For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind

 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.  And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind?  How then does he now see?"  His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know.  He is of age; ask him.  He will speak for himself."  His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.  Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory!  We know that this Man is a sinner."  He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know.  One thing I know: that thought I was blind, now I see."  Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you?  How did He open your eyes?"  He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you also want to become His disciples?"  Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.  We know that God spoke to Moses, as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from."  The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!  Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.  Since the world began it has been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of the one who was born blind.  If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing."  They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?"  And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"  He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"  And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."  Then he said, "Lord, I believe!"  And he worshiped Him.  And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."  Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.'  Therefore your sin remains."

- John 9:18-41

In yesterday's reading, we read about the events after Jesus had passed through the throng of those who tried to stone Him, for proclaiming, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."   as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.  And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.  I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.  And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent).  So he went and washed, and came back seeing.  Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?"  Some said, "This is he."  Others said, "He is like him."  He said, "I am he."  Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"  He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.'  So I went and washed, and I received sight."  Then they said to him, "Where is He?"  He said, "I do not know."  They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.  Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.  Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight.  He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."  Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath."  Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?"  And there was a division among them.  They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?"  He said, "He is a prophet."

  But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.  And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind?  How then does he now see?"   My study bible points out that the temple authorities try to discredit the miracle by denying that this man was blind from birth.  "His parents are called in, even though the age of legal responsibility was 13."  We can see their urge to deny the possibility of Jesus' true origin.

His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know.  He is of age; ask him.  He will speak for himself."  His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.  Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."     John's Gospel reminds us of the atmosphere of fear surrounding Jesus among the people.  At the beginning of the readings regarding the time at this Feast of Tabernacles, we were told that everyone was speaking about Him, and all were divided, but the people were afraid to speak openly, for fear of the leadership.  And here, this is illustrated for us again.  The formerly blind man's parents will not speak, even for their son.  Again, there is a kind of call to witnessing; we know the persecution the Church was under by the time of the writing of this Gospel.

So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory!  We know that this Man is a sinner."  My study bible tells us, "With Jesus not present, the Pharisees harshly call Him a sinner -- but earlier when Jesus asked them face-to-face, 'Which of you convicts Me of sin?" (8:46), they answered by evading the question.  Give God the glory is an oath formula, used before giving testimony or before confessing guilt.  Ironically, the formerly blind man will indeed give glory to God.  The more he is pressed, the more tenacious he becomes in his belief."

He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know.  One thing I know: that thought I was blind, now I see."  Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you?  How did He open your eyes?"  He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you also want to become His disciples?"  Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.  We know that God spoke to Moses, as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from."  The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!  Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.  Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of the one who was born blind.  If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing."  They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?"  And they cast him out.    Here is witnessing.  The formerly blind man sticks to the truth, to what He knows.  He tells the truth.  He doesn't go beyond the scope of what He knows.  And yet he also tells them what he has been taught by these same experts in the Law:  "We know that God does not hear sinners."  And to these same experts in Scripture:  "Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of the one who was born blind."  And the logical conclusion:  "If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing."  So the leadership does what people usually do to discredit the truth of testimony, they attack his character and person; instead of listening to the truths they already know, they accuse him of being unfit to "teach them."

Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"  He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"  And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."  Then he said, "Lord, I believe!"  And he worshiped Him.  And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."  Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.'  Therefore your sin remains."  My study bible tells us, "Having opened the blind man's eyes, Jesus also opens the eyes of his heart, offering spiritual illumination.  The man, 'seeing' the divinity of the Son of Man, worshiped Him.  Jesus' coming brought judgment by increasing the accountability of those who saw and heard Him, but did not believe.  The brilliance of Christ's light becomes an illumination to some, but a blinding glare to others."

Let us ponder Jesus' words, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."  It's interesting to think about how judgment works, and how it is related to truth.  The testimony of the healed man is true.  Yet those who know already that what the formerly blind man says is true, the experts in the Law and the Scriptures, refuse to listen to what he has to say; they are outraged that such a man would be teaching them.  In effect, as Jesus' words tell us, they are "made blind" by their rejection of spiritual truth, of the illumination offered in both the healing and the presence of Jesus, and in the true testimony of the healed man.  This is what it is to face judgment; this is what it is to stumble on the stone of Christ.  Another understanding we have of truth is the metaphor of a sword that cuts both ways.  There will be things we have to give up to make room for that truth; if we fail, those things will in turn be harmful to our own sight.  Let us consider witnessing and testimony, and what it is to be illumined by "the light of the world."  Most importantly, let us focus on the formerly blind man's capacity for testimony, for witnessing.  He has been enlightened and healed by the light so that he may see light:  "In His light we see light."  He is a perfect illustration of the prophecy of the psalm.  Let us remember this man's understanding of his healing, and his confession to what has happened to him.  He has been put out of the synagogue, a type of martyr, which means "witness" in Greek.  To what do you witness?  What do you know your faith has done for you?  Let us also remember the responsibility we carry for what we know, and our refusal to hear.

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world

 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.  And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.  I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.  And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent).  So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?"  Some said, "This is he."  Others said, "He is like him."  He said, "I am he."  Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"  He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.'  So I went and washed, and I received sight."  Then they said to him, "Where is He?"  He said, "I do not know."

They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.  Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.  Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight.  He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."  Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath."  Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?"  And there was a division among them.  They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?"  He said, "He is a prophet."

- John 9:1-17

 In last week's readings, we read John chapter 6, which taught us about Jesus as the Bread of Life.  We began with the feeding in the wilderness of five thousand, and on to Jesus' discourse concerning the bread that will not perish.  He 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."  When He was asked what work they should do to do the work of God, He told them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  He said, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."  He told the leadership, "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."  As He taught in the synagogue in Capernaum, He said, "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."    Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve..  Jesus taught them, " It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."

In today's reading, we go back to where the lectionary departed on Monday for chapter 6, and we pick up at the beginning of chapter 9 of John's Gospel.  Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles, and chapters 7 and 8 are preparation for this chapter.  We recall that He has had a long dialogue with the leadership after going to the Festival (the Feast of Tabernacles, or Succoth).  We recall that He did not go "openly"; that is, as He will go at the beginning of Holy Week.  Jesus has taught there that "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."   In the last reading of chapter 8, He told the leadership, "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear because you are not of God."  They asked Him, "Who do You make Yourself out to be?"  Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing.  It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.  Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him.  And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."  Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"  Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."  Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.  And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  My study bible points out that of all the miracle stories in the bible, this is the only one in which the person was blind from birth.  It notes, "The blind man is symbolic of all humanity: all need illumination by Christ, the Light of the world. This sign is an illustration of baptism, which is also called 'holy illumination.' "  We remember that Easter is the traditional day to receive catechumens into the Church.  The question by the disciples reflects a common assumption in the ancient world.

Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.  I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."   My study bible says that "though suffering can be the direct result of personal sin, this is certainly not always the case.  In this instance, the man's blindness provided the occasion for the works of God to be revealed; it was not related directly the man's personal sins."  Jesus has already taught (in chapter 8) "I am the light of the world."  Here His compassion and healing illuminate more for us about that light! 

When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.  And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent).  So he went and washed, and came back seeing.  My study bible points out that this is the work of Creator:  "St. Irenaeus sees in this mixture of clay and saliva a type of creation of humanity from the earth.  Christ reveals His divinity by restoring part of creation using the same material with which He created humanity in the beginning."  Regarding the pool of Siloam, it tells us:  "The pool of Siloam was on the outskirts of Jerusalem, a considerable distance from the temple.  From this pool water was taken for the rites connected with the Feast of Tabernacles.  Siloam, translated, Sent, symbolizes Christ, the One sent by the Father.  Just as the healing of the blind man confirmed Christ's claim to be the light of the  world, so also, His making use of the pool of Siloam confirms that He is the true purification of the temple and those who worship in it."  In the image of the clay healing the blind man, made with spittle from the mouth of Christ, we remember Jesus' words from chapter 6, in Saturday's reading:  "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."  

Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?"  Some said, "This is he."  Others said, "He is like him."  He said, "I am he."  Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"  He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.'  So I went and washed, and I received sight."  Then they said to him, "Where is He?"  He said, "I do not know."  The theme of illumination continues through these verses.  The neighbors need to discover if it is even the same man!  This is confirmed by the man himself.  What has happened?  The man gives testimony to what has happened to him, and what Jesus did.  But he doesn't know where Jesus is.  This passage can be considered a mirror to the whole of John's Gospel, as we are revealed to gradually, bit by bit, through testimony, the works of Jesus, and who He is.  That the formerly blind man does not know where Jesus is reminds us of Jesus' words to Nicodemus in chapter 3, about the work of the Spirit (especially in the rebirth of Baptism):  "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  The man doesn't know where Jesus went, but we see His healing effects.

They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.  Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.  Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight.  He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."  Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath."  Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?"  And there was a division among them.  They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?"  He said, "He is a prophet."  A note reads, "Just as the Pharisees had ignored the healing of the paralytic and focused only on the perceived violation of the Sabbath, here many of them cannot see the glory of god through their own prejudices."

We see the gradual "opening of the eyes" happening here in many respects.  There is first of all the blind man himself.  He becomes the object of curiosity first of the disciples:  "Who sinned, that this man is blind?"  But Jesus teaches that his affliction is an opportunity for the revelation of the glory of God.  It is time for Jesus to work, while it is day, as He walks in the world.  Many Church Fathers comment that the "night" is the time of the age to come, when no one can "work."  But I think we can also think of this saying of Jesus giving us an allusion to the "night" to come, in His Crucifixion.   The Gospels work to "illuminate" on many levels at once.  At any rate, He is the light who brings the day, and who reveals the light of God in the world.  How is the blind man healed?  By following the words of Christ, who tells him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash.  We can imagine this man with clay on his eyes, making his way to the pool.  Walking back, people wonder who he is -- if he can be the same person.  Therefore John's Gospel gives us the testimony and curiosity of witnesses to the blind man's change.  We are gradually illumined in the light of the Gospel.  The formerly blind man makes his own testimony, sticking strictly to the facts, what he knows.  This is an important mark of truth, or truthfulness, also linked to the light of Christ, whom we call the Person who is Truth.  And he also answers truthfully an important answer to the question about where Christ is:  "I do not know."  And then we compare this to the blindness of the Pharisees, who can only concur that whoever healed the blind man cannot be of God, because it happened on the Sabbath.  They are blind to the glory of God in the healing, and the fact that the Sabbath is the Lord's day.  But they are divided, as some (perhaps weakly) ask, "How can a man who is a sinner do such things?"  The blind man again answers truthfully to his own understanding of whoever it is who must have opened his eyes:  "He is a prophet."  That is what he knows, so far.  Later Christ Himself will reveal more.  And this is the way our faith works.  We go forward, following the word of Christ, His light to us.  And as we move forward, we may not have all the answers.  We may have to say, with truth in its grace, that there are things we "don't know."  But above all the light of Christ is the light of truth, what we do know.  It cannot shine through our deliberate ignorance and denial, which is another form of a lie.  It must be given to those who are pure in heart, who can accept it.  And more truth comes from Him who will reveal more about Himself so that we can know.  This is the way that we proceed as believers into the light that shines in the darkness and has come into the world.  John's Gospel will continue to illuminate as we proceed toward the great light of Easter.  Let us remember the formerly blind man and his truth, which sometimes consists of "I don't know."  But we wait for the word of God.

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life

 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

- John 6:60-71

In this week's reading, we are going through John, chapter 6.  First, we began on Monday with the feeding of the five thousand in the wilderness.  The people followed Jesus to make Him king, but He eluded them.  He sent His disciples by night back across the Sea of Galilee, and walked on the water to them in the middle of a tempest.  When the people saw the disciples' boat gone, and themselves went to Capernaum and found Jesus there, they asked when He had arrived.  There, He spoke to them about what they sought from Him.  Jesus taught that they sought Him because they were fed.  He said, "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 asked, ""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."   Moses gave the people manna, 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."  He told them, "I am the bread of life."  All that the Father has given Him should not be lost, but raised up at the last day.  In Thursday's reading, Jesus said, "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."   He told them, "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."  Finally, in yesterday's reading, we read that the leadership 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 things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

  Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?"  My study bible tells us that "even His disciples took Christ's teaching on His Body and Blood as a hard saying, and many of them departed from Him.  the Lord Jesus is aware of the thoughts of men."  Let us remember that these people hearing these words for the first time have no idea what will take place as the Last Supper, have not been introduced to a remembrance or Eucharist in this manner.  They do not yet know of His sacrifice on the Cross.  It tells us something about faith that these teachings are revealed and later they will come to be understood in a new and greater light.

"What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  Here is a mysterious teaching, leading us to Mystery.  Jesus' words are spirit and they are life, and it is the Spirit who gives life.  If we are to truly understand, we must approach in relationship, in a place of true spiritual relationship -- we don't leave out any capacities of ourselves in this relationship but every part of us is included.  That means even that deepest place that the Father touches, utterly mysterious to us, but in which even God the Father is somehow at work.  To my mind, these words sum up a great message told in all the stories of John's Gospel, that by simply sticking to the material, the surface appearance and meaning, we will not understand Jesus nor our relationship, nor the meanings in His words.  It is the Spirit that plays a role in all of it.  His words live and are filled with life.  St. Cyril of Alexandria has commented:  "It is not the nature of the flesh that renders the Spirit life-giving but the might of the Spirit that makes the body life-giving. The words then that I have spoken with you are spirit, that, is both spiritual and of the Spirit, and they are life" (Commentary on the Gospel of John 4.3). 

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  The words about eating His flesh and drinking His blood cannot be understood without the spiritual life that is in them; they cannot be comprehended at all except by faith.  They become a stumbling block to those who cannot accept them in this sense.

Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  John's Gospel repeats again the words of Jesus, this time spoken by Peter.  It is Christ who has the words of eternal life.  This is sign of Peter's understanding of the spirit and life in the words of Christ.  If nothing else, that Peter (speaking for the rest of the disciples) understands.  In Luke's Gospel, after the Crucifixion, we get another sense of what it is to hear these words when two disciples, after entertaining a Stranger on the road to Emmaus, say about Him, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"

"Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."   Peter confesses faith in Jesus, a recognition that He is the Christ.  Elsewhere Jesus says that such confession is only possible through the revelation by the Father.  My study bible tells us, "This confession of faith is a pivotal moment in the life of Peter and the disciples on behalf of whom he spoke." 

Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.  Here is Jesus' foreknowledge of what is to happen.  Many disciples have left, and He will be betrayed by one of the Twelve, chosen by Him.Again, there's a kind of mystery here; it's a partial revelation.  It's something to put them all aware - but Jesus does not reveal who it is He speaks of.

John's Gospel continues to invite us to dig more deeply into our understanding.  Perhaps the most illuminating passages of all are those in which Jesus tells us that it is the Spirit that gives life -- and that the words He speaks are spirit and they are life.  How are we to understand this?  We see the ones who continue with Him.  There is the power of faith, drawn by the Father and drawn by the Spirit -- the same thing reflected in the "hearts that burned" on the road to Emmaus as they listened again to the words of spirit and life in the One whom they thought was a stranger.  Faith, as John so cleverly tells us through the ways in which His Gospel is written, will draw us forward into things we don't know and don't completely understand, into the mysteries of God.  If it is the Father who draws us to faith in Christ, and the Spirit who gives life in the words of Christ, then all of the Trinity is at work in our faith, and therefore in us -- somewhere in our hearts at depths we can't quite understand.  That ties us in with something of which we must always be aware:  that in a relationship of love in which our faith is deepened there is always the power of God at work.  None of us gets there alone.  To be participating in such a relationship of faith is therefore a gift of God, into which we are invited as intimately and as completely as is indicated by Jesus' teaching that He is the bread of life, and that to eat His flesh and drink His blood is to abide in Him.  We are created by our Creator to be in union with Him.  This is the opposite of a disparaging of our flesh and all our worldly lives; in fact, what Jesus is saying is that in the union of Father, Son and Spirit with us in faith then all things may become transfigured into the fullness of life that He promises.  Let us remember that gift.  May faith (which does not always have all the answers now) enliven and enrich your life, and draw you forward into its gift and promise of greater life in abundance.

As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me

 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 things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

- John 6:52-59

This week the lectionary has given us John's chapter 6.  It began with feeding of 5,000 men (and more women and children) in the wilderness (Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?), who had followed Jesus there.  Afterward, the people sought to make Jesus king, but He evaded them and went to the mountain.  He sent His disciples across the Sea of Galilee in the night, and walked on the water to them when they were in the middle of a storm.  Seeing no boat of the disciples, the people went to Capernaum to follow Him, and asked Jesus how He came to be there.   Still, He said they sought Him only for the food they had been fed.  He taught, "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life."  When they asked, "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."  Jesus taught that He was the bread of life.  In yesterday's reading, we read that the leadership 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?"  The leadership argues about Jesus and His controversial sayings.  But again, John's Gospel - as it so often does - asks us to take a deeper look, to grow more deeply in our understanding of what Jesus teaches us and of how we practice our faith.  If we look at it that way, it is the right question!

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."  Jesus repeats what He has said several times throughout the past few readings.  The food He offers is that which leads into eternal life.  But this time He ties it with "His flesh" and "His blood" which is true food for the eternal life, and linked to the sacrifice that He will make.  He speaks of a type of union with Him that goes more deeply into who we are than any other type of food we understand.  As He taught in yesterday's reading, this food is "for the life of the world."  My study bible says here:  "Christ's body was crucified and His blood shed on the Cross.  We receive the benefits of Christ's sacrifice by coming to Him in faith, and by communion with Him:  we eat His flesh and drink His blood.  These words refer directly to the Eucharist, the mystery of Christ our life.  His words are clear:  To receive everlasting life, we must partake of His eucharistic flesh and blood.  St. John Chrysostom (Homily 47:2) teaches we must not understand the sacrament carnally, that is, according to the laws of physical nature, but spiritually, perceiving a true but mystical presence of Christ in the Eucharist."

"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."  Here we delve more deeply into the mystery of relationship and relatedness.  Over and over again, as Jesus has been quizzed about His own identity, He first refers consistently back to the Father to state who He is.  Now, He gives us our identity as His believers, and relates again to the relationship with the Father.  Whoever "eats His flesh and drinks His blood" abides in Him, and He in them!  He likens this to His relationship to the Father:  "he who feeds on Me will live because of Me."  It is a statement of true interdependence, a relationship that goes to the depths of who we are, more deeply than we can understand ourselves.  It is also a binding that will hold fast through to an eternal life.  My study bible quotes St. Hilary of Poitiers:  "What we say concerning the reality of Christ's nature within us would be foolish and impious were we not taught by His very words. . . . There is no room left for 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" (On the Trinity, Book VIII, 14).  It adds that this is a profound mystery of faith and grace.

"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 things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.  The theology of the Christian East teaches that this mystical supper isn't simply partaking of a physical/material body, but that Jesus is speaking of His glorified and Resurrected Body and Blood of Christ.  Thereby, it is food "from heaven" and leads to an eternal life of resurrection.

As I have many readers from many different Christian traditions, let me add that faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist does not prevent us from understanding His words about His relationship to us in many ways.  St. Ambrose has said,  "Whoever experiences this downpour of divine Wisdom is delighted, and, needing no other food, lives not on bread alone but on every word of God" (Letter 77).  As Jesus taught that to have faith in Him is to do the work of God, so we can understand His work in the world, His teachings, and the great sacrifice that He will make for the life of the whole world.  To understand His mystical presence, His true food and drink for us, is to take a wholistic picture of the entire practice and living of our faith.  To practice our communal rites and to partake of His Body and Blood is to understand the depth to which Christ lives in us, and the depth to which He calls us to live our faith.  To become our "food" is to dwell as a part of us, to live in His sacrifice for us, so that we will live in Him, in that greater Body of Christ that is truly meant for the life of the whole world.  In this way, we participate in the sacraments so that we may then live our lives in Him, and abide in Him, and consider always the sacrifice He calls us to, and the work -- His work -- that He calls us into.  It's an awesome mystery, that promises us depths we will never finish finding, because it is unto eternal life.  Let us consider the depth of love into which we enter and in which we are invited to participate and grow.  Whatever we do to practice our faith, it is God's love that truly gives us life; in the memory of His sacrifice for us, there is the understanding of how we take on His likeness, and how we grow into it in a life of faith.  It is that love that calls us to His cup.  It is that love that truly feeds us His life.  Let us remember that Jesus' statements are unequivocal -- without this food and drink, there is no life in us! 

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."

- John 6:41-51

This week, we are reading through the sixth chapter of John's Gospel.  For the Western churches (and some Eastern) we are in the middle of Lent, a traditional time of fasting in preparation for the Resurrection of Easter.  Most of the Eastern Church now prepare for Lent which begins on Monday.  So it is highly appropriate that this week our focus is on Christ as the Bread of Life.  On Monday, we read about the sign of the feeding of the five thousand in the wilderness, which is the fourth sign in John's Gospel.  (See Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?)  This sign was a "type" of the events of the feeding of Israel with manna in the wilderness, fulfilled by Christ.  In Tuesday's reading, the people had followed Christ and tried to make Him king because they had been fed, but 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."  In yesterday's reading, the people asked 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."  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've read this sort of grumbling and questions elsewhere in the Gospels, especially among His own townspeople (and Jesus is now in Capernaum of Galilee, His ministry headquarters in His home province of Galilee).  We can presume those who speak are familiar with His extended family, particularly His mother who was at the wedding in Cana where Jesus' first sign in John's Gospel took place).  But, as usual, John's Gospel moves us from the surface significance of Jesus' words into deeper meanings for us to think about and to receive.  How can Jesus say, "I have come down from heaven," when they know who His earthly parents are?

 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."  So important is the "Life" in the Bread of Life that Jesus has emphasized this several times in this same passage (see yesterday's reading).  The Bread of Life is that bread which leads to everlasting life -- to the Resurrection.  The connection between Father and Son is unbreakable, unfathomable and penetrates though all things, especially His ministry and those who respond to Him.  Jesus refers to the Father each time He is asked about Himself.

"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."  This powerful statement tells us something truly "awesome" about the interpenetrating nature of spiritual reality:  it is the even the Father who teaches.  At depths we can't touch within ourselves, the Father is at work.  But again, we note, Jesus' identity, and therefore the identity in Christ of any disciple, is inseparable from the work of the Father, even the "teaching" of the Father.  As we know, only the Son has truly seen the Father "face to face" so to speak, as One of the same essence.  But nevertheless, He tells us, in another way, "They shall all be taught by God."

"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."  Here Christ openly and plainly likens Himself to the manna in the wilderness which came from heaven.  But even that bread perished.  This is the living bread that comes from heaven, of which anyone may eat and not die.  But there is much more here; we are being led deeper into mystery, toward Easter.  The bread He will give is His flesh, which He will give "for the life of the world."  Here He is moving us toward an understanding of the Cross, and what is to come in Holy Week.

Earlier in John's Gospel, in chapter three, Jesus spoke to Nicodemus at night, a member of the Pharisees.  He taught Nicodemus, "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."  So, from early in this Gospel, we have been moving toward Holy Week, toward Jesus' Passion, death, and Resurrection.  If we focus on Jesus as the Bread of Life, then that opens up for us new ideas about where and how we are truly fed.  What nourishes us where no "earthly" food can nourish?  What parts of ourselves aren't touched material food, possessions, and other things which belong to the mere appearances of life?  Just as John's Gospel always calls to us to dig deeper into the meanings that are here in Jesus' words, so Christ as our true spiritual food calls us more deeply toward an understanding of ourselves as human beings.  It's not only Christ we need to understand, but in the depth of relationship conveyed by the idea that He is our Bread of Life, that He is our true spiritual food, then we have to understand what that means for us when we partake of that bread and it becomes true nourishment for life, a part of our life.  How is it possible that we can be nourished by our God in this particular context - that God (Christ) is food?  It calls us toward an understanding that goes much deeper than mere notions of teaching, but rather toward a comprehension of His great sacrifice for us -- the flesh that He will give, so that we may also take up the cross, like Him -- so that we as children by adoption, may also become sons.  If we grow in His likeness,   then we become more "like Him."  And this is the great mystery, the depth of God's love for us.  Just as Jesus' identity is linked to God the Father, so we are told that God is also at work in us in some way.  We remember that this is all done "for the life of the world."  Let us ask ourselves how life comes from His death and sacrifice, how the Cross calls us to walk through our own lives, and what His true food is for us every day.  How does His love feed you with a "daily bread?" 

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

We are reading through chapter 6 of John's Gospel this week.  On Monday, we read of Jesus feeding five thousand men (and more women and children) in the wilderness.  See Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?  In yesterday's reading, we read what happened after the people tried to make Jesus king.  He evaded them, and went up to the mountain.  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 the last verse in yesterday's.  The emphasis cannot be too great.  In Monday's reading, we read that the people sought to make Jesus king.  But He made it clear that they simply seek Him because He filled them "with the food that perishes."  So His admonition now leads into deeper discourse and understanding.  Their question in response is a good one, and important -- indeed, essential to our understanding of what it means to be a follower of Christ.  What shall we do to work the works of God?  And Jesus' answer?  Faith. My study bible says, "The most fundamental work of God is true faith in Christ!"  It is a kind of reciprocal action that Jesus describes as the works of God:  God sent His Son; our work in response is to have faith in the One who has been sent to us from the Father.

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."  John's Gospel takes us deeper into Jesus' meanings, as so often happens, as His and the Gospel's way of teaching.  What is the true bread from heaven?  Jesus speaks of Himself as the Bread of Life - the One who has come from heaven and gives life to the world.  In the words of the people, "Lord, give us this bread always," we hear echoed the words of the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, who also learned in stages about the living water that springs up into everlasting life:  "Sir, give me this water, that I may neither thirst, nor come here to draw."

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."  Jesus teaches us about the bread of life.  With what are we filled through Him and in Him?  Yet He tells them that they do not believe, even though they see.  But His faith goes back to the Father:  there are those who are given to Him, and they will come to Him -- and these He will by no means cast out.  My study bible tells us:  "Since the Son and the Father are united in essence and will, those who are chosen by the Father will also believe in Jesus and receive eternal life."

"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."  Here is an emphatic proclamation, once more resting in the Father.   In that will is the binding of promise:  that He should lose nothing the Father has given Him, but all will be raised up at the last day.  My study bible explains the theological significance of Jesus' words:  "Since the Son is of one essence with the Father, He shares the one will of God the Father.  In His Incarnation, of course, the Son of God gains a human nature and a human will as well.  Thus, the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) teaches that, in the Person of Christ, there are united a complete divine nature and a complete human nature. Similarly, the Third Council of Constantinople (A.D. 680-681) proclaims there are two natural wills in Christ, not contrary to one another, although 'His human will follows, not as resisting or reluctant but rather as subject to His Divinity and omnipotent will.'"

What does it mean to work the works of God?  I think that's an important question, much more so than we might think.  Jesus declares that the work of God is to believe in the One whom God has sent.  We think that sounds rather simple, but it's not.  To believe in the One who's been sent is to believe what He teaches us, and more.  It's to trust in Him.  To trust takes us into an even deeper field of understanding.  When we pray, we enter into a trusting relationship, and through the mysterious workings of spiritual life, we trust that we may be led into ways of life that will help us to become the person that Christ calls us to be.  If we think about it, these things involve a lot of work, indeed!  It's not enough, I think, to be satisfied with faith as an understanding that we believe in something.  But if you really look at the roots of that word for faith, in the Greek, you come to the notion of trust -- and then you have to go forward into that trust.  It's much much more than a declaration of an emphatic "yes" to certain ideas about God.  Faith enters into relationship, it entrusts oneself and one's life to the care of someone else -- the One who has been sent to us.  And that leads to discipleship.  So let's think about what it is to work this work of faith.  It's a lifetime of entrusting oneself, of becoming more "like Him" -- of trusting His teachings and His word, and more importantly of giving ourselves to Christ.  Nothing touches us so deeply as the time of prayer, individually and corporately in the prayers of worship and the prayers we find throughout Scripture.  So, let us understand this trust and this work.  It endures to an everlasting life.  This is what it is to labor for the food that endures.

Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life

 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.  Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.  So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.  But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."  Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

On the following day, when the people 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."

- John 6:16-27

In yesterday's reading, we read about Jesus' feeding of five thousand men (and more women and children) in the wilderness.  Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.  Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.  And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.  Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.  Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"  But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.  Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."  One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"  Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."  Now there was much grass in the place.  So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.  And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.  So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."  Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.  Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."  Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.  Jesus has remained on the mountain by Himself alone.  The disciples are without Him.

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.  The very interesting thing about this fifth sign in John's Gospel is the dream-like quality that is evinced through the words that "immediately the boat was at the land where they were going."  In other ways there is a dreamlike quality as well.  It is dark, deep into the darkness before the dawn, and the sea arose with a great wind.  We can imagine the fear accompanying the disciples without Christ, in the boat on the sea.  Jesus walking on the water gives us another quality of the divine; in the previous reading He expanded the loaves and fishes to fill everyone with "as much as they wanted."  Here He walks across the water to accompany His disciples in the midst of the storm, telling them, "It is I; do not be afraid."  If we look beyond the miraculous quality of these two signs, one immediately following the other, what we see in common to them is God's great love, a love that gives not by measure but in abundance.  It is a love that is with us in our own wilderness or when we are alone in the dark in a rough and stormy sea.  My study bible points out that this sign "reenacts ancient Israel's passage through the Red Sea.  Moses led the old Israel through the sea to liberty.  Christ walks on top of the water and leads His disciples over the sea to the land where they were going.   Christ's walking on the sea is a sign of His lordship over creation."

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?"   The disciples had left the mountain when it was dark, without Jesus.  Walking on the water to the disciples, Jesus has evaded the crowd that sought to make Him king, after they were fed in the wilderness.  But they anticipated His arrival at Capernaum and followed.

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."  My study bible tells us, "The multitude had continued to pursue Jesus in the hope that He might miraculously solve all of their earthly problems as He had miraculously provided them with food.  He tries to turn their minds to spiritual concerns, telling them not to labor for perishable food but for the food of eternal life, which is available in the Son of Man.  He does not chide them for seeking and working, but for pursuing temporary satisfaction rather than eternal fulfillment." 

Why do the people seek Jesus?  He's telling them that they chase after Him, anticipating His crossing of the sea and arriving at Capernaum looking for Him, simply because they were filled with the loaves in the wilderness (in yesterday's reading).  They're putting in a lot of effort to chase Jesus and to follow Him, but the toil isn't really worthwhile if they're only struggling for bread which perishes.  Jesus is offering something much more than merely food which perishes, and that is worth struggling and working for.  It is a food that will endure into everlasting life, something that will not disappear but remain forever with them.  And that is food indeed!  That is truly something that feeds the soul and spirit and will never leave us.  To work for this bread of Life, then, is to work for something truly worthwhile, a real treasure, something worth the value of our labor.  It's not that we're not supposed to live our lives in this world, but rather there's something that is more worthwhile, to value as most precious, to truly work for -- and that is what He is offering as Son.  The feeding in the wilderness is Jesus fourth sign in John's Gospel.  Importantly, it's an event that appears in all four Gospels.  My study bible tells us that "placed against the background of the Passover, this sign is a fulfillment of Old Testament messianic prophecies and types, especially the miraculous gift of manna which fed the Israelites in the wilderness after the Exodus."  Most clearly, it's a description with "eucharistic overtones" as my study bible points out.  That is the true "daily bread" we pray for, the one that feeds us and abides unto eternal life, and is not simply perishable food.  So, how do we work for that bread?  While we live our lives in this world, and God knows the things we have need of for our survival and our lives, what do we need to be filled with that fills a deeper need?  Let us remember to work for what is of true and imperishable value.  What fills you where bread alone cannot truly nourish a deeper need?  The Bread of Life is that which fills us in ways that will last and abide for all our lives, for an eternal life.  Especially when "the world" fails us, this bread abides and lives in us, and fills us in ways that the world does not.  In this way, we also understand Jesus' words of comfort, as He gives us His food which doesn't perish:  "It is I; do not be afraid."