful. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
Joh 6:64 But there are some among you who do not believe.” (Because Jesus knew from the first those who did not believe and the one who would hand him over.)
Joh 6:65 And He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is given to him by the Father.”

hard word test

Look back at what Jesus had told his disciples about how people come to faith in him:

Joh 6:37 Each one the Father is giving to me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never throw out.
Joh 6:38 Because I have come down from the sky, not to do what I want, but what my sender wants.
Joh 6:39 This is what my sender wants: that each thing given to me by him I will not destroy, but resurrect it on the last day.

One of the marks of a genuine disciple is the ability to respond in faith to the hard words of Jesus—the teachings that stretch understanding, confront assumptions, and demand trust rather than clarity. The metaphor of eating His flesh and drinking His blood is one of those hard words. It unsettled Jesus’ original audience, and it continues to challenge readers today. Yet Jesus did not soften it or retract it. He spoke it deliberately, knowing that true disciples would press through confusion toward faith, while others would turn away.

The issue was never the literal imagery. Jesus had already explained that the heart of His teaching was believing in Him, trusting His sacrificial death, and receiving the life He gives. But the hard metaphor exposed the deeper reality: discipleship requires a willingness to accept all of Jesus’ words, not only the ones that feel comfortable or easy. Hard words reveal the heart. They expose whether a person follows Jesus for convenience or conviction, for benefits or for truth.

The antagonistic crowd stumbled over the metaphor because they were unwilling to surrender their assumptions. They wanted a Messiah who fit their expectations, not one who spoke of sacrifice, covenant, and faith. But the true disciple learns to lean into Jesus’ words—even the difficult ones—because they come from the One who has the words of eternal life.

Hard words are not obstacles; they are invitations. They invite deeper trust, deeper surrender, and deeper relationship. They remind me that discipleship is not built on full comprehension but on full confidence in Christ. Understanding grows over time, but faith begins with the courage to accept what Jesus says simply because He is the One who says it.

LORD, give us to Jesus. May we learn the courage to accept all His words—even those that are difficult for us.

 

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gnawing on and drinking the sacrifice

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Jefferson Vann
marmsky June 2018 (12)

gnawing on and drinking the sacrifice

Devotions from Jefferson Vann # 2410

John 6:52-58

Joh 6:52 At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Joh 6:53 That is why Jesus said to them, “I honestly tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves.
Joh 6:54 The one who gnaws on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day,
Joh 6:55 because my flesh is a true consumable and my blood is a true drink.
Joh 6:56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood stays in me, and I in him.
Joh 6:57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who gnaws on me will live because of me.
Joh 6:58 This is the bread that came down from the sky; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate– and they died. The one who eats this bread will live into the age.”

gnawing on and drinking the sacrifice

John’s narrative now moves into an even more demanding metaphor, one that presses deeper into the meaning of Jesus’ mission. The antagonistic crowd had already rejected His claim to be the true manna from heaven—the bread that gives permanent life. Instead of softening His language, Jesus intensifies it. He compares Himself to the Old Testament sacrifices, especially those that were eaten by the worshippers as part of covenant fellowship with God. Those meals were not merely rituals; they symbolized sharing life with the King, participating in His covenant, and acknowledging dependence on His provision.

Jesus takes that imagery and applies it to Himself. The referent does not change. “Eating” His flesh and “drinking” His blood still means believing in Him, as He had already stated plainly in verse 47. But the metaphor shifts because Jesus is now highlighting the covenant dimension of faith. In the sacrificial system, consuming the offering was a sign of belonging—of entering into and maintaining a relationship with God. By using the language of gnawing flesh and drinking blood, Jesus points to His own sacrificial death as the foundation of a new covenant. Believing in Him is not merely intellectual assent; it is entering into a covenant relationship grounded in His self‑giving sacrifice.

The crowd misses this entirely. They argue, stumble over the imagery, and refuse to see beyond the literal words. Their ancestors had done the same with the manna—questioning the gift rather than receiving it. Now this generation repeats the pattern. They want explanations, not salvation. They want clarity on their terms, not covenant on God’s terms.

Yet for those who believe, the metaphor becomes rich with meaning. Christ is the true sacrifice. His death establishes the covenant. And believers participate in that covenant every time they gather at the table and partake of the symbolic meal that commemorates His body given and His blood poured out. The Lord’s Supper does not replace faith; it expresses it. It is a reminder that life comes through His death, and relationship comes through His offering.

LORD, thank you for providing the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and thank you that we share a relationship with you because of His sacrifice.

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sacrifice from the sky

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Jefferson Vann
marmsky June 2018 (11)

sacrifice from the sky

Devotions from Jefferson Vann

John 6:47-52

Joh 6:47 “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has permanent life.
Joh 6:48 I am the bread of life.
Joh 6:49 Your fathers ate the manna in the desert, and they died.
Joh 6:50 This is the bread that comes down from the sky so that anyone may eat from it and not die.
Joh 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from the sky. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Joh 6:52 At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

sacrifice from the sky

Jesus had already explained His metaphor plainly: “the one who believes has permanent life.” In this section, He deepens that teaching by tying it to one of the most powerful Old Testament images—the manna in the wilderness. The manna was God’s miraculous provision, a daily reminder that Israel lived by His word and His generosity. Yet the manna was also temporary. It sustained physical life for a day, but it could not grant eternal life. It pointed forward to something greater.

Jesus identifies Himself as the fulfillment of that type. He is the true bread from heaven. To “eat” this living bread is not a physical act but a spiritual one—believing in Christ, trusting His sacrifice, receiving His life. When He speaks of giving His flesh for the life of the world, He is pointing directly to the cross. His death becomes the nourishment that grants permanent life to those who believe.

The crowd, however, misses the point entirely. They argue among themselves, fixated on the literal image, just as their ancestors once questioned the manna that lay before them. Their unbelief blinds them to the meaning of the miracle and the identity of the One speaking. They want explanations, not salvation. They want clarity on their terms, not life on God’s terms.

This pattern is not confined to the first century. There are many things in life—and many things in God’s word—that remain mysterious, difficult, or beyond full comprehension. But lack of understanding is never a valid excuse for unbelief. The call of Christ is not “understand everything,” but “believe Me.” Faith does not require exhaustive knowledge; it requires trust in the One who has proven Himself faithful.

The manna sustained Israel for a season. Christ sustains forever. The manna pointed forward. Christ fulfills. The manna fed the body. Christ feeds the soul. And the invitation remains open: believe, and receive permanent life.

LORD, increase our faith, and help us trust you even when your word contains things we do not yet understand.

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extricated

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Jefferson Vann
marmsky June 2018 (10)

extricated

John 6:41-47

Joh 6:41 This was why the Jews started grumbling about him — because he said, “I am the bread that came down from the sky.”
Joh 6:42 This is what they said, “This is not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from the sky’?”
Joh 6:43 Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves.
Joh 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me extricates him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
Joh 6:45 It is written in the Prophets: And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father comes to me–
Joh 6:46 not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father.
Joh 6:47 “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has permanent life.

extricated

The verb ἕλκω (helkō) in John 6:44 has always intrigued me, but looking more closely at its history makes Jesus’ statement even more striking. It is often translated “draw,” which can sound gentle—almost like a soft pull or an inner attraction. That is certainly part of the meaning, but the word has a broader and more vivid background. In classical usage, ἕλκω is the verb used for extracting a sword from its sheath—pulling something out of where it naturally rests, removing it from its former position.

With that image in mind, Jesus’ words take on a deeper force. Humanity does not drift naturally toward Christ. Left to ourselves, we remain sheathed in unbelief, resistance, and even antagonism. Something must extricate us from that posture. Something must pull us out of the place where we are stuck. According to Jesus, that “something” is not human effort, religious discipline, or intellectual curiosity. It is the work of the Father.

Jesus explains what this divine extraction looks like: being taught by God. Those who listen to the Father’s instruction—those whose hearts are opened by His teaching—are the ones who come to Christ. The Father’s teaching does not bypass the mind; it awakens it. It does not override the will; it frees it. It does not coerce belief; it creates the capacity for belief. The ones who truly hear the Father’s voice recognize the Son’s identity, trust His words, and receive the promise of permanent life.

This means that faith is never merely a human achievement. It is a divine rescue. The Father pulls us out of our resistance, opens our ears, and teaches us to see Jesus for who He is. Coming to Christ is not the result of spiritual cleverness; it is the result of God’s gracious intervention.

LORD, extricate us, and teach us how to believe in your Son.

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what my sender wants

Posted on June 9, 2018 by Jefferson Vann
marmsky June 2018 (9)

what my sender wants

Devotions from Jefferson Vann # 2407

John 6:34-40

Joh 6:34 Then they said to him, “Sir, always give to us this bread .”
Joh 6:35 Jesus told them “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will not at all be hungry, and the one who believes in me will not at all ever be thirsty.
Joh 6:36 But I said to you that you have seen, and you are not believing.
Joh 6:37 Each one the Father is giving to me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never throw out.
Joh 6:38 Because I have come down from the sky, not to do what I want, but what my sender wants.
Joh 6:39 This is what my sender wants: that each thing given to me by him I will not destroy, but resurrect it on the last day.
Joh 6:40 Because this is what my Father wants: that everyone who is seeing the Son and believing in him has permanent life, and I will resurrect him on the last day.”

what my sender wants

This passage offers one of the clearest windows into the heart of God’s desire for humanity. When Jesus speaks about the will of the Father, He is not describing a list of tasks to perform or religious duties to fulfill. He is revealing God’s longing for people to reach a place where hunger and thirst—spiritual hunger and spiritual thirst—are gone forever. God wants permanent life for those He created. That is His aim, His intention, His desire.

Yet two obstacles stand in the way of that desire becoming reality. The first is sin. Sin separates, distorts, blinds, and destroys. It keeps the heart from God and the life of God from the heart. The second obstacle is mortality. Even if sin were removed, death would still claim every person. Humanity is both sinful and mortal, and neither problem can be solved by human effort.

Christ addresses both. His atoning death on the cross removes the barrier of sin. His resurrection and His promise to raise believers remove the barrier of mortality. Through His sacrifice, forgiveness becomes possible. Through His future return, permanent life becomes certain. The two greatest enemies of humanity—sin and death—are defeated by the two greatest works of Christ—atonement and resurrection.

But Jesus also makes clear that these gifts are not automatic. They are offered freely, but they must be received. Two conditions stand before every person: coming to Christ and believing in Christ. Knowledge alone is not enough. Admiration is not enough. Proximity is not enough. Even witnessing miracles, as many in the crowd did, is not enough. The heart must turn toward Him in trust. The will must come to Him in surrender. The mind must believe His words and rest in His promise.

The invitation is simple but profound: come and believe. Those who do will experience forgiveness now and resurrection later. Those who refuse remain in hunger, thirst, and death. Jesus does not hide this truth; He declares it openly because He desires life for all who hear.

LORD, draw the readers of this post to yourself through Christ. Forgive them and free them from death.

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true bread from the sky

Posted on June 8, 2018 by Jefferson Vann
marmsky June 2018 (5)

true bread from the sky

Devotions from Jefferson Vann # 2406

John 6:28-33

Joh 6:28 They said to him, “What can we do to work the works of God?”
Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God– that you believe in the one that he sent.”
Joh 6:30 This is why they said “What sign are you going to make so we may see and believe in you?” they asked. “What are you working?
Joh 6:31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert, just as it has been written: He gave them bread from the sky to eat.”
Joh 6:32 Jesus said to them, “I am honestly telling you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from the sky, but my Father gives you the true bread from the sky.
Joh 6:33 Because the bread of God is the one who comes down from the sky and gives life to the world.”

true bread from the sky

God answered Moses’ prayer in the wilderness by sending manna, a daily miracle that kept the Israelites alive. It was unmistakably a work of God—bread appearing on the ground each morning, enough for every household. Yet even with that miracle, the people still had a part to play. They had to trust the gift, gather it, and consume it. If they refused to believe God’s provision or failed to collect the manna, they would have starved despite the miracle lying at their feet. The manna was divine, but its benefit required faith expressed in action.

Jesus builds on that history when He tells His listeners that He Himself is the true bread from heaven. The manna sustained physical life for a season, but it could not grant permanent life. It pointed forward to something greater, something lasting. Now the true bread had come—not a substance, but a Person. And just as the Israelites had to receive the manna to live, so the people listening to Jesus had to receive Him. If they ignored His words, dismissed His identity, or refused to follow Him, they would face a deeper starvation than Israel ever knew. Physical hunger is painful, but spiritual starvation is fatal.

Jesus’ claim is absolute. God has no alternative source of permanent life. There is no second manna, no backup plan, no other bread descending from the sky. The life He offers is not one option among many; it is the only path to eternal life. The crowd had eaten miraculous bread the day before, but that bread could not keep them alive forever. Only the true bread—the life of Christ Himself—can do that.

This truth presses inward. It reminds me that spiritual life is not maintained by religious activity, moral effort, or accumulated knowledge. It is sustained by receiving Christ, trusting Him, feeding on His words, and depending on His grace. Just as manna had to be gathered daily, the life Jesus gives is experienced through continual faith. He remains the only source of permanent life, the only nourishment that does not fade, the only bread that endures.

Thank you, LORD, for providing the true bread from the sky—Jesus Christ.

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lasting rust

Posted on June 7, 2018 by Jefferson Vann
marmsky June 2018 (7)

lasting rust

Devotions from Jefferson Vann # 2405

John 6:22-27

Joh 6:22 The next day, the crowd that had stood on the other side of the sea saw there had been only one boat. They also saw that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone off alone.
Joh 6:23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
Joh 6:24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
Joh 6:25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you happen here?”
Joh 6:26 Jesus answered, “I honestly tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Joh 6:27 Don’t work for the consumable that perishes but for the consumable that lasts for permanent life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”

lasting rust

What caught my attention in this passage is John’s choice of vocabulary. Instead of using the ordinary word for bread or food, he uses βρῶσις, a term that elsewhere is translated as “rust.” In Matthew 6:19, Jesus warns that moths and rust consume earthly treasures. Rust is something that eats away, something that causes decay. It is a force that consumes.

Here, however, Jesus uses the same word in a different direction. Instead of referring to something that consumes, He uses it to describe something that is consumed. The shift is subtle but meaningful. Ordinary food—ordinary “consumables”—are eaten and then disappear. They sustain life for a moment, but only for a moment. They are temporary by nature. Even the miraculous bread and fish that fed the five thousand fell into this category. It was extraordinary in origin, but ordinary in duration. It satisfied hunger for a few hours, then its effect faded. It was a consumable that vanished.

John’s choice of βρῶσις highlights this contrast. The crowd had eaten something remarkable, yet it remained temporary. It could not keep them alive forever. It could not reverse mortality. It could not grant the permanent life Jesus had been teaching about. The miracle was real, but it was not ultimate.

Jesus then speaks of another kind of βρῶσις—another consumable. This one does not perish. This one does not fade. This one does not rust away or lose its effect. This consumable gives permanent life. It is not bread that disappears; it is bread that endures. And Jesus identifies Himself as the source of it. He offers Himself as the One who can be received, believed in, trusted, and taken in. His life becomes the sustaining life of those who believe. His promise is not temporary nourishment but eternal life.

The contrast becomes clear:
Ordinary consumables sustain life briefly.
The consumable Christ offers sustains life permanently.

The miracle of the loaves pointed to this deeper truth. The crowd saw bread; Jesus pointed them to life. The bread in their hands disappeared; the life He gives does not.

Thank you, LORD, for the promise of permanent life through Christ.

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