The crowds had pursued Jesus not
because they were after Him, but rather for the material things He could supply.
So consumed were they with what He could supply, that they failed to realize Jesus
came to supply the spiritual needs of their lives. Here He sought to lift them
to the place where they could see who He really is. He started by confronting
them saying, “Truly, truly, I
say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves
and were filled.” Jesus could tell they were motivated by food and material
things. In much the same way, people today still go for easy belief and the
comfort of life, rather than pursuing the Saviour seriously. So Jesus continued
to urge them not to work for food that perishes, but for the food which endures
to eternal life. And which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him
the Father God has set His seal.
In saying that, Christ was revealing
the spiritual realities He came to make the people see. He pointed to them two kinds of bread: a
material bread that could perish, and a spiritual bread that would live on eternally.
Here Jesus was reminding the
crowd that we earn physical food through our work and effort, but spiritual
food is eternal life and can be obtained only through Christ. One cannot work
for it. Through these verses, we can see the defective view of life that the
crowd had. They asked, “What
shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” They had
interpreted that Jesus meant they needed to work for that eternal life. So they
asked what they must do, so as to meet God’s requirement. They wanted to know how
to get that kind of bread. Jesus then told them that no work is required, but all
they needed was to believe in Him, for He is sent by God. In other words, what
they needed was the bread that lasts and it comes through faith. The bread that endures unto eternal
life is the bread that is freely given and must be freely received. No one can
pay for it himself or herself, but can only obtain it through belief.
The crowd only vaguely understood what
Christ had said. Instead of
clarifying till they understood, they challenged the Lord instead. They asked, “What
then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You
perform? Our
fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them
bread out of heaven to eat.’” At the back of their mind was the manna
that fell from heaven daily in the wilderness wandering, during Moses leadership.
And they attributed it to Moses as the provider. What they said implied that what
Jesus did in the
provision of bread was great. It was indeed miraculous. Now what they really wanted
was for Him to do for them what Moses did in the wilderness i.e. to provide them
with bread from heaven daily. So He set out to correct their misgiving. He told
them that the bread did not come from Moses. It was from God. So He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses
who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you
the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
They vaguely knew what He was talking about. For now they had
some inkling that He was talking about something spiritual and not material. Hence
they requested of Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” Jesus
had led them to where He wanted them to be, so that He could reveal Himself to
them. In John’s Gospel, we find many “I am” sayings - I am the light of the
world, I am the door, I am the good shepherd, I am the way the truth and the
life, I am the true vine and here in verse 35, He said, “I
am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes
in Me will
never thirst.” The real bread from heaven is the eternal life that God gives
through Christ. We all need to be truly assured that Jesus is the only bread
that gives eternal life. And now that we have known Jesus is God’s bread to us,
let’s keep coming to partake of Him daily so that we will never hunger or
thirst again!
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