John 6:22-35 – This is Jesus: The Bread of God

Preached on May 25, 2008, by Eric Schumacher

Topics: Gospel Of John

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached May 25, 2008 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Audio available here.

This is a fitting weekend to begin this section. Tomorrow is “Memorial Day,” a day set aside by the United States to remember those who have served in the military, particularly those who gave their lives in exchange for our freedom. It is a day when we remember what others have given so that we may have life. It something that a nation cannot afford to forget.

This section, beginning with these verses, is about what God has given for the life of the world. And this message is not one that the world can afford to miss or that God’s people can afford to forget.

Seek…

The Feeding of the 5,000 is not something that is quickly forgotten. And the crowd, who wanted to make Jesus their king by force, has not forgotten him overnight. So, they went looking for Jesus.

We read in verse 22: “On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.”

Evidently, the crowd had watched the disciples depart the previous evening. They recalled that there was only one boat there, the boat in which the disciples left. They recalled that Jesus was not with his disciples. Therefore, they knew that there was no way for Jesus to have sailed to Capernaum.

We read in verse 23 that “other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.” The storm, which the disciples encountered the previous night, had blown boats across the Sea of Galilee from Tiberias to the place outside of Bethsaida where Jesus had fed the crowd. The crowd took advantage of their newly acquired vessels and sailed them to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

…and Find

In verse 25, we read that they found Jesus in Capernaum. Upon finding him, they ask, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Knowing that the disciples left without Jesus in the only boat available makes them naturally curious about when, and especially how, he got there.

The Rebuke

Jesus does not answer their question, but addresses their hearts. Being very blunt, he offers not an answer but a rebuke. He says in verse 26, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of loaves.”

“You are seeking me, not because you saw signs…” Remember, a sign is a something done by Jesus, usually miraculous, that signifies who he is and what he came to do. The crowds saw (and tasted!) the miracle. But they did not see (or taste) what that miracle signified.

They are not pursuing him because of who the loaves and fishes signified that he was. They are seeking Jesus “because [they] ate their fill of bread.”

They saw a meal, not the true Messiah. Their bellies got full of bread, but their hearts were not full of Christ. They loved Jesus for what he could provide them in this world, but they did not love him for who he was and what he offered in eternity.

They saw an earthly kingdom that comes with a sword and is sustained by bread and fish. They did not see the Kingdom of God that comes by the Spirit-anointed Suffering-Servant.

They saw a second Moses, who would give them free food and political liberation. They did not see the Servant of God who would offer them a greater Passover and Exodus from bondage to sin as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

True Compassion

What has Jesus done here? He refuses to give them what they are seeking. And, he rebukes them for their wrong motives. Here is the application I take from this: Exposing the sin of our hearts is a more compassionate thing than satisfying the desires of our flesh.

Jesus fed them with bread in the first half of the chapter because he had compassion on the crowds (so say Matthew and Mark). He has not ceased to be compassionate now. He, in fact, is showing greater compassion.

He sees that the reason they are seeking him is wrong and misdirected. If they continue down this path, they will not rightly see who he is, not turn from their sins, and not believe in him as “the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.” In fact, if they are encouraged in their pursuit of Jesus for the immediate satisfaction of the flesh, they will be disillusioned at the crucifixion, reject him and never come to believe and have eternal life.

Do you see how this principle applies in your own life? First, do you see it as more compassionate of Jesus (working through his word and through other people) to expose your sin than to satisfy your flesh? Or, do you begrudge the school of suffering? When Jesus refuses to satisfy some temporary desire or puts you in a place of suffering and, in the process, uses that to reveal the sinfulness of your heart, do you love him for his grace in doing so or do you begin to doubt that he is compassionate?

Second, do you see it as more compassionate of you (as an instrument of Jesus) to expose the sinfulness of those you have relationships with, such as family, friends and church, than it is to satisfy their fleshly, temporary desires? Loving your children does not mean granting every desire they have for temporary pleasure. If you spare the rod, you spoil the child. Loving your child means teaching them to look to Jesus for something far greater than this world can offer. And that is part of what it means to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Love is helping people find their satisfaction in God through faith in Jesus Christ. And sometimes, this requires the compassionate work of helping them to see their sin.

The Command

After exposing the wrong attitude of their heart, Jesus gives them a command. He says in verse 27, “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

The first half of the command is negative—“Do not labor for the food that perishes.” “Labor” has to do with “work,” pouring your energy and effort into the pursuit of something.

In this case, it is labor for “food.” Jesus is speaking about the pursuit of food. “Food” is that which sustains us, strengthens us, gives us life, and satisfies our hunger.

Here, Jesus commands them not to labor for “food that perishes.” The most obvious thing that he is referring to is the “bread.” They were seeking him, he says, “because you ate your fill of loaves.”

How are loaves “food that perishes”? Why are they seeking him the next day? Because they are hungry. The bread that they are after only satisfies for so long.

While that is the obvious referent in the context, we should not limit Jesus negative command to merely bread. Jesus speaks of anything that we seek to strengthen, sustain and satisfy us that is limited in its ability to do so. Jesus speaks of anything we seek satisfaction in that falls short of eternal.

We see that when we look at the second, positive half of the command—“but [labor] for the food that endures to eternal life.” They are commanded to “labor,” that is to pursue “food”—“food that endures to eternal life.”

Notice that—we are to pursue food! The crowd’s error is not their pursuit of food! Their error is in pursuing the wrong kind of food.

We are not to pursue what will satisfy us for a day (or week or year or eight decades) and then leave us hungry again. We are to pursue food that will strengthen, sustain and satisfy us for eternity. This is water that you drink and are never thirsty again. This is bread that you eat and are never hungry again—forever.

What is this bread? We are not told at this point what exactly this bread is. We will find out. But, for a moment stop to consider the principle Jesus is operating on; notice his logic.

Jesus is not commanding us to forget about pursuing satisfaction and strength and life. Rather, he is telling us to forsake that which can only satisfy you temporarily in order to pursue that which can satisfy and sustain you for eternity.

The call of the Gospel is not a call to forsake pleasure. The call of the Gospel is to forsake the pursuit of little, fleeting, temporary pleasures for the eternal, soul-satisfying pleasures offered to us in Jesus Christ. That is consistent throughout the Bible. When the Gospel is proclaimed in Isaiah 55:1-2, it sounds like this:

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

Why would you spend yourself for what will not satisfy you, when God offers you “delight…in rich food.” Pursue what lasts! Pursue what is better!

And that is the message preached by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:19-20:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus commands us to lay up treasures—so long as they are eternal, heavenly treasures—and not the puny, decay-prone, inflation-diminishing treasures of this world.

This was the call of Jim Elliot: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Christianity is not about forsaking pleasure. It is about pursuing pleasures—eternal ones.

The Provider

If you are told there exists “food that endures to eternal life,” the first two questions you would ask might be, “What is it and where do we find it?”

We are not yet told what this bread is, but we are told were it is found. Jesus identifies himself as the provider when he adds, “which the Son of Man will give to you.” Jesus, the Son of Man, is the one through whom this food that endures to eternal life is given.

The reason that Jesus is the one through whom is given when Jesus adds, “for on him God the Father has set his seal.” To set your seal to something was to give it your approval. God the Father has “set his seal” on Jesus, the Son of Man. This is what we saw in John 5. Jesus is the authorized agent of the Father sent to do his will. In this case, his will is giving “food that endures to eternal life” through Jesus Christ.

We do not yet know what this food is. But now we know that it exists and that Jesus gives it.

So, we can update our question. I’ve asked what the motive of your heart is for following Jesus. And, I’ve asked if you are laboring for food that perishes or food that endures to eternal life. Now, we may ask the question: Are you laboring for the food that is offered to us through Jesus Christ?

These phrases indicate that Jesus is the one through whom eternal life is found. That means pursuing eternal life through any other venue is a vain pursuit. God the Father has authorized Jesus Christ the Son to be the distributor of the bread of eternal life. If you are not seeking Jesus Christ, the you will not have eternal life. We will see why that is so as the chapter progresses.

Why do you pursue Jesus?

We’ve come to a point where we can identify why the crowd ought to be seeking Jesus. They ought to seek Jesus. And, they ought to seek Jesus for what he can give them.

Notice this: It is not wrong to seek Jesus for who he is and what he has come to offer. It is, however, quite inappropriate to seek Jesus for something less.

Seeking him because you have “seen signs,” means that you have come to see that he is the one spoken of in the Law and the Prophets. It means that you want him and all that he has to offer. In fact, Jesus has now said that we should seek what he has come to give—“food that endures to eternal life!”

The problem with the crowd was not that they were seeking Jesus for something. Their problem was that they were seeking Jesus for something less than what he was and less than what he had to offer.

They wanted a temporal kingdom. They wanted freedom from the Romans and bellies full of bread. They wanted a political ruler and earthly provider. They were asking too little of Jesus.

They did not want what Jesus had to offer—freedom from sin and satisfaction in God. They did not want a king who conquered sin and death and the devil through the sacrifice of his own flesh and a resurrection from the dead.

Why Do I Seek Jesus?

That should sober us and somewhat frighten us into appropriate self-examination. We ought to stop and examine our hearts this morning.

If Jesus were to appear this morning and give his assessment of why we, corporately, or you and I, individually, are seeking him, what would he say?

If Jesus were to expose your heart this morning, would he find faith? What motive would he uncover for why you attend this church, participate in its programs, read your Bible, pray, sing, etc.? Would he find a disciple seeking him for who he is and what he truly came to bring—eternal life in a kingdom through the forgiveness of sin by his death and resurrection? Or, would he find a crowd of bread-seekers, those who are looking for the satisfaction of merely temporary appetites—health, wealth, prosperity, social status, opportunity to perform, improved relationships, blessings at work?

Are you seeking Jesus because you want him? Or, are you seeking Jesus because you think he will help you get the things of the world—houses, land, gold, applause, power, pleasure—that perish with their use?

Their Response

Jesus has brought up the subject of “labor.” And so, the crowd responds in verse 28 by asking what this labor might involve, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”

“Works of God” here does not mean “works that God does.” It refers to “works that God approves of and requires of us.” What is it that God wants us to do to get this “bread that endures to eternal life?”

The Work of God

Jesus will answer this question and tell them what God requires. He says in verse 29, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

It is tempted to interpret “work of God” here to mean that our believing is God’s work. That is theologically true—we see that several other places in the Bible, including later in this chapter. Nevertheless, the context makes it plain that this phrase means “what God approves of.”

It is incredible that Jesus does not answer this question in terms of keeping the law—“do justice, love mercy, walking humbly with your God.” That is what the Old Testament says.

Rather, says that God requires “belief.” Specifically, he requires that we “believe in him whom he has sent.”

Who is it that God has sent? Clearly, it is Jesus.

What does it mean then to “believe in Jesus”? Jesus being “sent” has just been used in the context of him giving this bread that endures to eternal life. So here then, believing in Jesus means you look to him and to him alone as the one through whom God gives you eternal life. To believe in Jesus is to trust that what God offers to us through him is sufficient to satisfy and sustain us for eternity. God gives eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

Requesting a Sign

If Jesus is the “authorized eternal bread-distributor” of the Father, then he must be able to show his credentials.

Therefore, in verse 30, the crowd responds to Jesus by requesting a sign, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe in you? What work do you perform?”

The irony here is that Jesus has already done several signs. In fact, the chapter began by John informing us that this crowd was following Jesus because of the signs that he was doing. This request shows something of their blindness and hardness of heart.

In verse 31, they validate their request by appealing to the experience of their “fathers” in the wilderness. They “ate the manna in the desert.” Apparently, they expect the Messiah, “the Prophet who is to come into the world,” to outdo what God did through Moses in the wilderness.

They quote Scripture to back that up their claim: “as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” The Scripture they quote is Psalm 78:24, “[He] gave them the grain of heaven.”

The Bread of God

In verse 32, Jesus replies, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.”

Once again, Jesus replies to their question, not with an answer but with a rebuke. This time, the rebuke comes by way of correcting their inaccurate theology (which is another form of compassion).

Apparently, given Jesus’ reply, these Jews attributed the manna to Moses and not to God. Jesus corrects them saying, “it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but my Father…”

Their attribution of the “bread from heaven” to Moses shows at least three things:

First, it shows their man-centeredness. They were attributing to a man what God did. They were ignoring what God the Father had done and was doing in order to give a man center-stage. This should caution us against a celebrity-Christianity that attributes great movements of God to the men through whom God brings them.

Second, it shows an ignorance of the Bible, even among those that quote it. The consistent witness of the Scripture, especially those books written by Moses, is that the Lord gave their fathers bread from heaven (Ex 16:4, 15; Deut 8:3; Neh 9:15; Ps 105:40).

Most concerning is their ignorance of the very passage of Scripture that they quote, Psalm 78:24, “He gave them the grain of heaven.” In context, it is clearly the Lord who gave them “bread from heaven.” And yet they, according to Jesus rebuke, have attributed this to Moses.

There is a lesson here: You can build dangerous, heretical, blasphemously wrong theology from single Bible verses memorized and learned without a context.

This shows us the dangers of memorizing little snippets of Scripture, stripped of their context It is not wrong to memorize individual Bible verses and passages. But, be sure to study them in their context! This is one of the reasons that I prefer preaching through books—the context gets to rule and not what I think is correct and needed.

Third, this also shows the hardness of their hearts. They have forgotten that it was God who gave them bread from heaven to eat in the wilderness, which is exactly what the Scripture that they quote was written to prevent!

The very purpose of Psalm 78, from which the quote, is to “tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.” And here they are, forgetting that God provided and attributing it to a man.

It is written, we read in its first eight verses, so that the coming generations of Israelites will specifically not be like their fathers, “a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not steadfast.”

The Psalm proceeds by showing a pattern of the people “forgetting” what God has done and turning into rebellion. Then, the Lord provides for them and, in the face of his provision, they still will not believe. In fact, the context of the verse they quote is that of the anger of God rising against them and consuming them, “while the food was still in their mouths.” God had fed them, and their hearts remained hardened.

They could not have picked a better verse to condemn themselves with. They are walking in the path of their fathers, to whom they appeal. God has just fed them with miraculous bread, and yet they will not believe. They are simply repeated the same pattern of unbelief in the face of miraculous signs that their “fathers” demonstrated in the wilderness.

“My Father gives…”

There is something worse, however, than their ignorance of what God did—that is, their ignorance of what God is doing. Not only did they ignore what God did, attributing it Moses, they are ignoring what God is doing now!

Notice that Jesus moves into the present text—“It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.”

It was not Moses who gave them bread from heaven; it was the Father. And, even so, they are still focusing on the wrong thing—what God had done and not on what God was doing. He was right then giving them, not manna, but “the true bread from heaven.”

The Father is as Jesus speaks giving them the “true bread.” The manna, which they so idolized, was not the “true bread.” It was only a type, pointing forward to its fulfillment which was to come.

Bread of God

So what is “true bread?” What is this bread that endures to eternal life? Jesus informs them in verse 33. But, here, he switches language. Now, he calls the “true bread” the “bread of God.”

“Bread of God” is an important term. It occurs with the most frequency in Leviticus 21-22. “Bread of God” is used in Leviticus 21 five times to refer to food offered to the Lord as sacrifice (a food offering). For example, Leviticus 21:6, “they offer the Lord’s food offerings, the bread of their God” (cf Lev 21:8,17,21-23).

“Bread of God” is used in Leviticus 22:20-25, not just of a food offering, but of animal sacrifices in general. When speaking of which animals may not be used, it says, “neither shall you offer as the bread of God any such animals gotten from a foreigner.” An animal sacrifice could be considered the “bread of God.”

If this is how “bread of God” is used in the Old Testament, then Jesus is now moving the conversation beyond the general category of bread as something that “sustains” and “gives life.” Jesus is speaking of the “bread of God” as an acceptable sacrifice. And this makes sense—a sacrifice was offered in the place of the worshipper to atone for sins and reconcile them to God. With God’s wrath removed, eternal life would be possible.

Who/what is this bread?

The next question then is, “What is this sacrifice, this ‘bread of God?’” Jesus says that “the bread of God is he who come down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

The bread is a person, specifically the one who comes down and gives life to the world.

This life is “eternal life.” This man is a sacrifice which is bread that endures to eternal life.

The “world” signifies, not every single individual person (for not every person will have eternal life). Rather, the “world” reminds us that this provision is not for Israel alone, but for every tongue and tribe and people and nation.

Give it!

As the woman at the well, upon hearing of “living water” that eternally quenches thirst, asked for it, the crowd is certainly interested in receiving such bread. So, they reply in verse 34, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

They, as we have come to expect, still do not understand. They miss that Jesus is speaking about a person, not a loaf. So, he makes the identity of this bread explicit in the next section.

I am…

In verse 35, Jesus says plainly, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

Jesus makes a transition here. Jesus is not only the provider, through whom the Father gives bread, he is the bread itself.

What does this mean? It means that Jesus is the true “bread of God” spoken of in Leviticus 21-22. That is—he is the true sacrifice without spot or blemish, holy and acceptable to God. (Yes! Moses really was writing of him!!!)

We have seen that Jesus is the God who “became flesh and tabernacled among us” in John 1. In John 2, we saw that Jesus’ body is the true “temple.” But, not only is he the true tabernacle and the true temple—the dwelling place of God. He is also the true sacrifice and the priest who offers it. This is why Jesus will say in verse 51, “the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Putting it all together

How do we put this all together?

We are to seek Jesus because he gives us “food that endures to eternal life.” This “food” is the “bread of God;” that is, this food that gives eternal life is Jesus body, offered as a pure and spotless sacrifice.

The penalty for the sins that we have committed was placed upon Jesus. The wrath that we deserved was poured out upon this sacrificial lamb who takes away the sin of the world. The punishment for our transgressions fell upon him. And, by rising from the dead, this priest would emerge from the Holy Place to show that the sacrifice was accepted by God.

This means that this sacrifice satisfies the righteous demands of God and reconciles sinners to him. This means that death is removed, and eternal life is possible.

How then may we own the saving benefits of this sacrifice? How do you “labor for the food that endures to eternal life”? You do not work for it, earn it, or deserve it. You believe in it—that is, you put your faith in him. You trust that Jesus Christ died on the cross for sin and was raised from the dead.

If you believe him, you have life eternal—you shall not hunger and you shall not thirst.

What should you do this morning? You should quit laboring for what can never satisfy, for food that perishes, for the things of this world that cannot give you life with God forever.

You should prefer Jesus over any and every other thing in the world. You should make him your meat and drink—believe in him and live forever.