John 6.25-29.
At the beginning John’s chapter 6,
The next day
John 6.25-27 KWL - 25 Finding Jesus on the far side of the lake, they said, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
- 26 In reply Jesus told them, “Amen amen! I promise you seek me not because you saw miracles:
- Instead it’s because you ate the rolls and were filled.
- 27 Don’t toil for perishable food! Instead seek food which lasts for eternal life.
- The Son of Man will give it to you, for Father God sealed this man.”
Various preachers love to claim this lesson is all about the people coming to Jesus for free bread, and Jesus responding he didn’t come to teach people to expect handouts. And whenever I hear this, it’s obvious they didn’t study the text, and instead they’re preaching their stingy politics instead of
Being dependent on God is precisely what God wants. You do realize he gave the Hebrews free manna for 40 years. The only work they had to do for it, was go pick it off the ground and stick to a liter a day. (Two liters on Friday; no liters on Saturday.
Free bread, free food in general, is one of the traits of Kingdom Come. Because of sin, humanity was cursed to toil for our food.
But.
Yeah, there’s a but. A big huge one. A but which also applies to us, because we’re guilty of precisely the same thing as the Galileans. Jesus told ’em to not seek perishable bread, but eternal-life bread. Because they were seeking perishable bread. They were seeking something material. Lots of it; enough so they’d regularly be filled; an abundance of it; so they were seeking a wealth of this material. Do I have to spell it out any more? Fine:
So… how many Christians are hoping to make it to Kingdom Come so they can have a crown filled with jewels, and a mansion on a street of gold?
And instead Jesus wants us to have living bread. Which—spoilers—is Jesus himself.