Work for the food that endures to eternal life (John 6:27)
Often, in our minds, we separate out the spiritual and the physical
On the one hand, we may think of the spirit as something very distinct from our physical existence. In this idea we hunger or suffer in the body but the spirit is free from need and free from pain, it is just pure thought, pure personality, free from the chains of physical life.
And the reverse of this particular coin is that the physical world is complete in itself. It gives us the idea that science can answer every question and solve every problem. The physical world - so it seems - has no more need of the spirit than the spirit has need of the physical.
These are very commonly held ideas. They are wrong.
When Jesus explains the spirit he always makes it very solid, very physical. It isthe food which endures for ever. It is the satisfying of hunger and the quenching of thirst. It is the bread which comes down from heaven.
It is the spirit which fills the physical with life and truth and purpose, and eternity.
Spirit and matter, soul and body are not two separate things best kept apart. They are one: created by God, redeemed by him in Christ, the Word made flesh, the bread of heaven.
Lord, give us that bread always! (John 6:34)
Often, in our minds, we separate out the spiritual and the physical
On the one hand, we may think of the spirit as something very distinct from our physical existence. In this idea we hunger or suffer in the body but the spirit is free from need and free from pain, it is just pure thought, pure personality, free from the chains of physical life.
And the reverse of this particular coin is that the physical world is complete in itself. It gives us the idea that science can answer every question and solve every problem. The physical world - so it seems - has no more need of the spirit than the spirit has need of the physical.
These are very commonly held ideas. They are wrong.
When Jesus explains the spirit he always makes it very solid, very physical. It isthe food which endures for ever. It is the satisfying of hunger and the quenching of thirst. It is the bread which comes down from heaven.
It is the spirit which fills the physical with life and truth and purpose, and eternity.
Spirit and matter, soul and body are not two separate things best kept apart. They are one: created by God, redeemed by him in Christ, the Word made flesh, the bread of heaven.
Lord, give us that bread always! (John 6:34)
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