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.

 

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.