John 6:22-35, Jesus is the Bread of Life (1)

The most important quest is the search for eternal life.  The rich ruler asked Jesus, “What good thing must I do to inherit eternal life” (Matt. 19:16)?  A lawyer asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life” (Luke 10:25)?  The crowd, when Peter confronted them with their sin, cried out, “What shall we do” (Acts 2:37)?  The jailer pleaded with Paul, “What must I do to be saved” (Acts 16:30)?  This is the essence of Jesus’ “Bread of Life” sermon in John 6.  The crowd asked Jesus, “From now on give us this bread” (v34).

Jesus had returned to Capernaum in the night, joining His disciples in the midst of the stormy sea.  Therefore, the people made their way around the Sea of Galilee to find Him, asking a logical question: “Jesus, when did you get here?”  Jesus had no time for their question.  Instead, Jesus answered a different question, “Why are you people here.”  He confronted them with the truth: they followed him because He fed them and they wanted more?  Their question was frivolous.  His answer got to their hearts.  Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you. 

We need to think about this.  Our days are filled with things that are fairly meaningless compared to the issue of eternal life.  Why do we do the things we do?  Jesus challenged them, and us, to deal with the most important question in life.

The crowd responded: What shall we do that we may work the works of God? To this Jesus said: This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.  As with Nicodemus and the woman of Samaria, Jesus put Himself out for them to consider.  It’s interesting.  To believe is the absence of work; faith in Christ cannot be earned.  Yet, the hardest thing for us to do is to do nothing but believe in Christ and to lay aside the thought that we can somehow earn eternal life.  We want to know: what must I do?  Jesus said the “work” is to “believe.”

The crowd responded with a third question: “What sign will you perform for us?”  They really followed Him to get more bread.  But they tried to justify it by referring to Moses.  “Moses gave us bread every day in the wilderness.  The Bible even says, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.  In essence, the crowd is asking Jesus, “What will you give us?”

Jesus’ answer is the point of this conversation: He presents Himself as the bread from God that gives true life.  The crowd responded as you would expect: “Lord, give us this bread always.”  The word “always” tells us they were expecting something like Moses, where every day Jesus would provide for them. 

Jesus’ response sets the stage for all that follows: I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst!  There is no eternal life apart from faith in Jesus.