John 6:27-33

Jesus said, “But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given Me the seal of His approval.” They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the One He has sent.  They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now He offers you the True Bread from heaven. The True Bread of God is the One Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Jesus had just miraculously fed over 5,000 people by multiplying five small loaves of bread and two small, dries fish…with 12 traveling bags filled with leftovers. He had fed the people after having taught them about the Kingdom of God.

Neither having God teach them about true living nor having been fed miraculously could satisfy these people, and they are a type of way too many folks even today. After all this, there is a clamoring for an even greater sign. They had just witnessed first-hand a miracle and yet their flesh wanted something more spectacular, more sensorially overwhelming. The “flesh” always cries out for some visible proof…a last climactic demonstration and argument to wrap it all up to make belief inevitable and unbelief untenable. There was an insistence on being taken care of permanently in the “here-and-now”.

However, the hardened, carnal heart has blind eyes and refuses to understand and accept what can only be grasped by the Holy Spirit’s revelation. Its orientation to security is too “earth-bound”... it's too grounded in the moment and the satisfaction of perceived needs. The crowd of people were enslaved to their temporal appetites and didn’t actually want to understand. They wanted their present, perceived needs met NOW and LATER as well. They might call Him Lord but had no intention of submitting to His authority…BUT…they expected to gain another favor.

Sooner or later, any serious dialogue with Jesus Christ will bring a person to a place where they must deal with Who He is. The revelation of His identity is also an invitation, as He opens His heart and invites us to enter into Life. Anyone who will hear Him and come to Him believing Who He is and what He has already finished will be fed with Living Bread always. That is so different from coming to merely try and satisfy some physical appetite or need, assuming that somehow, we could “earn” this Bread. It’s not, “What must WE do to do the works of God?” It’s believing and receiving what God has already done.

The crowd murmured against the Jesus after this interchange. Murmuring comes when we don’t get what we demand and have determined we “ought” to have from God. We act like spoiled children demanding from God in a way that exposes our lack of trust in Who He is; our doubt that He really does love us. We want our flesh appeased. We want our wants to define God’s will, not God’s will to be our hearts desire.

But…if we will believe Him, receiving what He offers us by grace, we enter into Life that will never end and can finally, truly become truly human again.