“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. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the
bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not
there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to
Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found Him on the other side of the sea,
they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, you are seeking Me, not because you saw signs, but because
you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work 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.” Then they said to Him, “What
must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work
of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”” (John 6:22–29, ESV) (Caps
added to pronouns referring to Christ and the Father)
And so morning came. The crowd, still on the other side of
the sea went down to the shore where the boats would be moored to see that Jesus
was not there. Knowing that He did not leave with His disciples they wondered
where He was. As they were wondering other boats from Tiberias came near, and realizing
that Jesus was not there they boarded those boats and set off for Capernaum
where Jesus’ disciples had gone possibly thinking that they might know where He
was or that He might somehow be with them. And sure enough, when they arrived
on the other side they found Him.
Amazed that He was there they asked, “Rabbi [Teacher], when
did You come here?” His being there did not make any sense to them, and so they
were moved to ask that question. Myself, I would have likely asked “HOW?” John
does not tell us if Jesus answered their question. Rather, Jesus responds to
their effort to find Him and redirects the focus of their search in verses 26. “Truly,
truly, I say to you, you are seeking Me, not because you saw signs, but because
you ate your fill of the loaves.” For them their search was more than just one
of curiosity having observed Jesus performing signs and miracles. They actually
benefitted from what He had done. They were there when He prayed giving thanks,
broke the bread, and everyone was fed—eating until they were satisfied. And
they were there when 12 baskets of bread fragments were gathered up afterward.
He took care of them, and I’m sure they were hopeful that He might do so again.
Jesus’ next words were, “Do not work for the food that
perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man
will give to you.” They had gone through a lot of effort to find this man who
had fed them. But Jesus told them that all of their effort in order to get
things that are temporary was missing the real mark. They should be seeking
after that which lasts resulting in eternal life, adding in the third person that
this was something that the “Son of Man” would give to them.
Daniel wrote in the vision given him of the end times, “I
saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one
like a Son of Man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.
And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples,
nations, and languages should serve Him; his dominion is an everlasting
dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be
destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13–14, ESV) This was understood to refer to the Messiah
(Christ), and this is a title which Jesus used to speak of Himself. Similarly
the term “Ancient of Days” used by Daniel refers to the Father. What Daniel had
visions about is in part what Jesus was speaking to them about. The Son of Man
(Jesus) was sent by the father to give eternal life, and what these people were
to seek after was not after someone who would feed them daily, but who would
provide for them up and into eternity. Next He added, “For on Him God the
Father has set His seal.” Daniel wrote that the Ancient of Days was to give
dominion and glory and an everlasting kingdom to the Son of Man. Jesus affirms
the words of Daniel here with His statement. Indeed this was the plan of God
the Father to set His seal on God the Son—the Son of Man.
Having received these words from Jesus the people asked what
they should do in order to be doing the works of God that resulted in the food
that endures to eternal life that Jesus had spoken about. He had their
attention and they were pursuing how they might shift their effort to deserve
this greater benefit. What must they do? This is what they wanted to know. What
kind of works would qualify them to receive this special blessing?
In response Jesus told them, “This is the work of God, that
you believe in Him whom He has sent.” I’m sure this was not the answer that
they had expected. It is not the answer that most people expect. We all like to
think that we do something special or that we are special in some way such that
we deserve or earn what we get. Jesus removed all of the works that possibly could
be done off of the table. There was no physical work they could do. There was
not even any “spiritual” work that they could do. He told them that the work
that leads to eternal life is belief in Him who the Father had sent (the One
that already had been identified by Jesus as the Son of Man). Simply put, they
could only receive this life by faith.
We’ve already read about the tension that existed between
Jesus and the religious Jews. They were after Him because He broke the rules
they built their lives upon and because He claimed God to be His Father. There
existed among them a concept that works is where things rested, and Jesus was
telling them something radically different. Their receiving eternal life was
not based upon their own works, but their belief. Recognizing this they would
then have nothing in themselves of which to boast. The apostle Paul wrote to
the believers in Rome, “Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By
what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold
that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:27–28,
ESV) To the Corinthians believers he added, “so that, as it is written, “Let
the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”” (1 Corinthians 1:31, ESV) Paul
understood the heart of the Jewish elite. He was once one of them, and his
credentials were exhaustive. But in Christ He found out just how empty all of
them were. Writing to Titus, who Paul referred to as his “true child in a
common faith” (Titus 1:4) he wrote, “He saved us, not because of works done by
us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of
regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might
become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:5–7, ESV)
One of the earliest verses I learned concerning being saved
by faith and not works is Ephesians 2:8-9, which reads, “For by grace you have
been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9, NASB95)
These people had gone to great lengths to find further
blessing from this man who had fed them and satisfied their temporary need in a
miraculous way. They were willing to continue that work in order to receive
continued benefit. Jesus turned the table and told them that there was a
greater gift, one that was not a result of works but came from believing in the
One that God the Father had sent. Things have not changed since those words.
Salvation today comes in the same way by believing in the One sent by God who
is Jesus the Christ, who laid down His own life for our sins and took it back
up again to give us eternal life.
No comments:
Post a Comment