For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me

 "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."  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, Jesus' 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 with 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 ear 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."  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 recall the recent events of John's Gospel:  He has fed 5,000 men, and more women and children, in the wilderness.  The people have pursued Him across the Sea of Galilee, and He has eluded them, because they wished to take Him by force and make Him king.  Here, He sets out the difference between what they pursue (the earthly food with which they were fed by Him) and what is truly worthwhile for which they should labor.  And that is a particular kind of food which endures to everlasting life.  How does one do this labor?  How does one work the works of God?   That work, in Jesus' words, is 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.' "  My study bible has explained that John's chapter 6 is filled with parallels to the Exodus of Israel from Egypt.  Here, like the Israelites following Moses, the people complain.  Although Christ has already fed them miraculously by multiplying the loaves and fishes (see this reading), they ask for a sign so that they can believe in Him.  He has already remarked at Capernaum, in chapter 4, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe" (in this reading).  Here He is, back in Capernaum, and again the people demand a sign, citing the bread from heaven given to the Israelites, to Jesus who has just fed them bread in the wilderness.

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."  Jesus gives a direct parallel of the gift of God which was the manna, to the true bread from heaven, which is Christ Himself.  Of Himself, He says that He 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."  Here we get down to the nature of faith.  Does it come by signs?  Through worldly understanding?  Or somewhere else?  My study bible cites Christ's words as teaching us about His two natures, divine and human.  It says that since He has two natures, He also has two wills:  a divine will and a human will.  At the Sixth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople, AD 680-681), it was proclaimed that 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."  As follow Christ giving His human will over to the divine, so we in turn find faith through such action within ourselves, a true willingness to seek God who is the ultimate truth, which John's Gospel speaks of also as light (see John 3:20-21).

"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."  Here is the highest goal Jesus gives that is set for Him by the will of the Father who sent Him:  that of all which is given to Him He will lose nothing, but will raise it up at the last day.  And here is Christ's elaboration of that will:  that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and the Son will raise them up at the last day.

Jesus' final words are quite striking:  "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."  Perhaps a modern first question after this statement would be, well, what about those who haven't seen the Son?  We can just imagine what it would be like to actually have seen Jesus in person, to sense His presence, and character, and power -- or even to have been present to see one of His signs.  But John's Gospel anticipates this question, for in chapter 20 Jesus tells Thomas (who insisted on seeing the place where Christ was pierced on the Cross):  "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (20:29).  Today's reading opens up this issue of belief or faith.  How do we come to it?  Of what does it really consist?  John's Gospel frequently speaks of darkness and light:  that the light is what Christ brings, and the darkness represents the forces which are against the light.  The light is paralleled with life, light, truth, and Christ.  Darkness is also an image for ignorance, deliberate denial of ignorance or truth, and evil (which is also referenced as death).  The darkness, it is important to understand, is not a force in itself but is actually the absence of light.  As free creatures, we have the choice to remain ignorant of the light, and to deliberately refuse it and the gift of life Christ offers.  But where does faith come from?  How do we come to that light?  What is the act of will that seeks the light of spiritual truth?  It seems to me that it comes down to a question of whether or not one seeks a truth that is higher that what one understands already -- and that truth is the Person of God and all that God represents and enfolds.  It is a question that comes down to a basic kind of selfishness:  is truth only what my preferences determine it should be, or is truth something I might need to learn more about, and that may change me and my perspective?  And there we come down to a question of will, which is explicitly addressed by Jesus in today's reading.  Jesus teaches:  "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me."  As followers of and believers in Christ, so we are asked in turn to do the same, to seek that will that is beyond ours.  We seek the truth, life, and light He offers -- and in so doing, seek to conform our will to that greater light that shows us where to go, how to change, and how to adjust our thinking to truths that are beyond us but which beckon and call to us to participate in that light and will.  Jesus comes first, as Son of Man, both human and divine, the Christ who conforms His human will to the divine, so that we may follow and do likewise.  He lives as one of us in order to show us the way, and to offer us the light that is life eternal.  It is through our faith that we become part of what the Father gives to Him, and so that we may united in Him and be raised up with all that is His.  This is the work of faith, of belief, as Jesus puts it.  These concepts are great and transcendent, not simple to grasp.  But in the heart, there is a basic truth:  do we have all the answers we want, or do we need to seek something beyond what we already know?  There is the light that calls to us deep within ourselves, and that is the light of life and the way of Christ. Therein is the work of faith.