My record to date, I must clearly admit,
Has not been so very grand.
When questions are put I most often confess
That I simply do not understand.
But Jesus today taught a difficult bit
And some of my mates took their leave.
So they walked away? I couldn’t care less.
I am not the least bit bereaved.
And here is the part that gives me great hope—
This time I got what He meant!
I believe in my heart (and this is God’s work)
The Master’s the one the Lord sent.
So much of the time I’ve been such a dope
About teaching that goes over my head.
But I’ll draw a line, and one I won’t shirk:
True life is true blood and true bread.
This passion consumes my soul but I think:
How does one eat a king?
It’s a hunger that looms over each waking hour,
Over all the bounty God brings.
My spirit seeks bread and is parched for a drink
Even as I sink ‘neath the waves.
My arms are like lead and my bile is sour—
But God reaches out and he saves.
So I shall ignore my small gnawing doubt
And embrace this nugget of truth
And I will ask for more—Yes more, if you please,
Even if my entreaty’s uncouth.
Yes, He is the Root the seers wrote about—
The Holy One, Bread that Sustains.
This is a truth even demons will shout—
It’s a confession with which I’ll be stained.
There are a lot of different ways to interpret the fine points of Jesus’ teaching in John 6 regarding the “Bread of Life.” In this poem, Peter celebrates the small victory of actually limning the truth behind what Jesus said… and glosses on the irony of being the Disciple who affirms the testimony of demons from earlier in Jesus’ ministry.
It’s not enough, after all, to acknowledge Jesus as Lord… as Peter will later demonstrate, as well as Judas.
Read John 6 and about the events following the “feeding of the 5000” and then compare with the text of Psalm 69. There are very interesting parallels.