Jesus Supplied Food That Endured

What Did Jesus Do?

“Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that
endures to eternal life.”
John 6.27

I can remember when I was a young boy, my mother once said to me, “Don't feed that stray cat. If you do it will keep coming to our door.” When a cat finds a free meal it's found a home. Many in the crowd of five thousand which Jesus had fed with the loaves and fish (see John 6.1-14) apparently thought they had found a good thing, and went to the trouble of crossing the Sea of Galilee to seek after the Lord in Capernaum in hopes of more handouts (6.24).

Jesus saw in the crowd the kind of behavior one often sees in strays—they followed after one who had filled their bellies. But, rather than supply them with more of the perishable food for which they had crossed the Sea, Jesus encouraged them to work for something different, something more, something enduring, “Don't spend all your effort on the food and the things of this world that will all too soon spoil and waste. Work for that which lasts, that which comes from the Father.” (6.27) I give the folks in the crowd credit, they didn't insist on more handouts, but instead asked what kind of work could “earn” that which endures (6.28). So Jesus told them the one thing necessary to receive the imperishable “wages” of the Father—believe in the one the Father sent (6.29).

We might think that the crowd, having been both witnesses to, and beneficiaries of, the miracle of the great feeding, would already have been inclined to believe. But the Lord had been right, they had followed him looking for another free meal, not because they had at all understood who it was who had fed them. Their bellies were again empty, and they wanted to eat! Bread and fish were fine for empty bellies to be filled, but if the crowd was to believe, they wanted something more, something like what their ancestors had received from Moses—“bread from heaven.” (6.31)

While it was true that the Israelites had survived on manna during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the manna itself was quite perishable, spoiling in a day (With the exception of what fell on Fridays, when enough manna was provided for the Sabbath as well.). The manna the people had eaten during the time of Moses was not the true bread from heaven, which the Father alone supplies (6.32). Then Jesus said something that had to have sounded quite strange: the bread of God was not something that came down from heaven, but someone (6.33). This was bread that was truly the staff of life—eternal life—and, still not comprehending who the someone was who was speaking to them, the crowd immediately clamored for it (6.34).

We've all heard it said that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Far more tragic than the thirst of stubborn horses is the famine of those who, though they may be led to the very bread of life, are perishing because they refuse to receive it. People die every day, having labored and striven all their lives for all sorts of things that perish, when, by believing, they could have received him who will never die, and who alone gives eternal life.

Certainly, the Church must do all it can to supply bread for those who will die today without it. The same can be said for supplying clothing and shelter and medicine to those in need. But, like those who ate manna in the wilderness, the day will come when they will perish if they never receive the true bread from heaven. What kind of food are we supplying to our families, our neighbors, our community, our world? Jesus has supplied us with food that endures, and we must offer nothing less to the world.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4