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"Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." Then they said to Him, "Lord give us this bread always."
And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
- John 6:27-40
On Saturday, we read that when evening came, after Jesus had fed the five thousand, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going. On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone -- however other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks -- when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?" Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."
"Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." We often talk about, and debate, differences and value in faith and works. But here, Jesus does not separate the two at all. The work He speaks of is faith in Him: to believe in Him whom He sent.
Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." Then they said to Him, "Lord give us this bread always." For the quotation, see Exodus 16:4, Nehemiah 9:15, Psalm 78:24. Jesus is implying that He is the sign which they seek, the true bread from heaven.
And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." Jesus offers Himself as the "bread of life." This is a food that satisfies all hunger, a drink that satisfies all thirst. It is similar to the words He said to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well: "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
"But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." My study bible cites the decision of the Sixth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople, AD 680-681), which proclaims the two wills of Christ do not work contrary to one another, but rather "His human will follows, not resisting nor reluctant, but subject to His divinity and to His omnipotent will." Jesus teaches us about His mission, and the essence of what one sees in beholding Christ. This ties together how faith works (as He's implied above in the statement responding to what it is to "work the works of God").
It's interesting to ponder these last words of Jesus in today's reading: "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." This statement reminds us of a similar one He made to Nicodemus: "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." Jesus was speaking of Moses lifting up the serpent image on a pole, so that the Israelites who focused on it would not die of bites from the serpents at their feet (see Numbers 21:8). Jesus speaks of Himself as a similar image, only He is speaking of being raised on the Cross, transforming the instrument of death to the instrument of resurrection. If we focus on this phrase, "everyone who sees the Son" we can see that the particular choice for this word in the Greek for "see" is one that means to contemplate, to gaze at depth, even to experience, partake, consider. This is not just a kind of casual "seeing" He's referencing. It is about making a connection, truly trying to understand. It's similar to the "beholding" by the Israelites of the serpent raised high on the pole, keeping their eyes in the place Moses offers them through the direction of God. This is a particular kind of focus, of taking in, of discerning. It implies seeking a deeper understanding. And this is where John's Gospel takes us, into this place where Jesus begins with the simple elements of life and asks us to look deeper. He feeds people bread in the wilderness, but it's a kind of bread from heaven. And He invites us to more deeply contemplate what bread is, what it does, and how we need nurturing -- even how we are offered a kind of bread that nurtures us in a way so that we never hunger. There is always a sort of riddle, a mystery offered. We are always asked to transcend our daily ways of thinking -- to move from what is commonplace to us, even to see God in the elements of our daily lives. This is what it is to truly behold in this sense, to watch, to look, to see. He asks us to use every sense we have, and the deeper senses with which we're endowed and made capable not just of faith but of discernment of the kinds of spiritual truths He offers. He asks us to look into the substance of the world and begin to discern the substance within it, around us, beyond us. What is the bread of heaven? What could it nurture and feed in us? How are we dependent on it? How does it intersect with our world, in our lives, in us? Let us focus on Him and see what's on offer. Let us find the place, and the life, He takes us to.
