What to eat to live forever

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. (John’s first century eyewitness biography of Jesus Chapter 6: 22-35)

This “crowd” is the one, all 5,000+ of whom had eaten to their fill from the five small barely loaves and two fish – from a boy’s lunch box there in an uninhabited place. But that was the previous day. All are hungry again. Where is this Jesus who fed – and can feed – them? 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. "Tiberias” – the capital city of King Herod Antipas at the time – was a nearby important port city. It still is. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” They can’t understand. The walking distance was far too long. The only boat contained only the disciples. He can’t have walked across the sea.
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.”	.
Why didn’t Jesus just feed them there and then? That’s what they desired most of all. They could be fed by him – and cured of all diseases. Instead, Jesus wanted them to work out what “the signs” were telling them – loud and clear. If they could only work that out, they would ask him for “the food”. What “food”? What “food” were they working for? Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Do they now desire to have “the food that endures to eternal life”? It would seem so. In fact, they seem now to be sufficiently interested in this “food that endures to eternal life” that they are even prepared to work for it by “doing the works of God”. Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you trust in him whom he has sent.” What kind of "work” is this? To “trust in him whom [God] has sent”? God's work and their work. So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and trust you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” These religious folk were recalling the time when their ancestors, released from slavery in Egypt, were then fed by the LORD God as they journeyed in the wilderness towards the Promised Land for a period of 40 years. Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father 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.”
“Truly, truly.”? “My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.”? “The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”? Are these things truly true?	.
They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I myself am the bread of life; the one who comes to me shall not hunger, and the one who trusts in me shall never thirst….” Yes, they desired to have this bread – always. They called Jesus “Lord” when they asked him for it. Then he said: “I myself am that bread of life…”

Sinner Syvret

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