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After seven years of writing this weekly column, let me do something I hadn’t thought to do before. Here is a brief reader’s guide to what I try to do here. Then, I’ll dive right into this week’s message.

Each week, I do at least two things consistently. I try to leave a fairly provocative title that also clues you into what the subject matter will be. Even if the granular point is not overt in that title, I try to be sure they connect most weeks. 

Another weekly practice that I try my best to remember is to mention the scripture text the message is based on. I try to do that in one of the opening paragraphs if I am sharing a summary of my weekly sermon. On the rare weeks I write an opinion piece, all of that might not apply. 

The other thing I do in the majority of these columns is to make an assumption. I know. Making assumptions is not a good practice. But the assumption I make is that you will get your Bible or your device and actually look up the scriptural reference I give you. That is how what I write will make so much more sense. 

In John 6: 35 and 41-51, Jesus encountered some pretty rude resistance from his primary audience. Pastors are not complete strangers to the kind of thing depicted there in John 6. The fact that it happened to Jesus gives me a strange comfort, to be honest. Still, what they did wasn’t right. What they did revealed all that they still did not know. 

Maybe I could see you complaining about me. But complaining about Jesus? He barely got the words out of his mouth in today’s scripture when they started to grumble and gripe about him. 

Gonguzo is the Greek cognate word translated here as “complain.” It’s actually a derivative from the same Hebrew word used to describe when the people grumbled against Moses. Which happened several times during the Exodus. 

They grumbled against the very one who had the power to get them freed from four hundred years of slavery in Egypt. They grumbled against the very one who they also believed was powerful enough to stand between them and God’s wrath. 

They complained about being fed reliably every single day, just like church members staring down a seven-dollar Wednesday night buffet. They complained about not having water to drink, so much so that when Moses finally struck the rock with his staff, in his distraction, he did it the wrong way and got himself in trouble with God. 

The impression that struck me as I sat with this text for a little while this week is that they missed one of the most powerful truths for their lives that Jesus could have given them. They were too busy thinking too little of him. 

Meanwhile, what he was saying to them was powerful, so much so that for many over the next centuries it proved to be transformational. They missed one of the most powerful statements of spiritual reality that they could ever have heard. They were too busy getting ready to boo, hiss, or make smart remarks that they thought he wouldn’t pick up on. 

What was that? One of the most riveting truths of God that Jesus ever spoke was, “I am the Bread of Life.” That should have stopped them in their tracks. They missed the two most powerful words Jesus said. 

The people listening to Jesus knew some things, but their knowledge was limited. That led to them closing their ears and shutting their hearts. What they assumed about God ended up limiting their vision. 

They were unable to hear and know what God was trying to show them. They had made up their minds and didn’t want to be confronted with what Jesus tried to teach them.

When we trust that the Bread of Life is enough, we come to the Church to follow Jesus. We observe the Sabbath still today, trusting that all the fun things and all the supposed rest we could have gotten by just skipping Church and staying home won’t be necessary.

Well, what two words did they miss? These words were hiding right there in front of us and in front of the mention of the bread. “I Am.” That’s who Jesus really told them he was. So he is. Because of that, we never have to hunger again.

DR. CHARLES QUALLS is senior pastor at Franklin Baptist Church. Contact him at 757-562-5135.