The bread of life!

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” ’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.’

- John 6:27-40

In Friday's reading, we read of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, and of feeding the five thousand people. This was the fourth miracle or sign (out of seven) of John's gospel. In Saturday's reading, Jesus expanded upon the meaning of this gift, encouraging those who were following him not to labor for the food that perishes, but rather seek the food "that endures for eternal life." And so we begin today, with the same sentence that ended the previous reading on Saturday, verse 27: "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal."

After feeding the five thousand, they wished to forcibly make Jesus king. But, in the previous reading, he explained to them that they didn't understand his signs - did not receive the wisdom to which they were pointing - and only pursued him to make him king because he gave them food. Here is another incident, common to John's gospel and the way in which stories and meanings unfold, in which Jesus is drawing out those whom he has encountered. He has already spoken of himself as Son in the gospel and of his Judgment which has been entrusted to him by the Father. Here, Jesus begins to elaborate on himself as the "bread of life." He identifies himself as Son of Man, unequivocally, the Messianic figure of Old Testament scripture. He expresses union with the divine will of the Father when he declares that he is the Son of Man "on whom the Father has set his seal."

Jesus has already preached that those who would seek the kingdom of heaven must come by faith and doing good, but here the union of such faith and works is taken even a step further. The people ask, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" And Jesus answers, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." Jesus is equating the work of God with faith itself. As he "figures" the Father in the world, so that faith itself is the "work" of God: to recognize the Father in the Son, to live in that faith. This is a union indeed, a relationship of power within us, open and available to each of us. The destiny we seek, the bread of life, is somehow in this faith - to walk and live our lives in this faith, going where we will go with him.

The people following Jesus then ask for a sign, and remark on the sign given by Moses, the bread which came from heaven - the manna in the wilderness - and fed their ancestors. But Jesus corrects them, advising them to think more deeply and more powerfully - from whom came this sign? The bread from heaven was not given by Moses, but by the Father. "For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." The people indeed then ask for this bread of which Jesus is speaking, and he goes into the powerful speech about his own identity, and his reality as that of the Son to the Father, and the nature of their union - in his incarnate state as Son of Man, present to them as well.

"I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." Just as the "good works" we do is faith itself, so Jesus himself is the bread of life. "But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe." The signs that Jesus has performed have already pointed to his union with the Father, this identity as Son. The miracles in themselves were not magic tricks, conjured for persuasion, but rather signs to read - signals to the reality of Jesus' identity, which they have failed to understand.

"Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me." What is his is his - union in faith and understanding and grace and the power of that will is one. Jesus is in the world to do the will of the Father, even as incarnate Son, human as you and I are human, his will is united to that of the Father. And in that union, those to whom this will draws out and inspires faith are also a part of what is the Father's, of what the Son will gather to himself.

"Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me." Christ is in the world, in human form incarnate as Jesus, not simply to preach and to do the will of the Father who has sent him, but also to gather up in the fullness of that will all those who will be drawn to the Father and to the eternal life in the kingdom of the Father. In a sense, his life is a baptism for all of us, that he will die with us and he will raise us up with him to the realization of this eternal life and this kingdom. He raises us as part of the will of the Father to that life in abundance which we ourselves are capable of having. Our human nature is so much more than flesh and blood, and the bread that feeds our bodies. We are also capable of union in spiritual nature, of being drawn into so many more dimensions of life than the surface. And this is what we must know of Jesus: that in that faith that he has called the "work of God" we are drawn into so much more than we know and understand, and called to so much more of life than what meets the eye.

As in Saturday's reading, when Jesus walked on the water to the disciples in the boat, when we receive him in, then we are immediately at our destination. The work of God is faith. But the destination is not the end of the journey; rather it's the beginning. We walk in faith to be taken - to be raised - to an eternal life and to life in abundance. This journey is then a walk through the world, learning who we are, who we are capable of becoming, and walking as Jesus did in that will, living a life in that "work." How does the bread of life feed you today to be that person that you are capable of being? How does it inform you of the possibility inherent in being human, that takes you beyond immediate physical need and adds to you dimensions of faith and meaning and choice?