Sermon Tone Analysis

Exegetical Point:

Homiletic Point:

Intro

Recap:

The book is unfolding the manifold facets of who Jesus is.

Written so that you may beleive and have life in Jesus name!

recently, Jesus fed the 5000 with 5 loaves & 2 fish on the other side of Lake Galilee

The people recognized this as a reflection of Moses who “fed” the people of Israel in the wilderness with Manna & Quail.

They were going to take Jesus and make him king by force, Jesus slips away while he sends the disciples over to Capernaum in the west.

Jesus catches up to them on the lake, striding across the waves!

Jesus brings his people safely to shore.

The crowds follow to search Jesus.

Brings us to our passage today:

All of Ch 6 fits together as a unit.

After the miracles, we now get a discussion that fleshes out the meaning behind it all.

It’s a big Q&A sesh.

Like a rope - several strands running in parallel, may mixed metaphors.

We aren’t going to trace each strand individually, or we’d be spending 3 Sundays in this text!

(while that is valuable and worthwhile, I’m trying to move fast enough through John that you’re seeing how all the story flows and how the big paces fit together).

We’re going to trace the main unfolding of the text with the 6 Answers Jesus gives.

These 6 answers will summarize what Jesus has to say to the Jews, and to us today historically and geographically removed from these events.

1. Work for Food that Endures

This is the first answer!

But we haven't even asked the question yet!

The crowd went across the lake in search of Jesus, even though they don’t know where he went.

Let’s look:

The crowd is confused, because the hadn’t seen Jesus leave the other side of the lake.

The disciples left without him, yet here he was!

Jesus cuts to past the question, ignoring their curiosity and cutting to their hearts:

Oof! Straight between the eyes!

You’re not here for Godly spiritual reasons, you’re here because of the miraculous food.

You want to feed your bellies!

Jesus highlights where their motives are wrong.

They have a good action - search for Jesus, but bad motive - get free food.

News would be spreading like wildfire, of the new prophet who performed this great miracle, but they’re not there to find out what God says through his prophet and understand the one that the signs reveal.

SO Jesus tell them what they should be doing: “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life”

They’re trying mighty hard to find Jesus, chasing him across the countryside for a free feed, and Jesus is saying “Stop working for this food that can go bad, but work for something better - food that can never get moldy!

Food that lasts for eternal life!

The manna in the wilderness would go bad after a day or two.

The bread Jesus used to feed the 5000 was regular bread that would deteriorate.

Jesus says work hard for something that doesn’t deteriorate!

Where are you going to find it?

With the Son of Man - the divine figure from God. God has approved this Son of Man as the real deal and he is authorized to distribute this “food” that lasts.

Jesus often uses “Son of Man” as a roundabout way to talk about himself.

It’s clear here that he’s talking about himself because the crowd is about to ask Jesus for that Eternal Food.

Jesus is the one who has this enduring food, and he can give it.

So he gives this food, but he calls his hearers to work for it!

That’s weird!

How can you work for a gift?!?

I think here Jesus means for them to “work” for it meaning they should try and get it.

They can’t earn it, but they must seek it and look for it with great effort, just like the have been looking for Jesus these last couple of days.

It’s worth taking pause here to ask, what are you seeking from Jesus?

We have asked this over the last couple weeks, but it’s important to drive this point home.

Many people will leave the faith, they will prove themselves to false converts, goats among the sheep so-to-speak.

When you ask these people why they don’t believe anymore, you will get a variety of answers, but the thing that they have in common is that there is a dissatisfaction with something that Jesus didn’t promise them.

They might cite

Sinners and hypocrites in the Church,

Christian teaching being out of step with popular opinion

An apparent contradiction between God’s word and the latest scientific opinion.

God didn’t give them the life they had hoped for.

But you notice what the pattern is?

People are always dissatisfied with the Faith because they were looking to Jesus to give them something he doesn’t promise.

There is a mis-match between their expectations and what Jesus holds out!

Seek the bread that leads to life, not the things that are fleeting.

Put the effort in to gain that which Jesus will give you!

But what is the work?

What must we do?

That’s what the Jews ask that next!

2. The work is: Believe in the Sent One

So, to get this answer, they ask this follow up question apparently unaware that Jesus is talking metaphorically:

It’s a simple enough question.

You said to work for the food that lasts to eternal life and you’ll give it to us.

“What work must we do?”

The answer is surprising, because it doesn’t seem like work at all: “Believe on the one He has sent”!

The effort, the work is to trust.

To believe.

To have confidence in the one God has sent.

Putting two and two together from the previous verses, we can see that the Son of Man is the one approved by God, it’s not a big step to see that Jesus is not only the approved one, he is sent from God, and Jesus is inviting these people to put their trust in him.

3. The Father sends the Bread of Life

So we come to the third part of the Q&A where the crowd starts comparing Jesus to Moses as they ask for a sign to prove that Jesus really is from God.

Once again Jesus side steps the question for the more important thing that needs to be said:

So, to summarize, The crowd says “Prove you’re a prophet of God like Moses.

Can you do better than Moses?”

Jesus responds “Moses isn’t giving you bread from heaven right now, but God the Father is.

He’s giving life giving bread.”

They’re still stuck on miracles and food, and Jesus is here trying to get them to focus on what God is giving right now!

You remember that God delivered through Moses back in the day, and you wonder what amazing things Jesus could do in the future, but what about the true bread that is given that day.

Jesus is talking about a figurative bread that God is giving, that doesn’t just take away a little hunger in the desert, or on the shores of Lake Galilee, but instead it is Bread of Heaven that brings life to the world!

Even if the crowd doesn’t quite get it, the still understand that Jesus is talking about something good, and they want it!

4. Jesus is the Bread of Life

This 4th answer clears up the figurative language.

The ask from this heavenly bread, and Jesus will explain what it is:

So Jesus states it plainly - he Is the Bread of Life that God is giving.

The food that endures to eternal life, you work for it by believing in the Sent One, that sent one is Jesus.

He is the Bread of Life who brings that eternal life.

We need food and drink to survive, so the idea that we could have something that sustains us indefinitely means that we could live on.

Like a battery that never runs out!

Jesus is the gift of life to the world for the person who believes!

And not believing in some general faith about God, believing specifically on Jesus.

He is the object of our faith as the sent on from God.