Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?

 

 Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.  Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.  So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.  

 

 Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."  Then His disciples aid to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.  Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.

 

- Matthew 15:29-39 

 

Yesterday we read that, after a dispute with the Pharisees who came from Jerusalem, Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is severely demon-possessed."  But He answered her not a word.  And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, "Send her away, for she cries out after us."  But He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, help me!"  But He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."  And she said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."  Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith!  Let it be to you as you desires."  And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

 

  Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.  Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.  So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.   My study Bible comments that Christ's healing of the multitudes here shows that these Jews actually had less faith than the Canaanite woman of yesterday's reading (see above).  According to St. John Chrysostom, Christ healed that woman "with much delay, but these immediately, because she is more faithful than they.  He delays with her to reveal her perseverance, while here He bestows the gift immediately to stop the mouths of the unbelieving Jews."  

 

 Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."  Then His disciples aid to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.  Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.  This is a second, separate feeding of a multitude that Christ has done in the wilderness, and it should not be confused with the first in this reading.  They should not be confused with one another as they are two distinct miracles, which Christ will refer to as such later (Matthew 16:8-10).  My study Bible asks us to look at the variance in the number of loaves, for it is significant.  In the first instance, there were five loaves, which symbolize the Law (the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah or Pentateuch), while here there are seven.  Seven is a number symbolic of completeness; here it indicates spiritual perfection.  So, in the first miraculous feeding in the wilderness, Christ reveals Himself as fulfilling the Law.  But here He shows that it is He who grants spiritual perfection.  It's also important to note that these crowds had been with Him for three days; this is the same number of days Jesus would rest in the tomb.  My study Bible adds that participation in Christ's perfection can only come through being united to His death (see Romans 6:3-5). 

 

We might well ask the question, why two feedings in the wilderness?  Why would it be important for Christ to make one miraculous feeding of five thousand by multiplication of loaves and fishes, and then another, feeding four thousand men (and more women and children)?  My study Bible gives us an explanation in the symbolism of the numbers.  The first was symbolic of Christ as fulfillment of the Law, and the long-awaited Messiah in this sense.  In so doing, He is also the Lord who gave the Law.  The second offers us the dawning of the new covenant, spiritual perfection in Christ.  The three days, as my study Bible said, preview the three days that Christ will spend in the tomb, and through which He will defeat death on all of our behalf.  We enter into and participate in Christ's life, death, and Resurrection through Holy Baptism, and this leads us into Christ's life for us, through faith and grace.  The number four thousand is highly symbolic of the whole world; four is already consonant with the four corners of the earth, the four directions, and the four corners of the Cross, which is for the whole world.  Multiply that by one thousand and it teaches us the infinite resourcefulness of Christ to reach every person, and for all the future (and indeed, even to those who had died before His coming into the world).  So the two miraculous multiplications of food not only preview for us the Eucharist, but they teach us of the progression of spiritual history, the fulfillment of the Old, and the offering of the New for all, for the whole world.  Significantly, the first crowd of five thousand was among a predominantly Jewish region; here He is in a region of mixed Gentiles and Jews.  Coming right after our reading in which the Canaanite woman received a healing for her daughter, this is also significant in that it indicates the gospel going to the world, including the Gentiles.  Let us remember who feeds us the bread from heaven, for He is the bread of heaven and fills us with good things for the life of the world.

 

 

 

 

I am the bread of life

 

 "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

 

 The events of yesterday's reading took place after Jesus fed five thousand men (and more women and children) in the wilderness, and He retreated to the mountain alone upon finding that these men wanted to take Him by force and make Him king.  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."   Today's reading begins with Jesus' final words from yesterday's reading (above).  What does it mean to labor for the food which endures to everlasting life?  The people ask, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  And Jesus answers.  Faith, the work of faith in Jesus, is the work of God.  What does this mean?  Perhaps we should think more precisely of what it means to be faithful.  

 

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."   As we read these words, let us keep in mind that these are the same men Jesus fed in the wilderness from the few fish and barley loaves (see Monday's reading).  So these words they quote from Scripture ("as it is written") are fulfilled in Him.  They attribute this miraculous sign of the bread from heaven as a work done by Moses, and -- in a refrain heard over and over again in John's Gospel -- they demand a sign from Jesus so that they may see it and believe.    Here Jesus begins to expound on the true salvific nature of His mission and His life as Incarnate Son.  He is the bread of life; He is the bread of God who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.  

 

 "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."  Jesus speaks of "My own will."   My study Bible comments that, since Christ has two natures, He has two wills -- the divine will and a human will.  The Sixth Ecumenical Council, held at Constantinople (AD 680-681), proclaims these 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."  

The people know who Moses is, and they can believe in him because "it is written."  They assume that the miraculous feeding in the wilderness of the Exodus was a sign that came through him, perhaps as an effective agent.  But the comparison they're making is between Moses and Jesus.  The manna in the desert, they reckon, came from God because of Moses.  Regardless of the fact that Jesus has also provided a miraculous feeding in the wilderness, they demand a sign before they can do what He tells them is the "work of God."  They insist they can't believe in Him without a sign.  Jesus has told them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  It's worth breaking down this verb, to believe, in the Greek of the Gospel.  This verb is πιστεύω/pistevo ("I believe"), deriving from the word πιστης/pistis, meaning "trust."   So to believe, to have faith, is to trust.  Jesus is asking for trust, for their trust and for our trust.  This is not merely an intellectual acquiescence or agreement to a set of truths or beliefs.  This is about trust in a person, in a particular Person; that is, in Jesus Christ.  He Himself is the true bread from heaven, the bread of God is who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.   Questions of authority, of trust, and demanding a sign as proof before belief, will continue to plague Jesus throughout the Gospel.  Such questions began right away, after Jesus' cleansing of the temple, which in John's Gospel takes place very early in His ministry (see John 2:13-22).  These questions will continue throughout the Gospel, regardless of the seven signs He performs.  It will be because of the extraordinary nature of the final sign before Christ's Resurrection, that of raising Lazarus from the dead, that the religious authorities will unequivocally decide they must put Jesus to death.  But perhaps today's emphasis on demanding yet another sign in order to be convinced to put their trust in Him forms the basis for the best discussion in our own present moment, and the culture of the modern world.  For proofs take on a certain meaning in a modern context:  we want something to be proven to us before we can believe in it.  This comes partly from a popular mindset regarding what science does, and a mistaken assumption that we will be based in truth if we put our faith only in what has been proven.  Science works on hypothesis, a constant series of testing assumptions and positing theories, not absolute certainties.  These people who have just been miraculously fed in the wilderness, and can't seem to see the truth of it (although they wanted to make Jesus king because of it), demand signs before they will trust in Him, before they will believe.  But the signs are never enough, and belief (or faith or trust) has to come from somewhere else, from another place within us.  Because of this frame of mind, it really doesn't seem to matter what Jesus does.  Although He is united in will and action with the Father, they don't believe, they will not give their trust.  Faith is based on a different kind of knowing, a different perception.  The assertion of doubt is always possible where there is no desire to recognize the truth in front of oneself, especially spiritual truth.  This is perhaps the perfect example for our time, when every truth or assumption of history can now be turned upside down and questioned because it doesn't suit our own fancy or wishful desire.  Proofs may continually be demanded by those who want to refuse faith, but perhaps we should ask what keeps people from seeing instead.  For what Christ offers ultimately is love, and the refusal of that love is at the heart of the repeated demand for proof.

 

 

 

What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?

 

 "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, when evening came (after the feeding of the five thousand), 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."

 

  "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." Our reading continues from yesterday, repeating Christ's statement to this crowd who has been fed in the wilderness, chased after Him to make Him king by force (which Jesus evaded), and now followed Him to Capernaum.  He teaches them not to labor for perishable food, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which only He can give.  They follow with a logical question, part of the ways in which John's Gospel uses misunderstandings and overlapping earthly and spiritual meanings:  "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  And Jesus responds with a teaching about faith, that to believe, to do the work of faith in Christ, is work the works of God:  "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."  The people then move on to the next question; they want a sign so they can believe, so they can "work the works of God."  Jesus moves them to a new place, the true bread from heaven.  And what, or we should say, Who is that true bread from heaven?  It is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.  It is Christ Himself, the Son of Man.

 

 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.   Finally, answering their demand for this bread, Jesus explicitly claims, "I am the bread of life."  Nonetheless, they still 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."   My study Bible comments here, regarding the will of Christ, that since Christ has two natures (human and divine), He has two wills -- the divine will and a human will.  At the Sixth Ecumenical council, held at Constantinople (AD 680-681), it was proclaimed that these 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."  Jesus' statements here build upon and amplify what He has taught earlier when disputing with the religious authorities:  "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me" (John 5:30).

 

"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."  And here Jesus explains the will of the Father who sent Him, that of everything that belongs to Christ -- that the Father has given Him -- He should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  How are we His?  How do we make that connection to what is eternal and everlasting?  Through faith, through belief in the Son who was sent.

We observe the teachings of Christ, as He moves from "earthly" subjects to divine ones.  He does this through His answers to the questions and demands of the crowd, whom He's fed in the wilderness with earthly food multiplied through divine power, and they now want more.  We keep in mind they wanted to make Him king by force, so much do they desire the life they imagine He can provide for them, through the sign of the feeding in the wilderness.  They do not truly know Him, do not understand Him, nor do they understand what He offers, but nonetheless He explains and He teaches them.  He is the One who was sent by the Father, the Son of Man, as He referred to Himself in yesterday's reading.  That is, the One upon whom, He said, the Father had set His seal.  Within that seal, within the Name of God, there is one "will" which Jesus does.  There is one power, which Jesus honors through doing the works the Father asks Him to reveal to the world.  But for we human beings, we might ask what is the key to belonging to that will ourselves, to that divine power working even through One who is sent to us as fellow human being?  The key is faith, belief -- that we believe in the One who was sent.  So let us think about faith in Christ, which Jesus says is how we "work the works of God."  It is faith that links us to Christ, and in turn we are then part of what the Father has "given" to Him, part of what will be raised up with Him, part of that "bread of heaven which is unto everlasting life.  It is faith that connects us.  But what does faith entail?  What does it mean?  How is it a work?  Does faith simply mean that we intellectually choose something, or swear to it, or participate in a code?  Or does faith really ask more of us?  Faith, in the Greek of the Scriptures, is a word whose root means "trust."   So to have faith in Christ is to trust in Him -- and that necessarily means all the works, choices, actions, decisions that follow when our trust is there.  To trust implies something more deep than to believe, because we tend so often to separate various intellectual choices into different categories, and apply them to different circumstances in our lives.  But to trust in something means we rest ourselves there, we place ourselves on that rock, and our security is there.  So to trust in Christ in this way implies an entirety of our being, and our subsequent way of life.  It means that we belong -- and there we return to Christ's words:  "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."  When we trust in Him, we belong to that which is given to Christ by the Father, for this is what forms connection and belonging.  We trust to Him, to the bread of heaven.  So, we may become children by adoption, part of a bigger family than we know, the family of the Father and the Son.  Let us ponder these mysteries, for we may participate in them, and "work the works of God."

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 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 feeding five thousand men (and more women and children), for which the people tried to forcibly make Christ king (see Wednesday's reading), 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."  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 our recent readings and commentary, we have focused on Jesus' words reflecting on both work and food.  He has stated that His food is to do the will of the Father who has sent Him, and to finish His work (John 4:34).  In yesterday's reading, and we find the same verse beginning our reading for today, Jesus tied the labor we do with the food He gives, distinguishing it as the food which endures to everlasting life.  Now we see another focus on work, as the people demand of Him what it means for us to labor for this food ("What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?").  Jesus teaches them what it is to do this work of God, that we believe in Him who He sent.  And the people then demand a work from Him that will declare clearly to them who He is (even though He has just fed five thousand from five loaves and two fish).  They want a work that will compel their belief, asking, "What work will You do?" and citing the bread from heaven as a stupendous sign that came to the people who followed Moses in the Exodus.   They cite words found in Exodus 16:4, Nehemiah 9:15, Psalm 78:24, but they fail to put these words together with how Jesus has just fed them.

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."  Jesus clarifies that He Himself is the bread of God, the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.  He is the bread of life. 

"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."  Jesus speaks of My own will.  My study Bible explains that since Christ has two natures, He has two wills -- the divine will and a human will.  The Sixth Ecumenical Council, held at Constantinople (AD 680-581), when the Church was unified, proclaims that these two wills 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."  Here is Jesus' work:  that of all the Father has given Him, He should lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day -- and that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and He will raise him up at the last day.

Christ clearly defines what precisely His work is in the world, the mission He's been given.  As He is sent by the Father, so now we have a clear definition of the work He's been sent to do.  Of all the Father has given Him, He is to lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day.  What are we to make of these words?  They certainly give us pause to think about what "work" may mean.  As the unique Son of God who is also Son of Man, Christ has this particular mission of salvation.  It is intriguing to think about what the Father has given to the Son, of which He is to lose nothing.  Certainly that includes human beings, and as far as we know, the whole created order of the universe.  In the Revelation, we're given a picture of this union of heaven and earth, of all things being raised up at the last day.  But Jesus ties this in with the the work that we are specifically given to do in the context of how we human beings may also "work the works of God."  And that all starts with belief:  "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." Over the past several readings we have been focusing on this understanding that Jesus seems to convey about what it is we labor for, what we work for.  Not only does He tie in food with the spiritual life, with the sustenance He provides for an eternal life and the nourishing of the soul, but He ties in work directly to the same, by teaching us that to believe in Him is a true "work" for us.  In a sense, He is giving us an assignment, just as He has been given a mission by the Father.  Jesus says that our faith is our "work."  If we think about the deep link between the heart (or, we could say, the inner person) and what things we do in life, then this sense in which faith is our work becomes stronger.  Our faith also takes "work" to be strengthened and nurtured and protected.  We study Scripture, we pray, we go to worship services, we meet in the Church, we meditate on Christ's words and use the prayers we given, all to strengthen and to build up faith.  When we turn to God at any juncture in life where we are confused or don't know what to do, we are engaging in this work of faith.  When we look for direction through the spiritual life, through prayer, when we gain strength for endurance of difficulties by doing the same, we are working the work of God, just as Christ showed us He does also.  We don't have the same mission that Christ had, none of us is Christ.  But we may join in that mission by doing as He teaches us and shows us, by finding our place in this work of God, this work of salvation of the world.  For we each play a part in it, and so Jesus invites us into this work, just as He taught His disciples, "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors" (John 4:38).  By doing our own work of God, by engaging in our faith, so we might also find our own place in this labor, in this work.  For we each form a part of what Christ has been given by the Father, and His work is to lose none of us, so that He may raise us at the last day.  Let us consider our place in this work, our part in it -- and the inseparable tie between faith and work, and how that shapes our lives.

 

 

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you

 

 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These sayings He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

 

- John 6:52-59 

 

Yesterday we read that, as Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum, some then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."  The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

 

The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These sayings He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.  My study Bible comments here that the eucharistic significance of this passage is indisputable.  Christ's declaration that He is Himself the living bread that gives life reveals the Mystical Supper of the New Testament Church.  My study Bible also explains for us that John does not report the details of the Last Supper (such as the "words of institution" recorded in Luke 22:19-20), but instead, John's Gospel reveals the significance and truth of these events -- events which were already known to the hearers of the Gospel -- by reporting Christ's own words.  It invites us to consider that, as Christ was crucified in the flesh, and His blood shed on the Cross, and on the third day He was raised in a glorified state.  So we receive the grace of this sacrificial offering by Christ by coming to Him in faith (verse 35) and by receiving Holy Communion in faith.  If we understand His explicit teaching, in Communion we eat His flesh and drink His blood which are mystically present, feeding us for eternal life, with Christ abiding in us and us in Him.  My study Bible quotes St. Hilary of Poitiers on this passage:  "There is no room left for any doubt about the reality of His flesh and blood, because we have both the witness of His words and our own faith.  Thus when we eat and drink these elements, we are in Christ and Christ is in us."

Let us consider Christ's words earlier to Nicodemus:  "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:13-15).  Our early Christian ancestors understood this to mean that, as Christ became fully human, and ascended with His humanity to heaven, so human nature is capable of this deification, of being nurtured not only for earthly life but also for an eternal life.  In today's passage, Jesus' words teach us this more clearly -- that the mystical presence of Christ in the Eucharist feeds us more than bread and wine, more than food and drink, but even His Body and Blood.  In the Orthodox Church, there was never developed a doctrine of transubstantiation, a literal understanding as a physical explanation, but rather the acceptance that Christ's presence is mystically true, in accordance with His word and teaching.  St. Irenaeus writes on Christ's words in today's passage:  "For we offer to him his own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and Spirit. For as the bread that is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly, so also our bodies when they receive the Eucharist are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity" (Against Heresies 4.18.5).  For our modern ears and understanding, we seem capable of understanding things only as either literally true in some earthly physical sense, or as mere symbol.  But these words offer to us a mystical reality, and the whole of Christ's life speaks of a mystical reality that is present to us even if we do not perceive it with physical human senses of eyes, ears, nose, touch, etc.  What we call a "sign" (such as the seven signs reported in John's Gospel) is a rare physical manifestation of what is always mystically present, the Kingdom of which Christ speaks to us.  Christ Himself is always mystically present to us, as is the Holy Spirit who "brings to your remembrance all things that I said to you" (see John 14:26).  St. Paul tells us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1), even angels and saints, and these, too, are part of the Kingdom present with us in worship and prayer.  Exactly how this happens is not our purview, but part of the Mystery of God, the "heavenly things" about which Christ speaks to Nicodemus (John 3:12).  To be mystically present does not require the perception of physical senses (nor some sort of "proof") in order to be real and true.  But this asks of us faith, what Jesus calls "the work of God" (John 6:27-29), the grace of the love of the Father that reaches toward us and within us to draw us to Christ (John 6:43-45).  Let us consider His words, and what they teach to us.

 

 

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, "And they shall all be taught by God"

 

 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."  The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

 

- John 6:41-54 

 

John's chapter 6 began with the fourth sign of John's Gospel:  the feeding of a multitude.  Yesterday we read that Jesus taught the people who followed Him to Capernaum:  "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."

 

The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  We recall that in John's Gospel, the term the Jews is most often used to represent hostile religious leaders, possibly local leaders of the synagogue.  Here He is in Capernaum of Galilee, where there are many who are likely to know His extended family in Nazareth.  But the irony is that these people do not know the true story of His birth, nor do they hear His words regarding His Father.

Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me."  Once again, Jesus returns to the closeness of the relationship between Himself and the Father.  So deep is the relationship that not only is it the Father who sent Him, but no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws that person to Christ.  St. Hilary of Poitiers sums up Jesus teaching this way:  "There is no approach to the Father except through Christ. But there is also no approach to Christ, unless the Father draws us."  Therefore, not only does the Father share and give everything to the Son, but the Father also draws Christ's followers to Christ.  Therefore the Father works deep within us as well, and is "all in all."

"Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die."  The Father draws us to Christ, the only One who is from God and has truly seen and knows the Father in the Father's fullness.  Christ is the bread of life to whom the Father would draw those who hunger and thirst for the everlasting life offered through grace.  My study Bible reminds us again here that the whole of John's chapter 6 reflects the story of the Exodus, but under the new covenant of Christ.  In the Exodus, God fed God's people manna and gave them drink from a miraculous water source (Exodus 16:1-17:7).  Here, Christ declares Himself to be the true bread that has come down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."  Once again, as in yesterday's reading and commentary, we note that Christ does not say He gives for the life of human beings only, but for the life of the world.  In Greek, this word is κόσμος/kosmos, meaning the whole of the created order, the universe and everything in it.

 

The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."  These verses begin a new section of chapter 6, which has a clear eucharistic significance, tying the teachings that have come regarding the bread of heaven to the Mystical Supper of the New Testament Church.  This theme shall be continued in tomorrow's lectionary reading.

St. Augustine has a great deal of commentary on these passages from John's chapter 6, as we also noted in yesterday's reading and commentary.  In today's passages from chapter 6, Jesus speaks of His closeness to the Father, but also how that tie to the Father extends into the relationship between the faithful and Christ as well.  He says, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day."  St. Augustine comments here that this is the doctrine of grace:  none comes unless they are drawn.  But this is a mysterious process, to some extent predicated on our own internal hunger of the soul for this particular bread of heaven, or bread of life.  We come by the gift of faith.  St. Augustine says that the soul is drawn also by love, and we are drawn even by delight, quoting Psalm 37:4:  "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart."  He writes, "There is a certain craving of the heart to which that bread of heaven is sweet. . . . how much more boldly ought we to say that a person is drawn to Christ when he delights in the truth, when he delights in blessedness, delights in righteousness, delights in everlasting life?  Do not the bodily senses have their pleasures, and the soul its? . . . Give me one who loves, who longs, who burns, who sighs for the source of his being and his eternal home, and he will know what I mean."  Faith, then, in the words of St. Augustine and the experience of uncountable numbers of people throughout these centuries, depends upon so much, involves so much -- but perhaps none more so than a true desire for this delight in truth and in the love which springs from the Father, for, as John writes in his first Epistle, God is love (see 1 John 4:8).  When Peter makes his confession of faith, Matthew reports Jesus' response, so consistent with today's teachings in John:  "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven" (see Matthew 16:16-17).  May we all be blessed with this hunger for truth, for the delight we may take in what He offers, the life that is in the love and truth of God, and know what it is to be filled.

 

 

What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?

 

 "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 

 

On Saturday, we read that, after the miraculous feeding of the multitude, when evening came, the 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."  To understand this passage better, we might consider what it means that Jesus says God the Father has set His seal on Him.  A seal is an imprint; it was also a representation of an important person, something that conveyed more than image in a physical sense, but the presence and authority of that person.  In this case, it is the seal of God the Father, meaning that Christ acts for the Father, fully represents the Father to us in all ways (see John 14:9), and therefore gives this food which endures to everlasting life.  Christ speaks of labor, and therefore people as about the works of God they may do for this eternal food.  But to receive this food is something that comes from faith, from following Christ's word and participation in His life, and that faith is the union we seek to grow within all of our lives, for this is the true life of faith.   St. Augustine has a very interesting comment on this passage.  He first quotes from St. Paul:  "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Romans 10:4).  Then he remarks that therefore Christ "did not wish to separate faith from work, but he said that faith itself is a work. For this is the faith that works by love" (Tractates on the Gospel of John 25.12.1-2).

 

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."   Although these are the people who were fed in Christ's fourth sign given in John's Gospel (see Friday's reading), when it comes to Christ's teaching about faith, they demand another sign.  They refer to the manna in the desert, which they say was given by Moses.  But Jesus once again points not to Himself, but to the Father.  The manna in the desert was given by the Father, and now the Father is giving another gift of the true bread from heaven:  Christ Himself.  Jesus describes Himself as the bread of God, 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."  The people still seem to misunderstand Jesus, and it seems that they ask yet again for what they believe in some form of physical food or bread.   By asking to receive this bread always, they even seem to be confusing His earlier statement  about food that perishes and food that endures to everlasting life with a sense in which somehow they may receive this bread always.  But Jesus clarifies.  It is He who is this bread, and it is faith that is the "work" for this bread of life.  Even so, "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 has a note on Jesus' phrase My own will.  It explains that since Christ has two natures (that is, human and divine, which are indivisible and united in His Incarnation), He also has two wills; one divine and one human.  At the Sixth Ecumenical Council, held in Constantinople in AD 680-681, it was proclaimed that these 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 His omnipotent will."  But what we can read here for ourselves is Christ's repeated turning to His relationship with the Father.  Whatever Christ has or will have, whatever He does, all has been given to Him by the Father -- and this includes those who will come to Him in the future.  In fact, it is the Father's will that He should lose nothing that is given.  

In these last few verses, Jesus' words are very interesting.  He speaks of all that is given Him and will be given Him by the Father, and that of all this He should lose nothing.  Earlier, Jesus spoke of Himself as the bread of God, who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.  In these statements, it is not specified that the things which are given to Him by the Father are only human beings; nor is the "life of the world" specified to mean only for human beings.  In the Revelation, we're told of the vision of a "new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1).  There is similar language used in the vision of Isaiah, and also in a letter of St. Peter (Isaiah 65:17,Isaiah 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13).  With so much testimony (and prophecy), we must accept that in the spirit of the language Jesus uses here, He speaks of the renewal of the world and all that it contains, and that His mission as Son of Man, as the One who is sent by the Father, is crucial to the  renewal of all of life, this new heaven and new earth, whatever that entails and means.  The phrase "for the life of the world" uses not the word for the planet earth, but the word that means all of the created order, the whole universe and everything in it; that Greek word is κόσμος/kosmos.  But then Jesus does something very interesting, and speaks again of human beings, and it is again using the connection between faith and work, or perhaps, as in the comments of St. Augustine, faith as work.  Continuing from the connection to all that the Father has given Him, Jesus says, "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."  This promise of everlasting life for human beings -- and we must infer, the new heaven and new earth -- is linked to the life of faith, and faith means so much more than simply an espousal of a particular belief system.  Faith means living out the life Christ offers by participation in all that He offers.  In the Greek, the word for faith is rooted in the word for trust.  To have faith in Christ is to put one's trust in Christ, and thereby to live by His teachings, to live the life He offers, to participate in that life through all the ways we're given to do so, including through worship and sacraments, of which the Eucharist is particularly and expressly significant in this same sense.  For in the Eucharist, Christ becomes our food to nurture us for this eternal day to which He has taught us to look, the food which endures and does not perish.  For the life of the world most surely depends upon our understanding of what it is to live our faith, and thereby faith is inseparable from work -- for to truly live that faith encompasses everything we do, a prayerful life that entrusts to Christ guidance for what we do, safekeeping for our lives, the direction we need, and the particular kind of blessedness that He offers to us.  All of this is inseparable from living faith, a prayerful life in which God becomes closer than our heartbeat, the word of God a sword that pierces between everything and enters deep into the heart (Hebrews 4:12), a sense of self in which soul and spirit and mind and strength become participants in the life He offers.  For faith involves our whole being, and not merely an intellectual reasoning out of what one might call a belief system; it touches us in places we don't know, encompassing so much more than intellect.  We entrust to Him all that we are, including our responses to life, our hurts and pains, our desires, our goals and dreams, our trauma, and even the things we don't yet know.  This is what it is to live faith, and why it is inseparable from whatever "work" we do in life, just as Christ's works are inseparable from His understanding of His closeness to the Father who has set His seal on Him.  

 

He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst

 

 "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, when evening came (after the feeding of the five thousand), 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."   Here is a fascinating statement:  to believe in Him whom He sent is to work the works of God.   Where do faith and works begin?  They are inseparable, both begin in placing one's trust in Christ.

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."    These are the people who've just been filled at the feeding of the five thousand.  They fail to understand, apparently, the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, but they know that Christ has fed them, for they also sought to forcibly make Him king as a result (see Wednesday's reading).  But now they want proofs for faith.  Jesus points to the true bread from heaven:  the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.  Christ Himself is the bread of God.

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."  Here is another parallel to the story of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt.  The people themselves recall and reference the manna in the desert, the bread from heaven, in the verses just above.   That was the food provided by God, together with a miraculous water source (Exodus 16:1 - 17:7).  Here, Christ is declaring Himself to be the true food and drink, the true bread that has come down from heaven.  Together with the other parallels in this chapter (see earlier readings), the Gospel shows that Christ is the fulfillment of the old covenant.  My study bible comments that the breaking of Christ's body and the shedding of His blood, which free humankind from the slavery of sin, fulfill the sacrifice of the Passover lambs (1:29), which brought the people out of slavery into the Promised Land.

"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."  Jesus speaks of those who are His, who will come to faith, and come to Him.  These are the ones for whom the Father has sent Him, and of whom Christ should lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day.  My study bible comments on Christ's statement that He has "come down from heaven, not to do My own will . . .."  It says that since Christ has two natures, He has two wills:  the divine will and a human will.  At the Sixth Ecumenical Council, which was held in Constantinople in 680-681, it was proclaimed that these 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."

Jesus once again emphasizes His tie to the Father; that, in fact, they are inseparable, as He follows the will of His Father in all things.  Once again, Jesus says this after having fulfilled yet another "type" of the Old Covenant.  This time, He says of Himself that He is the bread which came down from heaven, and that He offers Himself as the food which means one will never hunger, and drink which mean one will never thirst.  Here is the power of faith:  that in our connection of faith, we will be held, fed, nurtured as we need to be, and never let go.  He says that He will lose nothing of that which the Father gives Him.  So, the question for each of us becomes how reliant we are on our faith.  That is, to what extent are you nurtured and fed, through faith?  For what do you thirst?  The way that Jesus phrases it in speaking to this crowd that has wanted to force Him to be their king because they were fed with earthly food, Jesus teaches that what He has to offer fills a much greater and deeper need.  It reminds us to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).  How often do we think of putting the Kingdom first when we are in need?  We've often heard the statement that money can't buy happiness, but this is hard to know for people who haven't had that experience of possessing wealth.  We all seem to think that if only we had a little bit more, we could find greater happiness and contentment.  But money cannot nurture as Christ can, and neither can earthly food.  Wealth alone cannot bring us meaning, or even purpose.  But Christ can do that.  Neither can wealth generate love or real belonging, as Christ does.  If all of our worldly needs are met, but not our spiritual needs, do we find contentment or do we still seek what is missing?  For most people in the world, we may not get a chance to test such a theory.  It seems to be part of human psychology to keep desiring the things we think others have that we don't, no matter how impossibly far from real need they might be.  But there is one thing to which many have testified:  that being in deep need, and having just a little, God becomes the greatest source of strength and hope.  Faith becomes the way to keep going, to put one's feet forward in a good path, to set one's bearings straight.  It becomes a question of getting down to what is real -- in any circumstance -- and finding where the bedrock of truth is within us, for a foundation that keeps us upright and standing in a blessed and truly rooted place from which we won't fall.  There are so many things that come into this place of deep nurturing, more than we can count.  When we think of nothing but the worldly, we overlook so much.  What is your deepest need today? 

If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world

 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

- John 6:41-51

In yesterday's reading, Jesus spoke to the crowds which followed Him to force Him to become king after He had fed them in the wilderness.  Jesus taught 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."  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."

 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father."  In Matthew's Gospel, when Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus responds:  "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:16-17).  Here, in the consistency of the Gospels, Jesus gives this as a general principle.  He states that "no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws Him," and asserts the testimony of Scripture:  "And they shall all be taught by God" (Isaiah 54:13, Septuagint).  But then He points to Himself as the One who is from God, and only He has seen the Father.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this read, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."  Returning to the themes of the parallels with the Exodus that dominate chapter 6, Jesus declares Himself to be the bread of life, contrasting this bread with the manna of their ancestors in the wilderness.  He begins a deeply Eucharistic teaching regarding Himself as this living bread, which my study bible says reveals the Mystical Supper of the New Testament Church. 

 Jesus has just fed 5,000 men, and more women and children, by multiplying loaves and fishes in the wilderness.  They pursued Him to take Him by force and make Him king, and He evaded Him.  His disciples know that He has walked upon the water of the Sea of Galilee to their boat, as they crossed the Sea in the middle of the night.  The crowds have anticipated Jesus and the disciples, having seen their boats set off, and are now in Capernaum where He addresses them.  So, in addition to the time which they spent with Him in the wilderness, they now have pursued Him across the Sea (really a large lake), and the time has come for a deeper revelation to the public.  Jesus has told them (in yesterday's reading, above), "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life."  The work of God He told them, is faith in Christ.  In today's reading, He goes another step further:  He Himself is the bread who came down from heaven.  They, the crowd, thinks of Moses and the manna in the wilderness.  They expect the Messiah to be one who is like Moses, who restores the fortunes of Israel, who can shake off the Roman Empire and make Israel a great and dominant power, who can feed them even in the wilderness.  But Jesus offers them another plan.  And here is the overriding reality of the Christ who is the bread from heaven -- who has come down from heaven to offer something no one could ever offer:  everlasting life.  There are powerful revelations in today's reading:  that it is the Father who draws us to Christ in faith, who works even in us to bring us to truth, to the Son who is also the human Jesus.  That He offers eternal life.  And moreover, that "the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."  Theologians and saints have given us challenges to consider what these words mean, "for the life of the world," and to consider that Christ will go to the Cross not simply for His own followers, not simply for human beings, but for the life of the world.   That is, for all of the creation, as the Greek word translated as world is not the word meaning merely "earth."  In the Greek, it is cosmos/κοσμος.  That is all of creation, seen and unseen, and everything and everyone in it.  These are things which we can barely grasp in our human imaginations.  For one thing, we don't even know what the entire cosmos really is, nor its limits, nor all the creatures and realities it holds.  But for another, not only will it all be transformed with even more life than before through Christ's Passion on the Cross, but our participation in that very act which is done for the life of the world depends on one thing, our faith.  And that faith is so important that the very Father Himself acts in us to bring us to Christ -- through that "work of God" which is belief in Him.  In the Cross is the intersection of the highest and the lowest, every human heart, by extension all of creation, even to the work of God the Father.  All of it intersects in us that we might participate in it and also participate in this life abundantly He promises, for the life of the world.  We are invited in to work at something which encompasses forces so far beyond ourselves we cannot understand them, but this process is at work deeply within us, and through our faith, will always offer this same life, this capacity to find us another plan. Everything with Christ works unexpectedly.  There will be enormously challenging disappointments (such as that He does not want to be their king), and yet, instead, in that other plan He offers, there is such level and dimension of treasure as we cannot possibly anticipate or imagine.  But one thing will always bear out in our faith experience:  if we come to a dead end, if we exhaust our own understanding and what we already know, Christ will offer us another plan.  In the great and grand understanding of the Lord, there will always be something more, something further He draws us toward -- and this holds true for the challenges in our own lives, for the understanding towards which we can, in faith, grasp.  Let us consider the better deal, the other plan, the greater life He offers this crowd, and know that He is also addressing His words to us, even as we grapple with the same choices on a different day and at a different time in the world.