Children’s Lesson for April 12, 2020
John 6:35
We learn that in the gospel of John in the Bible, John – the guy who wrote the book ofJohn – records seven different times Jesus calls himself “I AM,” and then describeshimself in a special way. When Jesus said, “before Abraham was even born, I am” inJohn 8:58, he was saying that He is God. All the people listening to Jesus would haveunderstood that Jesus was saying he is God, because they would have remembered thestory in Exodus, where Moses meets God in the burning bush and God says his name is“I am.” God means that he is self-sufficient. He doesn’t need anyone’s help to be theperfect God. Neither does Jesus. Since Jesus is God in a human body, he doesn’t needanyone’s help to be the perfect God.
We know that Jesus is God and that he loves us so much that he died for our sins. Butwhat else do we know about him?Today we are going to learn about one “I am” statement of Jesus. Jesus madehis “I am” statement to a group of people. By this point in his life, Jesus is a popularguy. Everyone knows about him, and he is starting to gain a lot of followers, but peoplestill don’t really get who he is. Many people followed Jesus because of all the miracleshe did. One day, Jesus sits at the top of a hill near the Sea of Galilee. Looking around,Jesus saw that there were at least 5,000 men following him, not to mention women andkids. Jesus knew that they must be getting hungry, so he asked his disciple Philip wherethey were going to buy food for everyone. Can you imagine trying to feed all thosepeople? There were tons of people, and they didn’t exactly pack their own lunch. Theywould all have to rely on Jesus to feed them, or they would go hungry. Philip had no ideahow to feed all those people without any food, but Andrew, another disciple, said thatthere was a little boy in the crowd who had brought a lunch of five little loaves of breadand two fish. It was the perfect lunch for a growing boy.
Jesus had everyone sit down, then Jesus thanked God for the food and passed itaround to everyone in the crowd. Everyone had enough to eat, and they even hadleftovers! After everyone was full, they picked up twelve baskets of scrap food! It was amiracle. Jesus fed over 5,000 people with a little boy’s lunch. After this, Jesus slippedaway and crossed over to the other side of the lake. The next day, the crowd followedhim and asked why he had left. Jesus had a very interesting conversation with themafter that.Jesus told them that they wanted to be with Him because He fed them food, notbecause they understood the miracle. Jesus told them that they should spend theirenergy seeking GOD and eternal life. The people then replied “We want to performGod’s works, too. What should we do?”
Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the onehe has sent.”--- and who is this?! ---Jesus!
The Crowd answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe inyou. What can you do? After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed throughthe wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”Does it sound like the crowd was interested in the life-giving bread from heaven, or justin miracles? All the crowd really wanted was for Jesus to feed them, like he had the daybefore. They were not interested in hearing about the bread of life. They wanted theirtummies to be filled, but Jesus wanted to fill their hearts. Bread is tasty stuff, isn’t it?We have it at almost every meal, in some form. From our cereal, to our sandwich, to thebread crumbs on our fried chicken or the crust of our pizza. Bread is everywhere in ourlives. It’s hard to imagine not having it, since it is everywhere in our lives. The peopleJesus was talking to could imagine it pretty well. They knew what it was like to gohungry, so when Jesus started talking about a bread that would always keep you full,the crowd perked up. But Jesus was offering something even better than food to fillempty stomachs.
When Jesus says he is the bread of life, he means that he wants to fill our emptyhearts. Without Jesus, we would go hungry. We may have food in our bellies, butspiritually, we would have nothing without him. We could read our Bibles, pray, go tochurch, and serve others all we want, but all of that is pointless without Jesus. It’s likepizza without the crust, spaghetti and meatballs without the spaghetti, biscuits andgravy without the biscuits! It’s the bread that makes these foods so good. It is Jesusthat makes going to church, praying, reading our Bibles, and serving others have anymeaning. Jesus, the bread of life, fills us up for all eternity when we do one thing.. Thecrowd asked what work God wanted them to do, and Jesus says, “This is the only workGod wants from you: Believe in the one He has sent.” Who is the one God has sent?Jesus, of course! When we believe that Jesus is God, come to earth to die in our placefor our sins, He fills us up with the bread of life. He gives meaning to everything we doand lets us live forever in heaven with him!
Jesus is the great I AM! He is the son of God and He will save us from our sins! Jesusis who we need! When Jesus asked “What bread do you need?” We need Jesus - thebread of life!
You are loved,Ms. Shantelle
Ask a parent to help you print off the activity sheets for this lesson. You can find them here.
