Whoever eats this bread will live forever.
—John 6:58
William Shakespeare, arguably the greatest English language playwright in history, has been dead over 400 years. One of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, Ben Jonson, wrote of him: “He was not of an age, but for all time.”
I frequently reach for Bible commentaries on my shelves whose authors have been dead for decades; elucidating texts likewise written long before their time.
When you read the words of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you are perusing truths imparted centuries before Shakespeare. The work and words of Jesus will endure for all time—and beyond time. He is “the bread of life,” and “whoever eats this bread will live forever,” for his are “the words of eternal life” (Jn. 6:48, 58, 68).
Jesus’ words are timely and timeless.