²⁶ While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 
                                                      
The purpose of the manna was to keep alive the people of God during their wilderness wanderings.  It was given that they might have life.  Jesus is the gift to us for our eternal life and resurrection on the last day. "He has come that we might have life and have it more abundantly."
 
I am not denying the importance or even the enjoyment of earthly provisions. Jesus needed bread, clothes, places to sleep and shelter. When I read of other countries that lack some of the basic conveniences, I am still surprised of how much we in America take for granted. When I ministered in Russia, they were experiencing increased freedoms and openness, yet our administrator had to wait in long lines for fruit and certain foods. I was told there was a ten year wait for automobiles. Most families have a home, but more commonly that home is an apartment shared with two or three other families who may or may not be related.

We can travel distances in minutes or hours that our forefathers took days or months to cover. We are able to adjust a couple of buttons to control the temperature of our house or room. We can push a couple of more buttons and even food that normally would take an hour or more to cook could now be ready in a few minutes. But all these things shall pass away.
 
The people that ate the bread in the wilderness all eventually died. It was useful for days and months and even years, but not for centuries and millenniums.
 
The following prayer appeared in a church paper: “Our Father, we are surrounded by gadgets, automatic appliances, and all kinds of labor-saving devices. We also have tranquilizers, psychiatry, psychology, motivational research and the power of positive thinking to help us cope with life. Still, we are confused. Bring to us the Bread of Life. We have television, portable radios, movies, stereos, VCR, automobiles, and spectator sports, still we are restless and dissatisfied. Bring to us the Bread of Life.
 
“Our Father, we admit that life has many things, but it is not what it should be. Forgive us for the wrong kind of hunger that sits before us, a table full of luxuries with growls for more, while most of the world cries for crumbs. Forgive us for supposing that a man's life consists in the abundance of things which he possesses." Only the Bread of Life can satisfy man's spiritual hunger.
 
The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death and the soul that sins it shall die. Bread is useful, but temporary. The message that Jesus was telling them and us is - that just as bread will feed our bodies and keep them going, so I am the provision of God for the gift of eternal life that will keep you going forever.
 
Dale