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

 Now when evening came, 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."

- John 6:16-27

Yesterday we read that after all things that happened at the Feast of Weeks (or the Old Testament Pentecost, fifty days after Passover),  Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberius.  Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.  And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with his disciples.  Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.  Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"  But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.  Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."  One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"  Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."  Now there was much grass in the place.  So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.  And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.  So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."  Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.  Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."  Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

 Now when evening came, 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.  This is the fifth sign of the seven recorded by John.  Again we note the parallels to the story of the first Passover and Exodus of Israel in chapter 6 of John's Gospel.  Here we recall the story of Moses leading the people across the Red Sea.  They walked on dry ground in the midst of the water (Exodus 14:15-31).  But here, Christ sends His disciples across the sea and then He walks on the sea as if it were dry ground. 

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."     Once again there is a parallel here to Exodus.  In the Exodus, God fed His people manna and gave them drink from a miraculous source of water (Exodus 16:1-17:7).  But here, Christ declares that He Himself is the true food and drink, the true bread that has come down from heaven.  Once again, as in yesterday's reading (see above), the people want to make Jesus their king, but this time Jesus tells them they desire a lesser thing that what it is that He offers to them.  My study bible comments that all the parallels to Exodus in this chapter show that Christ our God is the fulfillment of the old covenant, and that the breaking of His body and shedding of His blood, which free human beings from the slavery or sin, fulfill the sacrifice of the Passover lambs (1:29), which brought hte people out of slavery into the Promised Land.  Here the true Promised Land is the Kingdom of which Jesus speaks. 

Jesus tells the crowds (and hence, He's telling us), "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."   This opens up for us a really important question.  What do we "labor" for?  What do we work for?  What are our true goals in life?  Obviously, Jesus does not tell us that we should starve to death -- why would He have fed five thousand people in the wilderness if God doesn't know that we need food to live?  That is not the point here!  The point is what we consider a true goal as fullness of life, and the quality of the life that we need and want for ourselves.  A few readings back, we discussed the term "work" in Greek, and how it's related to "energy."  (Work is ἐργάζομαι/ergazomai, and energy is based on the same root; it's energeia/ἐνέργεια -- which is actually translated as "working" in the Bible.)  So what do we "work" for?  What do we put our energy and strength into?  What is the most important thing?  Jesus will teach, in the very next verses in tomorrow's reading, that to work the work of God is to have faith in Christ (6:28-29).  But we want to focus right on in to this word "work" and its ties to "energy" so that we see what our lives are about.  We have a certain level of energy, of strength to use in the world.  What must our efforts be geared to?  Are we setting ourselves up for a kind of "fallen" state if we leave out the work of God?  Aren't we missing the mark when we think that labor in our lives should be only about material things, and not a more full and complete life that includes the energies (grace) of God in it and amongst all those other things we need for the body?  Jesus is teaching us to set our sights higher for quality of life than simply the material stuff we think we need or want, as life subsists of so much more than the material.  We are not just the body -- we are soul and spirit.  And at heart, without that which quenches and satisfies spirit and soul, we lead very empty lives.  Our energies are depleted on what is only satisfying to a body without consciousness and animation -- without true life.  If we want to truly live, Jesus is saying, we need to work for more in life than simply the food that perishes.  We need a better goal, something that will pay us back immeasurably more than that.  And that means that everything in life needs to be couched within our faith in order to truly reward us with what makes life worthwhile, valuable, of quality, satisfying, and with joy contained in it for us.  We all have natural gifts and talents.  Do you have the experience of the difference between a work you take on because the work itself gives you joy, fulfills a part of your character or soul or spirit -- and work taken on just for the money?  There's a vast world of difference in the two.  But more than that, faith itself changes the very quality of our lives.  Faith can mean that we do something because it's right in front of us and needs doing -- but we do it in the context of the satisfaction of knowing that this is where God leads us.  We get an inner fulfillment that can't be easily explained or expressed, but which motivates us with energy, with the grace of the time.  We may even find, with faith, that we can take on responsibilities we never felt we'd want, and triumph in them with God's help and grace and truth.  Let us set for ourselves our highest and most fulfilling goals.  Let us find what satisfies body, soul, and spirit for a fullness of life without which life is inevitably "less" than what He offers to us.