This Sunday the lectionary invites us to read John 6:24-35. It’s a portion of a passage[1] to which the English Standard Version supplies the heading “I am the Bread of Life.”
Last week, I considered the account of Jesus multiplying 5 loaves and 2 fish to feed about 20,000 people. I suggested that feeding might’ve been Jesus’ most political act.
Today’s reading tells us what followed that feeding. After the crowd failed to compel Jesus to be their Moses-like military leader, they noted that the Twelve left in a boat, without Jesus. Even so, some part of the crowd crossed the lake to look for Jesus.
They found Him.[2] John doesn’t say who “they” refers to. How many of them? Who spoke for them? We don’t know. They addressed Jesus as Rabbi, which means teacher, and asked him when he arrived there.
Jesus didn’t answer their question. Instead, he told them they were looking for him not even because they saw the signs he’d done – healings, exorcisms, multiplying food. But because he’d filled their bellies.
And then, Jesus switched the subject to work. He told them not to work for food that perishes. He told them to work instead for “food that endures to eternal life.”
He told them they should stop their work of trying to make him their leader so that he would work to fill their needs. He told them they should begin instead to do another kind of work.
What kind of work might that be? The portion of scripture we are in, John chapter 6, doesn’t contain the answer. To find the answer, we have to look in chapter 4. It contains the account of Jesus speaking with the Twelve after they came back to him and found him talking to a Samaritan woman.
The Twelve had gone to get food. They got it and came back. They urged Jesus to eat. He refused to eat. He seemed to be not hungry. He seemed satisfied. He told them he had food to eat that they knew nothing about.
They thought someone else had brought him food. He knew what they thought. So, he set them right. He explained. He said:
My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.[3]
Yes, it’s confusing. Jesus equated food with work.
His point was, we eat in order to be satisfied. Our goal is satisfaction. The best satisfaction, satisfaction which endures forever, is doing God’s will.
In chapter 4, food symbolizes work. The same symbolism is carried over into chapter 6, which we are considering today.
So, what’s the food, or work, that endures to eternal life? In verse 27, we read that Jesus calls himself the Son of Man on whom the Father has set his seal. And he says he will assign the food, or work, to them.
In verse 28 we read that they press him to be more specific. He answers:
This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.
Because Jesus has invoked the name of God, because he’s said he’s been approved by God, and because he’s conducted the miraculous feeding – on the mountain, with bread from heaven – they think immediately of Moses.
They know God accredited Jewish prophets by means of signs. They cite scripture to Jesus. They say, “as it is written,” Moses gave their fathers bread from heaven to eat. Then they ask Jesus for a sign, “so that they might believe him,” as he had told them to.
They were thinking of the daily supply of bread from the skies, manna, which fed their ancestors in the desert. They attributed it to Moses.
Jesus picks up on their error. He tells them it was not Moses but God who supplied the bread daily. He adds that he – who is right now before them – is “the true bread from heaven.” He says he’s come down from heaven, to give life to the world. Notice he says, “the world.” Not “Israel” or “you Jews.”
Jesus caps it with the words we find in verse 35. It’s the first of seven “I am” statements of Jesus recorded by John. The statement has the hint of the Eucharist in it.[4] These are the words of the statement Jesus spoke:
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
In Jesus’ statement, the word “believe” signals obedience to a command. A command to digest and practice the teachings of Jesus just like the Jewish nation was told to digest and practice the teachings of Moses.
We too easily make the mistake of assuming that every one of the 20,000 men, women and children in the feeding was poor. It’s more likely that the crowd was mixed. Made up of elites as well as peasants. Recall that even a synagogue ruler’s daughter needed healing.[5]
Feeding on Jesus means not hungering or thirsting. Because those who feed on Jesus actively focus their personal and communal lives on neighbour care. They obey the second of the great commandments.[6]
What’s the answer to the question “What food endures to eternal life?” The answer is, “the food that endures to eternal life is the work of neighbour care.” Or, as Prophet Micah put it, we are to do justice, love kindly, and walk humbly. With God.[7]
That’s the work done by everyone who feeds on the bread of life. That’s the character of the Kingdom of God.
Peace be with you.
[1] Verses 22-59.
[2] Verses 19-20 tell us that Jesus walked on the surface of the lake and joined the disciples in the boat.
[3] John 4:34.
[4] The Eucharist is also known as the Lord’s Supper or Communion.
[5] Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:41-56.
[6] Leviticus 19:17-18; Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31.
[7] Micah 6:8.
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