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

 

 "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 

 

 Yesterday we read that, after the feeding of the five thousand men (and more women and children) in the wilderness, 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."

 

  "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."  This is an interesting understanding, that Christ teaches that to pursue our faith is to work the works of God.  It indicates that faith is much more than simply an acceptance of an idea or believe.  The root of faith in the Greek of the Gospels means "trust."  To trust in Christ is to walk the journey of faith with Him, to follow His commandments, and to grow in that faith in all the ways that we might.  

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.'"  In yesterday's reading (above), Christ said Himself that these people had followed Him not because they saw His signs, but because they had been filled with the loaves, after which they tried to make Him king by force (see Wednesday's reading).  Here Christ's statement is affirmed; although He fed them miraculously in the wilderness, they demand a sign.  

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."  My study Bible says of Christ's own will:  Since He has two natures, Christ has two wills -- the divine will and a human will.  At the Sixth Ecumenical Council, which was held at Constantinople (AD 680-681), it was proclaimed that these two wills of Christ do not work contrary to one another.  Instead, "His human will follows, not resisting nor reluctant, but subject to His divinity and to His omnipotent will."  

In today's reading, Jesus clearly emphasizes the unity of wills between Father and Son.  He says, "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."  According to St. John Chrysostom, Jesus clearly states that it is His will as Son -- and therefore clearly the will of the Father -- that all are saved for this everlasting life He offers.  It stands to reason, then, he comments that neither faith nor unbelief are in some sense accidental, that faith is willed by the Father and the Son so that all are saved, because it is for this purpose that Christ in Incarnate in the world as a human being.  But unbelief also is not accidental, because it implies a denial or refusal of the Father's will.  In considering these things, it is imperative also that we think about the qualities that pertain to this everlasting life, this life to which we might be raised with Him through our faith.  Everlasting life pertains to a quality that is not simply about the temporal life we experience stretching on and on into eternity.  It pertains instead to a completely different quality or experience of life altogether, one outside of the moments in time we experience one after another.  In this sense, "everlasting" life is a quality of life which is independent of time.  According to HELPS Word-studies, this is life which is "simultaneously outside of time, inside of time, and beyond time."  In particular, it is the "unique quality (reality) of God's life at work in the believer," as God may manifest God's life within us.  In other words, this quality of grace permeates the meaning and values of what it is to experience everlasting life, and even as we live our lives in this world, as faithful, we may partake and experience this quality of life.  As such, there are gifts of the Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12), there is fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), there are diverse experiences of grace that permeate the life of the Church and her saints, and may be experienced by us all.  If this "everlasting" life is really a quality of the fullness of what God's life means, then how may we experience this -- even a taste of it -- as faithful?  An insight given in prayer is part of that life, what seems like miraculous coincidences experienced by the faithful are a part of that life, a sense of depth of insight into another person or a seemingly impossible solution to a problem is also a part of that life, and these experiences are numerous among the lived life of the faithful.  An everlasting life (meaning quite literally in Greek the quality of being age-long as opposed to fleeting life we know in this world) is an indication, then, of fullness, relating to concepts of growing into something until no more growth is possible.  An "end" or "finish" in this sense means everything has expanded to its fullest extent.  That would be the life of the "end" in which Christ unites with His Bride, the Church, the raising up at the last day.  But as faithful we should consider what the bread of heaven, given to us in the Church, particularly in the Eucharist, and as the life of faith we may live even in this world, adds to our lives as a quality that transforms and changes our experience of our worldly or earthly lives.  We should consider what this "everlasting" quality is that touches our lives.  Jesus speaks of the grace we receive by living this life of faith ourselves, in the Sermon on the Plain reported by St. Luke:  "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you" (Luke 6:37-38).  To grasp a life of faith, then, to cherish the bread of life He offers, is to enter into and to participate in something far beyond ourselves, and to let this kingdom of heaven grow within us (Matthew 13:31-32).  Let us enter into, participate in, and cherish the life He offers, and grow in the path He opens, to an everlasting life, even to the last day.