Monday
John 6.35 “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.”
Jesus has just fed 5000 plus hungry people. In Matthew and Luke he teaches his followers to pray “Give us this day our daily bread.” There are different kinds of hungers, and God responds to them all. Jesus is bread and nourishment to the soul. The Creator has made a world of plenty, to be shared. Those whose souls are fed and nourished by Jesus will see in every pair of hungry human eyes, one in whom Jesus comes to us, as “the least of these my brothers and sisters.”
Tuesday
John 8.12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Light and life are cause and effect in John’s gospel. “In him was life and the life was the light of all humanity.” If we stay close to the light, then we stay out of darkness; and if the light shines in and through us, then there’s no room for darkness. “Shine, Jesus, shine” is a prayer for every day – “Shine on, in, around and through me.” Jesus is the light that enables us to see where we’re going, and with whom.
Wednesday
John 10.7 “I am the door for the sheep.”
Think gate, and a border collie guiding sheep through the gate and the shepherd closing it. The sheep are enclosed, and kept safe. As the Psalmist wrote, “We are his, and the sheep of his pasture.” John goes further and says Jesus is the one who keeps the sheep safe, who guards them from harm. Not only that; Jesus is the door and the door-keeper so we are doubly safe. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me…”
Thursday
John 10.11,14 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep….I know my sheep and my sheep know me.”
“The Lord’s my shepherd I’ll not want…green pastures…still waters…paths of righteousness…deep dark valleys…Thou art with me.” Psalm 23 is the best commentary on these verses. The value of each sheep, the shepherd’s knowledge of, and relationship to each sheep – these were obvious and common everyday realities. And Jesus used them as self-description. This is who I am! The best of shepherds who stands between the sheep and danger, and who will die to make them safe.
Friday
John 11.25 “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
Every Christian funeral is formed and informed by these words, and by their reality in the Risen Lord. The disciples had no idea what Jesus meant when he said these words, but they would. The women would discover the empty tomb, Mary would hear her name spoken, Peter and John would risk a heart attack racing back to tell the others, and Thomas would say, “My Lord, and my God!” Jesus is risen and we now live in a world where resurrections happened and the life that is the light of all people shines, and the darkness will not put it out!
Saturday
John 14. 6 “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
He is a path, if any be misled;
He is a robe, if any naked be;
If any chance to hunger, He is Bread;
If any be a bondman, He is free;
If any be but weak, how strong is He?
To dead men life He is, to sick men health;
To blind men sight, and to the needy wealth;
A pleasure without loss, a treasure without stealth.
Sunday
John 15. 1 “I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener…I am the vine and you are the branches.
We are joined to God through Christ. The life we live is Christ in us. The fruit we bear in Christian character, behaviour, witness and love are nurtured and nourished from our being joined to Jesus Christ. Without him we bear no fruit, life is cut off at source, and we are no longer walking in the light or in the Way that is the way of Christ. It’s hard to avoid the thought that the gifts of bread and wine of communion are to keep us true to the living bread and the true vine. To mix metaphors, the good shepherd is like a door that keeps us close to the true vine and the living bread – there’s a lot of truth in that – but then Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life!
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