JOHN 6:25-40
WHAT BREAD ARE YOU SEEKING
The Capernaum discourse (6:22–59) is an open & candid discussion by Jesus concerning His identity & mission. In our text we find the crowd questioning Jesus as to how He is going to prove Himself to them yet again after feeding 5000 people with a few loaves and fish. They’d had a need for food and Jesus saw and met the need. They’d followed Jesus all the way around the lake. They were highly motivated to have a PERCEIVED need met, but did not recognize that they were being offered the solution to their REAL need. Jesus reminded them of the importance of what He was offering them & then attempts to teach them what their REAL NEED is rather than meeting their perceived need for food. He was speaking of their eternal need & they only were concerned with earthly provision and prosperity.
[Jesus is in the synagogue (6:59), & its Passover. The Jewish community has been studying the Scriptures that pertain to the departure from Egypt (through the sea) and the flight into the desert. Jesus uses complex & difficult images of Passover. The first is that He is the Bread of Life out of heaven.]
I. WORK FOR ETERNAL FOOD, 25-29.
II. THE TRUE BREAD OF HEAVEN, 30-32.
III. THE BREAD OF LIFE, 33-35.
IV. SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING, 36-40.
Not aware that Jesus had walked across the Lake they ask in verse 25; When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”
The initial question is about how Jesus arrived since He had not gotten in His disciples’ boat. Jesus takes the crowd’s question as having two-levels, one material, He came by boat, and another spiritual, He came from heaven (6:33; 7:28). His disciples knew that He had arrive by walking on the water, but did they also understand He arrived from heaven?
Jesus turns the discussion to His feeding miracle the crowd had experienced, which is why they were seeking Him, and beginning in verse 26 helps them understand its meaning. Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.
The needs of the crowd in Galilee were common. In some way they represent the needs of humanity since the beginning of time. Jesus acknowledges such survival needs in the Model Prayer; “Give us this day our daily bread.” [If those needs go unmet, if hunger goes ignored, then the pursuit of any higher virtue (religious or otherwise) collapses. This is why Jesus made sure that the crowd was fed. It is ethically responsible to care for the body while nurturing the soul. Burge, Gary M. NIV Application Commentary, Book of John, 210. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 2000. ]
Bread is what we need to survive and feel well and wholesome. Their motive for seeking Jesus was because He had fed them. They imagined that they had found the leader for whom they were looking. Jesus tells them their motive for seeking Him is an unworthy one. They had missed the real significance for meeting their physical needs. They had failed to see beyond the external action to what it said about Him.
So Jesus criticized the people who followed Him only for the physical and temporal benefits and not for the satisfying of their spiritual hunger. Many people use religion to gain prestige, comfort, acceptance or even political votes. But those are self-centered motives. True believers follow Jesus simply because they know He has the truth and His Way is the way of life.
[The pursuit of bread is distorted when people determine that their needs include things unnecessary for true life. It would be as if the crowd asked Jesus for an ice cream break. Would He serve this too? Christians in the West are familiar with this theme, but we have difficulty diagnosing it in ourselves. Living in a consumer society fueled by sophisticated advertising and relative affluence, we have been given the means and the motivation to pursue countless forms of bread. If I simply possess this car or that cologne, my self-image will be healed and my sense of safety and well-being renewed. Once we possess these things, of course, their seductive appeal evaporates, and we move on to new targets of gratification.
Christians are not exempt from the seductions of the material culture around us. We define the “bread” we need with lives of remarkable indulgence. But the more thoughtful persons down through the ages have always argued that the material things of life do not provide the secret to true happiness. Even among those people who embrace an utterly pagan world view, deep spiritual instincts lead them to explore everything from meditation to philosophy. For the average person, the pursuit of religion is an inevitable dimension of their pursuit of life. Burge, Gary M. NIV Application Commentary, Book of John, 210. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 2000.]
Verse 27 is Jesus’ reply to the materialism of mankind. “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
As Jesus teaches in the synagogue, He desires to lift His hearers above a humanistic understanding of His miracle. He argues that their efforts should be focused not on the loaves and fish, but on the higher substance that lasts forever. “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4). Physical food is short-lived but spiritual food leads to eternal life. The Son of Man will give people this spiritual food, which is ultimately Christ Himself (6:53). It was not the gift that is important, but the Giver (Jesus, the Son of Man), on whom God has set His seal. This mark on Jesus likely alludes to the Spirit, which we learned in 1:32ff. and 3:34 rests on Jesus powerfully, endorsing His ministry.
We live in a materialistic age. Gadgets and luxuries with their glitter and glamour entice even Christians to spend too much energy and money to obtain them. That’s why it’s important to keep spiritual values foremost in our minds.
Have you been putting all of your energies into getting ahead in this world while neglecting heavenly values? Jesus said, "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life" (Jn. 6:27). Have you attempted recently to lead anyone to Christ and offered food that satisfies forever?
If you want to see how materialistic you are, take this little test: Suppose someone were to offer you a thousand dollars for every person you earnestly sought to lead to Christ. Would you try to witness to more people than you are doing now? Is it possible that you would do for money, even at the risk of blunders or ridicule, what you would hesitate to do otherwise in obedience to Christ’s urgent commands? Is your love of money stronger than your love of God or the souls of people?
What is the prime goal of our lives? For what are we working? Jesus asks us today, as He did Peter; "Do you love Me more than these?" (Jn. 21:15). -HGB
The people were looking for Jesus, but they were not looking for the right reason. They did not know what they really needed yet because they could not lift their minds above the physical needs of life. When we realize that we are spiritually hungry we need to acknowledge it and let our main quest be for the imperishable which will satisfy us. The food that endures to eternal life is Jesus (6:54) ["Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Mt.5:6).]
Verse 28 reveals the questioner still did not understand the gift. Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”
Jesus challenged them to expend their life for the imperishable which is the gift of God’s Messiah. Their question implies a feeling of self-sufficiency. They seem confident that they could do the works of God. They did not understand that it was a gift from God, and not out of themselves.
Jesus tells them the basic work is faith in the Messiah in verse 29. Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
Many sincere seekers for God are puzzled about what He wants them to do. The religions of the world attempts to answer this question. But Jesus’ reply is brief and simple: we must believe in Him whom God has sent. Satisfying God does not come from the work we do, but out of whom we believe in.
The first step is accepting that Jesus is who He claims to be. All spiritual development is built on this declaration. Assert to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God" (Matthew 16:16), and embark on a life of belief that is satisfying to your Creator. To “work” for God come out of believing in Jesus.
[Did you hear about the old man taking his first flight? After he got off the plane somebody asked him what he thought of it. “Okay," he replied, ’but I never did put my whole weight on it." And we do the same when we refuse to put our whole weight on the finished work of Calvary.
Satan’s sneaky. Instead of leading you away from God’s grace, he makes you question it or try to earn it. When the disciples asked Jesus, "What does God want us to do?" He didn’t say work harder, pray longer, give more. No, He said, "Believe in the One He has sent." When the Philippi an jailer asked, "What I do to be saved?" Paul answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shalt be saved" (Acts 16:30-31). Salvation is about believing - not behaving!]
"So how can I get to heaven?" you ask. Abandon your own efforts and trust in Christ alone. [That way you can stand before God in His righteousness, not yours! Charles Wesley wrote: "Clothed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before thy throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand."]
II. THE TRUE BREAD OF HEAVEN, 30-32.
Verse 30 reveals that they understood Jesus was asking them to believe in Him. So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?
They thought God’s order is see and believe. But the divine order is believe and see ( John 11:40). They did not have faith or spiritual perception. Until you believe God’s word you will not spiritually see.
Film director Woody Allen been quoted as saying, "If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank."
The reasons people give for not believing God often boil down to something they want God to do to prove Himself. Sadly, in making "to do" lists for God, we miss seeing the countless things He has already done.
Even people who lived near Jesus and who witness His miracles asked for more proof. They asked, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You.”
Comparing Jesus to Moses they challenge Jesus to do more in verse 31. “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’ ” [Ps. 78:24]
The synagogue audience offers a challenge. In the days of Moses manna was given (Ex. 16; Num. 11:17), and if it is true that Jesus is making some messianic claim, then what sort of sign can Jesus give to validate His word? Can He feed them continuously with manna from heaven? Is He claiming that He has recreated the messianic miracle of Moses?
The startling thing about their request is that just one day earlier Jesus had indeed given them bread. He had fed 5,000 of them with the bread from one boy’ lunch!
Had I been in Jesus’ place I would have replied, "What about the bread I fed you yesterday? Did that not prove anything to you? They were either forgetful or juvenile in their comparison.
Instead of waiting in doubt and disappointment for God to do the one thing we demand of Him, let’s take the time to look at everything God has already done. What we know of God encourages us to trust Him in all we don’t know.
In verse 32 Jesus asks them to refocus their attention on God, not Moses. Jesus then said to them, “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.
Jesus reminds them that the true source of the manna was not Moses but God. It is God who sends bread. God not only sent physical bread in those early day, He is still sending bread. This same God is now offering them real (true, genuine; alēthinos) bread or spiritual bread. This bread out of heaven is real bread, the bread which sustains the inner man and provide the substance needed to do the works of God that are imperishable (v. 27).
[The manna in the wilderness story went beyond mere bread. It is a spiritual metaphor for how God feeds us His word. Deuteronomy 8:3 may well have entered Jesus’ debate: “[God] humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”] As physical bread is necessary for physical life, so spiritual bread, the real bread out of heaven is necessary for spiritual life.
III. THE BREAD OF LIFE, 33-35.
The bread God supplies gives life. “For the bread of God is the One who comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
If God is truly the source of true heavenly bread and if Jesus has been sent by God, the shocking turn in verse 33 should come as no surprise. The bread of God is a person (“the One who comes down from heaven”), a person who gives life to the world. Jesus is the only one that truly sustains that which is truly life. As physical food is necessary for physical life, so is spiritual food necessary for spiritual life.
With a stroke of genius, Jesus has done precisely what He has done throughout the Gospel. He utilizes some feature of Jewish belief and ritual and reinterprets it to refer to Himself. He is the manna from God’s heaven for which Israel has been waiting. He has been sent by God as manna descended in the desert. The difference is He gives and sustains spiritual life, which is eternal life.
The response of the crowd in verse 34 forms a climax. Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
Like the Samaritan woman at the well who said, “Sir give me this water (4:15) the congregation response with a desire to receive it. The only problem is they are still understanding and wanting this bread to be in the physical sense, of and for the earth.
They want this bread because its fleshly desirability. The emphatic adverb always betrays that they still think only of bodily bread that would obviate their baking and their buying so that they could constantly eat whenever they grow hungry.
Jesus makes His meaning about the new type of bread even plainer in verse 35. Jesus said to them, “I AM The Bread of Life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
Pressing right through this unspiritual fog flashes the reply of Jesus, destroying once and for all every notion of bodily bread and bodily eating. Jesus boldly proclaims “I AM the Bread of Life.” Jesus is “living bread,” as once before He proclaimed Himself “living water.”
This famous saying (“I AM the Bread of Life”) heads the list of what we call the “I-AM sayings” in John. [Several times Jesus uses “I am” without a predicate, that echoes God’s name in Exodus. But there are seven places in the Gospel where Jesus provides a clear predicate noun to describe Himself, and these are solemn pronouncements.]
Jesus claimed to be the only permanent substance and satisfaction for the human condition, for the human desire for life. He Himself is the food, the sustenance that nourishes spiritual life. It is only from this bread that men really obtain life. How can anyone think of mere bodily bread and mere physical existence when so much more is offered? Jesus is He Who came out of heaven from God and gives life eternal. He, the Lord God, was sent on this mission of life for the world. To Him men must come. In Him they must trust. Of Him, of His life, they must partake. His life must become their life. If they come and eat and drink of His life they shall never hunger and thirst for eternal life again! No reply could have set the people straight as to who He is and what He came to do so potently.
The not and never are emphatic (οὐ μή) indicating that no one will experience the emptiness of spiritual hunger and thirst after receiving Christ. This does not rule out a further need or hunger and thirst for spiritual things but it rules out a being empty of the Spirit of eternal life.
Some things in life are luxuries. Bread however is a daily necessity. We can live without dainty appetizers, rich deserts, and fancy food preparations, but we must have bread. Jesus is the Bread of Life! We must have Christ! Men are invited to come to Him and to believe on Him! Without Christ we perish! He offers life! He opens Heaven up to us!
IV. SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING, 36-40.
Jesus announces His disappointment with the crowd in verse 36. “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.
The true significance of the what Jesus’ has said and [the mighty acts He] has done has not penetrated. Their hearing and seeing did not cause them to believe. What causes us to believe?
Verse 37 states that the desire for following Jesus must come from God the Father. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not [never no never] cast out.
Jesus affirms that many would come to Him in faith and partake of Him as the Bread of Life, because of the Father. Man’s blindness does not keep God’s grace from working. When they come, they find that God does not turn them away nor cast them away later.
CHARLOTTE ELLIOTT learned an important lesson about Jesus one sleepless night in 1834. She was an invalid, so when her family held a bazaar in Brighton, England, to raise money to build a school, she could only watch from afar.
That night she was overwhelmed by her helplessness and could not sleep. But her sadness turned to joy when she realized that God accepted her just as she was.
Her experience inspired these well loved words: "Just as I am, without one plea but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee, 0 Lamb of God, I come! I come!" When she published the poem in The Invalid’s Hymn Book she included with it John 6:37.
Jesus always accepts people as they are. In John 6, the people had come from miles around to hear Jesus. When the crowd became hungry, He miraculously fed them with a boy’s unselfish gift of five loaves and two fish. Then the Lord offered Himself as "the bread of life," promising that He would not turn away anyone who came to Him. It’s still true today. No one who comes to Jesus will be turned away. Come to Him with all your sin. He’ll accept you just as you are. No one is good enough to save himself; no one is bad enough that God can’t save him.- Dave Egner
Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, Wilt welcome, Pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe, 0 Lamb of God, I come! I come! -Elliott
The verb “cast out” (Gk. ekballo), refers regularly to something that is already “in” (2:15; 9:35; 12:31). Therefore the idea is not about Jesus’ welcoming people, but about Jesus’ keeping people whom the Father has given into His care. John 6:37b is about the protecting, nurturing capacity of Jesus. Jesus will not lose a single one of those who have come to Him.
Verse 38 speaks of the perfect unity of purpose between the Father and the Son. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
This is the sixth time in this context Jesus has said that He came down out of heaven. It is an unmistakable claim that He originated in heaven. The reason He came to us from heaven was to do His Father’s will.
The overarching will of God is stated in verse 39. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
The possession of eternal life now and the hope of resurrection on the last day are occurrences that the Father and Son are agreed upon for those who come in faith to Jesus. (1 Cor. 15:58).
Verse 40 proclaims the Father’s purpose in sending Jesus. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
Jesus fulfills the Father’s purpose for creating life. Jesus as the Source Of Life, the Sustainer Of Life, the Satisfaction In Life, and the Security Of Life Eternal. All we must do is fix our eyes on Jesus and believe in Him with the intent of living out that belief.
Jesus loving desires to be your light in darkness, your security in uncertainty, your companion in loneliness, your guide in lostness, your protector in battle, your hop in death, your certainty in perplexity and your source of vitality for productiveness. He desires that we should receive Him not only for what He might give us, but for what He might be to us.
CONCLUSION / TIME OF RESPONSE
Our basic hunger comes from our being separate from God, who made us for Himself. This hunger and thirst remain until we are fed by the only thing that can fill man’s permanent hunger and quench man’s perpetual thirst. We need to be loved, forgiven and saved. Only God can do that. That is why Jesus, YAHWEH Himself, came to suffer and be broken for us, that we might be forgiven. Sin separates us from God. It defeats us, robs us of life. Jesus won the victory, won eternal life for us on Calvary.
Come to Him right now, admit your hunger and thirst. Give up running your own life, justifying your own self, taking charge of your own guilts, fears and frustrations. Come to Jesus and find forgiveness; find satisfaction. The Bread - the Substance of life, life eternal is offered freely. Come and Believe NOW. Come and receive nourishment and strength. Christ will infuse life and His strength in to your total life. Strength of conviction for our intellects. The strength of love for our emotions. The strength of will to do His will. As we stand and sing Hymn # . You Come. Only Christ the Bread of Life can satisfy you spiritual hunger.
“Living for Jesus” -Chisholm
