“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Devotion based on John 6:43-44

Why were the people around Jesus grumbling? It was because they knew him! They knew Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth. They knew his mom, Mary, too. In Nazareth, they knew his brothers and sisters. They had known Jesus from the beginning of his life. So, they refused to believe his claim about himself.

Then Jesus told the crowds that he had come down from heaven. The picture he used was brilliant. Nearly fifteen hundred years before Jesus spoke these words, God saved his people from death in the desert by miraculously providing bread from heaven. Jesus offers even more. He came down from heaven to save us from our sins. He promises that those who trust in him will live forever.

Rather than grumble that Jesus cannot be who he claimed to be, trust that he was, indeed, sent from the Father to restore our relationship to him. Trust his promise that all who trust in him will be raised back to life when this world comes to an end. Trust his promises and experience the peace only he can provide.

Prayer: