This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent

 "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 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, Jesus' disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  [Jesus had gone alone back to the mountain -- see Friday's reading.]  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."  What a powerful statement this is; putting our trust in Christ is the work of God.

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."   As so frequently happens in the Gospels, the people immediately ask for a sign.  We should keep in mind that these are the people who were fed in the wilderness by Christ (Friday's reading), and who have sought to forcibly make Him king because He fed them.  For Scriptural reference to their quotation see Exodus 16:4, Nehemiah 9:15, Psalm 78:24.  This is a good illustration of how Jesus uses language to point to something higher, deeper, more foundational to faith, and that leads into mystery.  They know the story of Moses and the manna from heaven, but the true bread from heaven is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.   Even so, they still do not understand that He is referring to Himself as the bread of God.

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 I will by no means cast out."  Jesus states plainly that He is the bread of life.  But these do not believe, they do not receive His words somehow.  And Jesus links even this also to the Father; those who do come to Him, who have trust in HIm, are those "the Father gives Me."

"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."  For Christ, everything refers back to the Father.  Those who are sent to Him are from the Father, and of all that is given to Him He will lose nothing but raise it up at the last day, and each person who trust in Him may have everlasting life.  Let us note the subjects being raised up -- the implication is for the whole of the creation (all that is given to Him by the Father), and for those who believe in Him.  He has come down from heaven, not to do His own will, but "the will of Him who sent Me."  Since Christ has two natures, my study bible says, He has two wills -- the divine will and a human will.  At the Sixth Ecumenical Council, at Constantinople (680-681), it was proclaimed that these two wills of Christ do not work contrary to one another, but "His human will follows, not resisting nor reluctant, but subject to His divinity and to His omnipotent will."

Jesus speaks of belief:   that belief in Him is the way that we may work the works of God, that those who believe in Him are those given by the Father whom He will not lose but raise up at the last day.  He remarks on those who have seen Him but do not believe (those who ask for a sign).  If we explore the concept of belief, we must always turn to the roots of this word in the original Greek of the Gospels.  This word's root is trust.  We must choose to entrust ourselves to Christ, to be persuaded of the validity of His words, that He Himself is true so that we can put our faith and trust in Him.  It's a similar idea to meeting a person and deciding whether or not they seem trustworthy, whether or not we will put our faith into what they have to say to us or be persuaded of the validity of their words.  There is a connection to be made here, and this is what Jesus goes by.  The demand for proof means that something is missing, the trust element is not there despite their encounter with Him already.  Faith itself is a work in Jesus' proclamation in today's reading.  It is what we do when we work "the work of God."  If we think about it, faith is truly a lot of work.  Every moment we have choices to make, and in those choices we also have the internal struggle of whether or not we find trust in Christ's words and directives for our lives, whether or not we will place our trust in the path that leads to Him, His way, and seek His guidance, the place that He has for us.  In Jesus' words today, we are reminded that to put trust in Christ involves a kind of depth of intuition (to use a rather inadequate term).  That is, we may have a depth of instinctive turning to Christ.  At times of trouble, we find ourselves praying.  Our own capacities for faith are built into us as human beings.  Every day, and all throughout the day, we put our trust into one thing or another.  We look before we cross a road and put our trust in our assumption that there is no car coming to endanger us, for example.  We trust that what a salesperson tells us about a product is true, or that a store will honestly refund our money if we find a product defective.  Life is a series of choices to trust or not to trust in something or someone.  So Christ asks for our trust, not by proofs, but by a kind of love that is deep inside.  Faith works also in mysterious ways, because once we do trust, we will find all kinds of "proofs" and workings of our faith in our lives.  Through this trust -- like putting trust in a spouse or friend or partnership -- we grow to learn more of Christ.  Moreover, Christ puts His trust in us as disciples.  Our commitment and dependency grow.  This is all about the work of God, the work of faith.  Do we put our trust in Him?  Do we need further proof first?   On what is trust based?  Let us remember the examples of the disciples in the Gospels; they begin with a little faith, and that grows -- and in some cases it does not.  Who do you trust?  In what do you put your trust?  Jesus offers us Himself as the bread from heaven, the bread of God.