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 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 disputes with the religious leaders (see John 5), Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.  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 of seven signs given to us in John's Gospel.  We recall that chapter 6 of this Gospel reads as a parallel to the story of the Exodus.  In the Exodus, Moses led the people across the Red Sea, walking on dry ground in the midst of the water (Exodus 14:15-31).  Here, Jesus has sent the disciples over the sea, and Himself walks on the sea as if it were dry land.  We note how, as with Israel in the Exodus, Christ allows the disciples to be alone in the storm on the sea.  It is a type of pattern in which faith is tested and strengthened.  My study Bible comments that Christ strengthens their faith that He will always be with them in the storms of life.  It is I is literally translated "I Am" (ego eimi/εγω ειμι), the divine Name of God which so enrages the religious leaders when Christ uses it in chapter 8 (see Saturday's reading). 

 

 On the following day, when the people 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."  Let us note that these people who so assiduously seek Jesus were the same ones who had been fed in the wilderness with Him (see yesterday's reading, above).  They are the same people who had wanted to forcefully make Him king, and whom He avoided by going to the mountain alone (also in yesterday's reading).  Jesus knows and understands their motivation, but turns that into an opportunity for teaching.  As so often happens in John's Gospel, His teaching turns us from an "earthly" understanding of earthly things, to the spiritual understanding illustrated by them.  Here Christ turns their thoughts, and ours, to the food which endures to everlasting life.  Just as "giving thanks" and distributing the bread in yesterday's reading gave us an image of the Eucharist, this understanding is given more clearly in Christ's final teaching here.

Jesus takes note of all the effort that these people have put into following Him.  They're the ones He fed in yesterday's reading (above), and they've followed Him on foot by anticipating where He would go after watching the disciples sail away without Him, and discovering He's not in this area after all.  They've gone to Capernaum in search of Him.  After all of their "work" Jesus continues to teach these people -- whom Matthew and Mark write were like sheep without a shepherd -- what exactly they should be "working" for.  They have made all this effort, followed Him all this way, "not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled."  After He fed them with the multiplication of loaves and fishes, they wanted to take Him and make Him king by force, but Jesus eluded them.  But now is another opportunity for teaching, and as the Good Shepherd, He says to them, "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 is another order of magnitude of meaning beyond anything they have even considered.  Even the miraculous signs aren't what got them this far, but the desire for a king who can feed them at will, and provide everything for their physical needs.  He shifts their attention not only to the signs He's done (rather than the fact that their appetites were so filled), but beyond them.  What is the real substance of the food He offers?  It is the food which endures to everlasting life, the stuff that makes for salvation, for a substance beyond what the world the can give.  And this is what comes uniquely from the Son of Man, and only because God the Father has set His seal on Him.  Here they are presented with several orders of meaning:  the authority and blessing that comes only from God the Father (God's seal), that Christ is the Son of Man whose has come into the world to offer this food to us, and that the kind of food He wants them to work (labor) for is the food which endures to everlasting life.  What Jesus offers them, in addition to these valuable things, is a teaching that turns all of their thinking around -- and He will go further in our subsequent readings also.  So, we learn all kinds of things from today's reading, and Christ's teaching.  First, it is important to work.  God does not just want us to sit back and receive everything without working for it.  The disciples go through a test, one in which they are extremely challenged and threatened with a storm on the sea that even has seasoned fishermen (whose territory is this sea) afraid.  And yet, He is with them.  This period of fear and perceived risk is as important to their discipleship as to the period when Israel fled Phaaroah and came to the Red Sea.  The people chase after Christ, because of the physical food He was able to give them in the wilderness.  But they, too, must learn to work for something, and for the proper thing.  The good God is not just about making us into beings who simply wait to be cared for, but God's children, formed and shaped in the image and likeness of God with which we've been endowed.  We, also, must learn to labor, and what to labor for.  We need to learn the values we can serve with full hearts and ready souls.  We need to understand that it is God the Father who sets that true seal upon what is truly good for us, upon the One whom God has sent to us.  This is the place of real value, of true teaching, and the true Shepherd, because it is the One upon whom God has set His seal.  And finally, the kind of food Christ has been sent to offer us is the food that endures to everlasting life.  They're not merely to labor for the food they can put on the table as the ultimate goal in life, but something of a substance much greater, which can give fuel for an eternal life, and the value of which  is far beyond anything this world can offer, more rare than what most seek.  Let us consider all these ways in which Jesus teaches us what is good, what God wants for us, what we are to seek, and for what we are to labor -- because the One who loves us and calls us back to an eternal life has willed it, has sent Him, and He will sacrifice His life just so the sheep can receive what He is here to give.