Hear the word of God:
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"
Jesus answered, "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. 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."
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."
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 said to them, "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."
"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."
Then Jesus declared, "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. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
(John 6:25-40, NIV)
A group from among the 5,000+ Jesus had miraculously fed on the other side of the Sea of Galilee have followed the teacher after his mysterious disappearance. Jesus, however, insists that they followed him not because they saw the signs, but because they ate the bread. The people are completely unable to alter their focus to encompass anything beyond their physical needs. As people living a hand-to-mouth existence, their entire lives are organized around securing their next meal. Jesus has another idea, though. Jesus tells the crowd that physical and material realities wear out and fade away, but spiritual realities endure.
When Jesus tells the people that the work of God is to believe in him, God's emissary, the people react lukewarmly. They ask what sign they may see, in order that they may believe. In the past, when Moses acted as God's emissary, he provided Israel with bread from heaven. These people must be blind! Even though they ate the loaves, they did not see the sign in Jesus' multiplication of the bread. They so completely failed to see the sign that they ask for a different sign. They reference bread from heaven after Jesus has already provided them with bread from nothing. They want to see a sign, but refuse to see the sign that Jesus has already performed.
Jesus explains that he is the real manna. It was God who provided the manna in the desert, and it is God who now provides Christ as bread from heaven. Unfortunately, even though the people see Jesus, they do not believe. The people asking for a sign have already seen the sign, they simply refuse to accept it. Jesus is the sign! They ate the bread, but the bread wasn't the sign. What these people have tragically failed to understand is simply that Jesus is the sign - the sign which points to God's activity in the world and his provision for his people. God gives Jesus, the bread of life, in order that those who eat of him may be fulfilled and may participate in another life at the close of this age.
Jesus, the one whom we call Christ, says to the people of Galilee 2,000 years ago and to the people of Hollis today, "I am the bread of life, the bread that gives life to all. I am the sign, the sign you are all looking for." When it is difficult to see, look for the sign and believe.
Blessings,
Greg
