La Palabra de Dios que guía: amor
Introducción
Juan 6:25–59: El día después de que Jesús alimentara milagrosamente a la gente, la multitud lo buscó. Cuando lo encontraron, Jesús explicó la diferencia entre el maná que comieron sus ancestros en el desierto y el «verdadero pan del cielo». Sin embargo, hubo personas en la multitud que cuestionaron lo que dijo, y surgieron argumentos entre ellos.
Lectura para hoy
25 When the people found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they said to him, “Teacher, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “I am telling you the truth: you are looking for me because you ate the bread and had all you wanted, not because you understood my miracles. 27 Do not work for food that spoils; instead, work for the food that lasts for eternal life. This is the food which the Son of Man will give you, because God, the Father, has put his mark of approval on him.”
28 So they asked him, “What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?”
29 Jesus answered, “What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent.”
30 They replied, “What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, just as the scripture says, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32 “I am telling you the truth,” Jesus said. “What Moses gave you was not the bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives you the real bread from heaven. 33 For the bread that God gives is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they asked him, “give us this bread always.”
35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty. 36 Now, I told you that you have seen me but will not believe. 37 Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me, 38 because I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And it is the will of him who sent me that I should not lose any of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day. 40 For what my Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on the last day.”
41 The people started grumbling about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 So they said, “This man is Jesus son of Joseph, isn’t he? We know his father and mother. How, then, does he now say he came down from heaven?”
43 Jesus answered, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. 44 People cannot come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me; and I will raise them to life on the last day. 45 The prophets wrote, ‘Everyone will be taught by God.’ Anyone who hears the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 This does not mean that anyone has seen the Father; he who is from God is the only one who has seen the Father. 47 I am telling you the truth: he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died. 50 But the bread that comes down from heaven is of such a kind that whoever eats it will not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If you eat this bread, you will live forever. The bread that I will give you is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live.”
52 This started an angry argument among them. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.
53 Jesus said to them, “I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. 55 For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. 57 The living Father sent me, and because of him I live also. In the same way whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread that your ancestors ate, but then later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.”
59 Jesus said this as he taught in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Versículo clave de hoy: Juan 6:35
Y Jesús les dijo: —Yo soy el pan que da vida. El que viene a mí, nunca tendrá hambre; y el que cree en mí, nunca tendrá sed.
Reflexiona
Después de que Jesús le dice a la multitud que Dios quiere que «crean en aquel que él ha enviado» (versículo 29), la gente exige un milagro. ¿Por qué? ¿Cómo se compara Jesús a sí mismo, como el «verdadero pan del cielo», con el maná que se les dio a los ancestros en el desierto (versículos 32, 33, 58)? Jesús vuelve a decir que él es «el pan que da vida» (versículo 48) y que «el que come de este pan vivirá para siempre» (versículo 58). ¿Qué significa para ti Jesús como el «pan que da vida»? ¿Cómo respondió Jesús a aquellos que desafiaron sus palabras (versículos 53-58)?
Ora
Señor Jesús, tú eres el verdadero pan de vida que ha descendido del cielo para dar vida al mundo. Tengo hambre y sed de tu palabra cada día y confío en tu promesa de que todos los que creen en ti serán resucitados en el último día. Amén.
Y ahora, unámonos en alabanza a Dios porque la gente en zonas rurales de Bangladesh está encontrando fuerza en la Palabra de Dios. Dios amoroso y misericordioso, muchas personas que viven en zonas rurales de Bangladesh enfrentan condiciones difíciles sin acceso a agua corriente; uno de cada cinco vive en la pobreza, muchos no pueden leer, y aquellos que sí pueden hacerlo no pueden acceder a las Escrituras que anhelan. Pero gracias a la generosidad de los socios del programa «Una Biblia al mes», las personas están recibiendo sus propias Biblias y encontrando fortaleza en tu Palabra, Señor, lo que está marcando una gran diferencia en sus vidas. Las personas en los pueblos se regocijan al recibir sus propias Biblias, y aquellos que no saben leer pueden acceder a las Escrituras gracias a las Biblias en audio. Tu Palabra, Dios de gracia, está transformando vidas y llegando a los no alcanzados, dándoles conocimiento de tu amor y ayudándoles a encontrar el camino hacia la vida eterna. Amén.
Lectura para mañana
Juan 6:60–71: Las palabras de Jesús ofrecen vida eterna.