Day 291 (John 6) - Year 8

Tara-Leigh Cobble (0:01)

Hey, Bible Readers, I'm Tara-Leigh Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

Yesterday, we talked about how Jesus fed 15,000 people. Then he sent his disciples off in a boat and stayed behind to pray alone. But around 3 a.m., he saw that they'd hit a rough patch on the windy waters and decided to go out for a stroll on the waters he created. Today, when those 15,000 people wake up, they think Jesus is still with them. They saw the boat go out and he wasn't on it, but now they can't find him anywhere. They're starting to sound kind of like paparazzi, following him everywhere, doing little bits of investigative journalism to find out where he is. I wouldn't be surprised if they were down by the shoreline measuring sandal prints to see if they were his size. This is one of the reasons why he's been trying to keep things under wrap. He knew that when word got out about his power, the information would spread like wildfire. Eventually, some boats swing by the dock and they convinced the fishermen to take them out on a manhunt for Jesus. When they finally track him down, they're like, hey, how'd you get here? And this is the moment we talked about a few days ago where he seems to rebuke them for following him. He basically says, you're only following me because I fed you. Instead of being blown away by the man who can do miracles, these people just want the miracles. Like the kid who takes their Christmas gift off to play with it alone in their room, never thanking the parent who gave it to them. Jesus knows their hearts and he knows that what they're after is the temporary thing. He is not interested in giving the temporary at the expense of the eternal. So he points out that he has a lot more to offer them that they are not aware of. He says, do not labor for the temporary things, work for the food that lasts.

Being traditional Jews, they latch on to the word work here and they totally miss his point. But in missing the point, they ask a very important question. And the way Jesus answers it tells us something crucial about our relationship with God. In verse 28, they ask, what must we do to be doing the works of God? Before we see how he responds, what do you think the answer is? What would you give as an answer here if someone asked you? Because this is one of the most important questions of all time. What does God require? Then Jesus, who pretty much never gives a straightforward answer, actually answers plain and simple. He says, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.

The one thing God requires is belief in the Gospel of Jesus. That's it. End of list. But to be clear, this isn't just a belief that he exists or even a belief that Jesus is God. As we've already seen more than once, the demons believe that. It doesn't make them Christians. The word used here for believe means to commit your trust, to place your confidence in. It's a heart level belief, not just an acknowledgement or a cognizant assent.

This isn't, sure, I believe in God or, yeah, I'm a Christian, I was confirmed when I was a kid, or even, I go to church every Sunday. Some of those things are just an acknowledgement of God, and some of those things are other types of works, not the kind Jesus is referring to. He's talking about a heart level belief and commitment, not an acknowledgement of the truth, a surrender to the truth.

The crowd doesn't get it, so they say, well, if we're supposed to believe in you, we need some signs like the kind Moses did for our fathers in the wilderness. Moses gave them miracle bread from heaven. First of all, have you guys forgotten that that's exactly what Jesus did for you last night? And second of all, Jesus points out that Moses was not the point of origin of that bread, God the Father was. He sent them temporary bread, but now, back to the point again since they seem to keep missing it, Jesus says, there's an eternal bread available and its name is me. I'm the way for your souls to never be hungry again. Then he segues into some really deep theological points that are also over their heads, but I don't want us to miss them like the crowd did, so here are a few things to take note of.

First, Jesus indicates that there's an authority structure within the Trinity as it pertains to God's relationship with mankind. This is what theologians refer to as the economic Trinity, the way God extends himself to the world. If you want to read more about this, we've dropped a link in the show notes. This is something we've seen a few times before, but he repeats it here. In verse 38, he says, I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.