What attracts certain people to another person? Often enough you might hear reasons such as that other person gives them security, they make enough money to keep them comfortable throughout life. They make me feel good, they make me laugh, they do this or that for me, etc. When we look closer, it seems they are attracted to the other person more for what that person can do for them, rather than for who that other person really is. This is nothing new, for we see the same attitude with some of the people who followed the Lord Jesus. Let’s look into today’s Gospel reading.
The day prior to when our Scripture begins, the Lord Jesus has multiplied a few small loaves of bread and a couple of fish to feed over 5,000 people. The next day the crowds gathered together when Jesus and His disciples had crossed the Sea of Galilee. He saw them clamoring around Him, and knew the real reason that many of them were there. As our passage begins, a crowd of people followed Jesus to the other side of the Sea, and then questioned Him how He had gotten there (vs. 24-25). Jesus knew their mind (John 2:24-25), and that they came to Him because He had fed them food. Many of the people in the crowds which followed Jesus were motivated by superficial desires of food, rather than understanding Jesus and His mission.
Jesus proceeded to teach the people a lesson about what to seek after. They were seeking after physical things, gratifying their desire for physical food. Jesus said to seek after what will endure to everlasting life (vs. 26-27). What we eat lasts just for a day, it helps our physical body for just a limited amount of time. When we seek after the Lord, and feed upon His Word, the Bible, that will last forever, on into eternity.
They then asked Jesus what works they could do to achieve eternal life (vs. 28). However, God doesn’t desire any works that we could do. What He is asking for is an attitude of the heart and mind. We are to believe in the One God sent (vs. 29). Stop trying to do good works or religious rituals to merit heaven. Those are all fine and good, but under no circumstances can they earn us heaven. Instead, it is only by trusting Jesus that we can see heaven. Satisfying God does not come from the works we do, but from Whom we believe, accepting that Jesus is who He claims to be. The only “work” God desires is faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Messiah and Son of God.
After this statement, the people wanted Jesus to prove Himself. They wanted some type of sign that they could see which would prove to them that He was who He said He was. They brought up the manna that their fathers had eaten in the wilderness.. The crowd felt that Jesus’ miracle of feeding the 5,000 was small compared to what Moses did with the manna. They wanted Jesus to do something similar, some sign and miracle that would “wow” them, that would even outdo Moses if they were to believe (vs. 30-31).
The manna, though, was temporary, and it perished by the next morning. It was a shadow of what God offered in the true bread, the Lord Jesus Christ (vs. 32-35). Jesus is the Bread of Life. He is the only One who can truly satisfy our heart and feed our soul with sustenance that leads to eternal life.
People eat bread to satisfy physical hunger and to sustain physical life. We can satisfy spiritual hunger and sustain spiritual life only by a right relationship with Jesus Christ. Bread must be eaten to sustain life. It does us no good just lying on the table. Similarly, Jesus must be invited into our heart and life in order to sustain spiritual life.
As we read this Scripture passage, do we identify with these crowds? Are we more interested in who Jesus is, or in what He can do for us? Too many people are more concerned about what He can give them than about getting to know who He is. Let’s come to Jesus, seeking the Bread of Life, for in Him we will never hunger or thirst again.
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