What did HE say? (continued)
Bread of Life
We come now to one of the more difficult concepts from the Gospel of John, in fact in all of the sayings of Jesus. This dialogue so perplexed the people that heard it that John tells us that many that “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him” (John 6:66). We don’t know how many disciples Jesus had at this time and place and we don’t know the count of many but we should understand that these sayings of Jesus so moved some that they found it necessary to leave the Master over them. These sayings have continued to be controversial, misinterpreted and misunderstood by the church over the centuries. The dialogue begins after one to the miracles of the loaves in which Jesus feeds 5000 men who, being justly overwhelmed by the magnitude of the feat, wanted to “take him by force, to make him a king” (John 6:15).
Jesus eludes them and joins His disciples later “walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship” (John 6:19). There is a bit of difference between John’s account of this event and that of Matthew and of Mark; in Matthew Peter asks to join the Master on the sea but this does not appear in John’s version nor in Mark’s. Both Matthew and Mark say that when the Master entered the boat the wind died down and all was calm while according to John when Jesus entered into the ship, it was immediately at its destination. The mention of this is only to point out the importance of the effect of the personalities involved in these and most all of the inspired writings. Each of these three, and two of them are presumed to have been there, sees the same events with a slightly different understanding or sense of importance. It is unlikely that in either of these differences that the issue is one of recollection as they are both, at least historically, rather dynamic events.
Going on; the following day the people that Jesus and His disciples left behind, knowing that the disciples alone took ship, are looking for Jesus but do not find Him. Realizing that He is not there “they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus” and when they find Him “they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?” (John 6:24-25). Jesus never answers this question but goes on to start our subject discussion on the bread of life.
“Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:26-29). In this saying are many pearls of wisdom that the people hear but do not understand and here is the beginning of the dialogue that causes the departure of many of His disciples.
He is first of all telling them that they were drawn to Him, to find Him and be with Him because they had eaten of the loaves that the Master created in the wilderness for their consumption. Now this is heavenly bread not because it came down from heaven but because it was made by the Master of divine substance. One can only imagine what the taste was like or how satisfying it was to partake in eating it. And to His statement regarding why they were there with Him again, Jesus attaches a lesson. He says “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life“. Now we don’t know from this if He was talking about the bread which He created for them or all bread in a physical sense and that is of no real importance. What He is saying to them, and to us, in this whole dialogue is only understood when looked at from a spiritual perspective. This saying is much the same as all of Jesus’ sayings of this nature; whether it be to the woman at the well regarding living water or it be His sayings in the Beatitudes regarding the physical wants for food and drink and clothing. Here He is saying to labour for the things of the Spirit; He says to the woman at the well “the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14) and He says in the Beatitudes “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).
All of these sayings are the same in effect; the bread of life or living water or the Kingdom of God. All are of the spiritual life; all lead to and are eternal life. It is interesting to note that aside from their use in Jesus words to Nicodemus, John never mentions the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven choosing instead to speak in terms of the Bread of Life and the Living Water. Jesus is telling the people that they should labour for the meat that endureth forever, for the Kingdom of God, and as we shall see that the people do understand this as the works of God. Here Jesus continues His saying telling them that He is the source of this meat and affirms His relationship with the Father in telling them that “for him hath God the Father sealed“. The peoples’ response, again, is with some degree of understanding of the saying of the Master for they accept what He says about being the source of the meat as well as what He tells them of His relationship to the Father God. They ask: “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?”
The Master’s answer is clear and straightforward; He says “this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent“. Here we have Jesus equating work and belief or faith; that belief is work and it is the work of God; this is another difficult saying. On the surface it appears that He is simply saying that if you believe in Me that you are doing the works of God but this is just the surface. It is in the depth of the word believe that the true answer is found as well as the harmony between this saying His others recorded in the gospels. Believe here is from the Greek word pisteuo which is defined in the lexicon as to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in; of the thing believed, to credit, have confidence; in a moral or religious reference used in the NT of the conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and law of soul to trust in Jesus or God as able to aid either in obtaining or in doing something: saving faith, mere acknowledgment of some fact or event: intellectual faith to entrust a thing to one, i.e. his fidelity to be intrusted with a thing. Rather lengthy. Strong’s defines believe as to believe, put one’s faith in, trust with an implication that actions based on that trust may follow; (pass.) entrust.
Most of the implications of these definitions reflect on our common understanding of faith; that we believe that something is for us or that we believe that something is true. Applying these meanings to the context of Jesus saying does not at all imply that this is a work of God; rather it could be seen as to the contrary. So how should we look at this believing as being the work of God which heretofore we saw as being wrought in righteousness and Love and as the will of the Father. Within the words found in the definitions above we find to put one’s faith in, conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and law of soul, and, from Webster’s to have a firm persuasion, esp. of the truths of religion; to have a persuasion approaching to certainty; to exercise belief or faith.
Let us rearrange these word to fit the general and the specific message of the Master. Our work is to believe on Him that was sent by God to show us the way to the Kingdom of God. In this belief we have conviction and trust in the Master and what He says; we have firm persuasion that His way is the way and, focused on Him whom we trust, we turn away from the world of men and follow the path of the Christ; the path that He just told us leads to life everlasting. So we have here the active act of believing and this is the work of God because in following the One whom we trust we do as He says to do. We should see that this is not merely an act of believing that He is the Christ; it is an active belief that carries with it all the same criteria that we discussed in previous posts concerning attaining to the Kingdom of God.
In short, to have the proper understanding of this idea that “this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” we need to look at the entirety of Jesus’ sayings. No one verse or saying should be ever taken out of the context of the whole of His teaching. To truly believe, to truly have faith, to be a Son of God to be in the Kingdom is all the same. If we believe, we follow and we are sons; if we believe, we do His works we are striving toward the strait gate; if we believe and we follow then He is truly our Shepherd. We seek what He seeks, we do what He would have us do and in this all we shall be in His Presence.
“For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27).
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
through which to us the most great and precious promises have been given, that through these ye may become partakers of a divine nature, having escaped from the corruption in the world in desires. And this same also — all diligence having brought in besides, superadd in your faith the worthiness, and in the worthiness the knowledge, and in the knowledge the temperance, and in the temperance the endurance, and in the endurance the piety, and in the piety the brotherly kindness, and in the brotherly kindness the love; for these things being to you and abounding, do make [you] neither inert nor unfruitful in regard to the acknowledging of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:4-8)
- * Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
- ** from New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- *** Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
