Food that Endures: A Meditation on John 6, for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost

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.

 

In John 6, the crowd followed Jesus in pursuit of the miraculous bread He provided at the feeding of the 5,000.  While physical nourishment is necessary to sustain life in this world, and the working poor would have a reasonable desire for free bread, Jesus wanted to teach them something of much greater significance than a full belly.  While the food a person would eat today would leave them hungry tomorrow, the nourishment Jesus was offering didn’t work that way.  Instead, what Jesus wanted to give the crowd was greater than feeding the hungry, healing the sick, or even raising the dead:  it was eternal life.  Only Jesus could offer them nourishment for their souls, that even when they suffered or died in this world, their lives would be kept forever in Him.  Jesus knew that every material miracle and gift He provided to the people would eventually fade, and that no matter how many diseases He cured or bellies He filled, the greater need for mankind was to overcome death itself.  In this way Jesus would be for them the Bread of Heaven—that which nourished their souls with faith and repentance unto everlasting life, all for the sake of His sacrifice yet to come on the Cross.

 

Of course, the people then as the people today, often misunderstood Jesus.  While it is good to help people in their physical needs, and Jesus did this many times, His miracles were intended to point people toward faith in Him.  Across the thousands of years of the Church’s history, there have been countless miracles of all types and sorts, from healings of diseases, to rescues from foes, to victories in battle, to resurrections, and countless others in between.  Yet all the authentic miracles of the Church are not intended to shine light upon the Church or particular Christians, but rather to point people to Jesus.  When the Church celebrates the miracles of St. Peter and St. Paul recorded in the Book of Acts, or the miracles of Moses recorded in Exodus, or the miracles of Elijah and Elisha recorded in the Books of the Kings, none of those miracles are for the glory of the saints through whom they were conducted, but solely to guide people back to the saving God who sent them.  God’s perspective is eternal, while people tend to fixate on the moment—and in our fallen state, people tend to prefer the gifts that perish with the using, rather than the gifts which endure forever.

 

Take, for example, a person’s priority of physical food over spiritual food.  If I am hungry, I seek nourishment, and often something tasty that satisfies both my hunger and my desire for succulence.  And not only once do I do this, but multiple times a day, allowing my appetites and desires to make me gluttonous in my eating and drinking, and my waistline to show the results.  Even if I supposed myself to be in athletic training, my eating is disciplined toward a goal of performance and recovery, feeding my body with excesses to ensure strong muscles and bones.  But how often do I pursue the food that endures not to the next meal or the next competition, but unto eternal life?  How often do I feed my soul on the Word of Jesus, that I might be nourished in my inner self and prepared to see a life far beyond the few decades I will spend in this world?  In truth, I think it would hard to find any people who spend more time imbibing the Word of God, properly meditating upon it, seeking understanding from it, and resolving to let that Word conform the totality of daily life, than they do in pursuing physical food and drink.  But this is the condition of our fall—seeking to keep that which we cannot by means that will always fail us, while holding in low regard the eternal things which abide forever, and are given to us freely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

 

But the Good News is that Jesus knows what we need, and provides it for us anyway.  Jesus knew what the crowd around Him needed as they clamored for more bread, even as He knows what we need as we clamor for whatever our appetites impudently demand today.  Jesus’ resolute march to Calvary secured for us the forgiveness of our sins which satisfied the justice and wrath of our holy, omnipotent God.  His sacrifice in our place transferred our deadly punishment to Him, that He might give to us His eternal life reconciled to our Maker.  No longer exiled rebels destined for incarceration in the eternal fires of hell, we rise by grace through faith in Jesus with a life that can never be taken from us, in a kingdom that can never fade away.  Jesus is indeed the Bread which came down from Heaven that feeds His people, nourishes them, and sustains them every moment of every day, unto ages of ages without end.  The Word of the Lord endures forever, as do those who abide in it by faith.  All these good gifts Jesus won for us while we were yet sinners, still rebels and enemies of God in our blasphemy and disbelief, so that His Word and Spirit might transform and enliven us forever.  Even when we prefer tacos and tequila, He still brings us His Body and His Blood, that even though we die, we will live.

 

Let go your gratuitous appetites which war against your soul and clutter your mind, so that it may be filled with the good things of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.  Listen to Him by hearing and abiding in His Word, learning of Him, and following Him as the Holy Spirit takes hold of your soul and begins to transform it into a reflection of His glory.  God knows what we have need of in this mortal life, and He provides for our needs out of His good and gracious care, even using His people to care for the physical needs of their neighbors.  Yet the true Bread, the true riches, the most profound gifts of grace and mercy and life come only by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.  May the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, and nourish you in His grace forever.  Soli Deo Gloria—amen.