Untitled Sermon (12)
Hope in the Resurrection
RECEIVING CHRIST’S TRUTH (vv. 26–35)
Jesus began with a confrontation.
“I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” (v. 26)
In other words, “You seek me only because you want full stomachs, because you are materially motivated.” Today too some follow him hoping for a comfortable, soothing, indulgent Savior.
Our Lord continued:
“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”(v. 27)
With that statement he began to reveal the spiritual realities he wanted people to see. He was saying there are two kinds of bread, a material bread that perishes and a spiritual bread that lives eternally.
We all know that groceries perish. I can remember many times when my wife came home with a station wagon full of groceries, but by nightfall my boys were complaining there was nothing in the house to eat. Our Lord was reminding the crowd that we earn physical food by the sweat of our brow, but spiritual food is eternal life. That food does not come by work. It comes from Christ.
In these verses our Lord began to elevate the people’s defective view of what life is all about. We see this in the exchange that follows in verses 28–29.
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
They asked what kind of work they had to do to get the bread they needed. Our Lord responded by saying there is no physical work we can do—we just need to believe in him. The bread that endures comes through faith.
Suppose you invited another family over for a Sunday afternoon dinner. It is a great meal. You really put on the spread for them. You fix their favorite meat, cooked just the way they like it. There is a big, tossed green salad, steaming baked potatoes with cheese sauce, a refreshing beverage, and then apple pie à la mode (just about everybody’s favorite dessert). What a dinner! Soon everyone is sitting back, patting full tummies. And suppose, when it comes time for your guests to leave, they take out their wallets and ask, “How much do we owe you for this?” You would probably say, “You don’t owe me anything!” But what if your guests respond, “We most certainly do! We are not freeloaders! How much do we owe you?” They even throw you a couple of twenty-dollar bills. Just a mention of payment in such a setting would be a grievous insult. Yet, we find ourselves going through life trying to pay for a free meal and in the process insulting our Lord. As Jesus says in verse 29, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” In other words, the bread that endures unto eternal life is the bread that is freely given and that we freely receive. It comes through belief. We do not pay for it ourselves.
Unfortunately, the crowd did not catch on, and the evidence of their dullness is found in verses 30–31. Instead of carrying this conversation on to its consummation and understanding the deep truths, the people tried to divert and test our Lord.
So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
“Jesus, we’re not really interested in all that. You did a great sign yesterday when you fed the 5,000, and now we want you to do a miracle on a par with Moses’ miracle. He fed all of Israel six days a week for forty years with bread from heaven.”
To understand what they were saying and why, we need to consider Exodus 16:
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.” (vv. 1–4)
The LORD said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’ ” That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.” (vv. 11–15)
You can imagine, as the sun came up, the buzz of conversation as people all around the camp asked, “What is it?” “What is it?” “What is it?” A father might have said to his daughter, “Tabitha, gather some of this white stuff—you know, the whatchamacallit?” And she would say, “Sure, but what is it, Father?” We know that is what happened because verse 31 says, “The people of Israel called the bread manna,” which means “What is it?” So for the next forty years, six days a week, every morning the Jews ate “What is it?”
This was the idea running through the back of the minds of the people who were confronting Jesus. Jews even had a fable that Jeremiah, at the destruction of the temple, had taken some of the manna and hidden it, and when the Messiah came, he would provide manna. So these people were saying to our Lord, “You did a great miracle yesterday. Now what we want is really a big one—bread from heaven every day!”
There had just been a miracle the day before, but that miracle was not enough. We are the same way. We say, “God, if we can just have another miracle, if you would just do something else for me today … !” We forget what he has done in our lives already. One of the reasons David had so much power in his life was that he had not forgotten what God had done when he faced the lion and the bear, and that gave him the courage to face Goliath.
Jesus realized the crowd needed some correction, so he said in verses 32–33:
“I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
The crowd did not completely understand what Jesus was saying, but they understood part of it. He was correcting them. The bread they wanted did not come from Moses—it came from God. They understood that, and they understood that he was talking about something a little beyond the material. But they did not completely understand, so they continued to question. In fact, they really led with their chins in verse 34. “ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘from now on give us this bread.’ ”
Now Jesus had them where he wanted them, so he could tell them what he could do for them. There are seven great “I am” sayings in the book of John—“I am the light,” “I am the door,” “I am the good shepherd,” “I am the resurrection and the life,” “I am the way and the truth and the life,” “I am the true vine,” and here in verse 35:
“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
What a statement! “I am the bread of life.” It is no coincidence that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, “the house of bread,” as prophesied hundreds of years earlier by Micah (5:2). The Word became flesh, and we broke it. There is no coincidence about that either. It was all planned by the Lord, for our redemption.
There are several similarities between manna and Jesus, “the bread of life.” The manna typified Jesus, for it was white like fallen snow, just as Christ was without blemish or imperfection. Manna was also accessible. That was one of its main virtues. When a man walked outside the camp to gather it, he had a choice. He could either tread on it or he could pick it up. We can either tread upon Jesus or we can take him as our Savior. To change metaphors, the Scriptures say Jesus can either be a cornerstone or a stumbling block. How we respond to him makes all the difference.
Jesus is “the bread of life.” He is our sustenance. Verse 35 says that he who comes to Christ will not hunger and he who believes in him will never thirst. Apart from Christ, nothing satisfies. The best of fishing trips must be followed by another fishing trip. The most exquisite meal still leaves you hungry. C. S. Lewis said, “I cannot find a cup of tea which is big enough or a book that is long enough.” You can play the best racquetball game, be at your best, but it has to be followed by another game. You can have a great Sunday dinner, but it has to be followed by a good breakfast in the morning. You can wear the fanciest, most chic clothes, but you will have to have new clothes next year. All of these things are like a Chinese dinner—in just a few hours you are empty and ready to eat again. That is the way it is with the best things of life. Somerset Maugham dressed in his finest tuxedo and night after night played cards with the most famous people in all of the world. Dukes and duchesses sought his favor. He had the most exclusive of parties. But he found no lasting satisfaction.
But the bread of life satisfies. I would not agree with everything that Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, but I know that at the end of his life he was a man who was full of Christ. When he was transferred from the Nazi prison to the main Gestapo prison in 1944 and he knew his end was near, he calmly said good-bye to his prisoner friends. They said he seemed at peace, except “his eyes were quite unnatural.” In all he was a remarkable testimony for Christ. One of the last messages received from him bore testimony to his marvelous spirit. It was a poem entitled “New Year 1945.” The third stanza reads:
Should it be ours to drain the cup of grieving
Even to the dregs of pain, at thy command,
We will not falter, thankfully receiving
All that is given by thy loving hand.2
He was a man who was full of Christ, and he was satisfied. What a contrast with our pathetic millionaire on the Riviera. God says:
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
hear me, that your soul may live.
Isaiah 55:1–3
