When the Bible was written, there was no internet. News travelled very slowly. Word of mouth was the most common form of communication. So, one of the most important methods of learning was repetition. Variations of the same story were told and retold. Yet no matter who did the telling, the lesson remained the same.

For the last few weeks, the gospel message has been “Jesus is the Bread of Life”. Jesus helped the gospel writers make sure there was no ambiguity in His teachings. When something really important was about to be said, Jesus would start with “Amen, amen, I say to you…”. This is the gospel equivalent of “Pay attention to this!”

Today we are bombarded with information. Within minutes we know things that have happened thousands of miles away. The quantity of information we receive on a daily basis is astounding. So, when we are presented with information in that “old fashioned” repetitious way, do we tune it out? Do we get bored because there is no flash or sizzle? Are we paying attention? Perhaps we need to retrain ourselves to listen to the repetition and to heed the message we are being taught. Our eternal salvation depends on it.