Food that Endures to Eternal Life
John 6: 22-35
Pentecost 11 (Proper 13)
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for the eleventh Sunday after Pentecost is the Gospel reading John 6. Our reading for today takes place the day after Jesus miraculously fed five thousand people with 5 loaves of bread and two fish. The crowds went seeking after Jesus and found Him on the other side of the sea of Galilee. They wanted Him to give them more bread. Our Lord knew their hearts for He said these words to 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 labor 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.” The crowds of people wanted Jesus to give them bread to fill their stomachs. What the people desired was food. That was what was most important to them. They did not understand who was standing before them. They did not understand that they were talking to the Son of God. They did not understand that they were with the Savior of the world. They may have looked at Jesus as a miracle worker, but they did not understand that He was God in the flesh.
Think about that for a moment. The promised Messiah was standing before them and all they cared about was filling their bellies. They yearned for material blessings instead of yearning for God. They were seeking earthly comfort rather than seeking eternal life. They wanted an easy life rather than wanting a life with God.
Yes, it is true that Jesus gave them food the day before, but He did so as a sign to show them that He is the Son of God. The Lord wanted them to look beyond the earthly blessings so that they would understand that He came into the world to give them eternal blessings.
It is the Lord that gives us all our earthly blessings. We pray for these earthly blessings in the Lord’s Prayer when we say the words, “Give us this day our daily bread.” When we pray that petition, we are asking God to give to us food, clothing, a house, good weather, and all that we need to sustain us in this life. Our Lord gives us these things because He knows that we need them. But He also gives to us far more. He gives us eternal blessings. Notice that there is one petition in the Lord’s prayer that deals with earthly blessings. All the other petitions in the Lord’s Prayer deal with spiritual blessings. They deal with things eternal. Our Lord forgives our sins. He gives us salvation. He gives us the gift of everlasting life.
All too often we are like the crowd in our reading. We seek material blessings over eternal blessings. We seek the temporal gifts instead of seeking the One who gives the gifts. Do you love God, or do you love the things of this world? All too often we love the things of this world. We seek wealth and success. We want happiness and comfort. We busy ourselves going from one thing to the other without considering what is most important. We crave entertainment. We place the idols of the world before God. One of the great idols of our day is sports. We see this when the sports schedule is more important than church attendance or involvement in the congregation.
Yet we must understand that the things of this world will not last. That is what Jesus tells us. “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” All the things of this world will fade away. Everything in this world comes to an end. Wealth comes and goes. Success can easy turn to failure. Happiness is fleeting. Our comfort can be taken away. Our health declines. Our beauty fades. After eating we will soon be hungry again. We can’t take our earthly things with us when we die. When Jesus returns, this world will come to an end. Let us not labor for the food that perishes.
Not only are the things of this world temporary but they do not satisfy us either. The idols of this world will always fail. The reason for this is that we have a hole in our soul that can only be filled by God. Earthly things will never be able to fill that hole. No matter how much money we have we will always want more. Even when we are well off, we will find things to complain about. The entertainment that we crave eventually becomes boring. Our busy lives do not fulfill us. What we find is that the idols around us are no substitute for God. The things of this world cannot remove our sins. The things of this world are not able to defeat death. Remember what Jesus said. “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.”
We were created to have a relationship with God. That is a life of looking to God and receiving His blessings. It is a life of praise and thanksgiving. It is a life of loving God and each other. The fall into sin disrupted all of that. The sinful person thinks that they are the center of the universe. The sinful person wants to be independent from God. The sinful person’s only concern is their own whims and desires. They place themselves above God and their neighbor. The sinful person is separated from God.
That is why Jesus came into the world. He came to remove that barrier between God and us. He came to atone for our sins. He came to defeat death for us. He came to make us right with God. He came so that we could have peace with God. He accomplished all of these things through His death and resurrection. It is the Lord Jesus who comes to you to forgive your sins. He comes to you to give you the gift of eternal life. The Lord Jesus has brought you into the Kingdom of God. He has opened the gates of heaven for you. The Lord is the giver of eternal blessings, and He gives you the temporal blessings as well. It is the Lord that fills the hole that is in your soul. One of the early church fathers named Augustine said it this way. “Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.” The things of God are eternal. The things of God always satisfy.
We have received grace from our Lord Jesus Christ and so we do indeed yearn for God. We have a great desire to hear and read God’s Word. Indeed we want to hear every word that comes from the mouth of God. We want to confess our sins and receive absolution. We look forward to going before the altar and receiving the body and blood of Jesus. In the Lord’s Supper we are in communion with God and each other. Our heart is filled with thanksgiving as we sing praises to the Lord. We are remined that as we sing, we are singing with the angles and archangels in heaven. We desire to be in the presence of God in Word and Sacrament in this life and to be in the full presence of God in the life to come. Indeed we forward to that time when we will see God face to face. We look forward to seeing His glory and majesty. We look forward to being in His presence for all eternity.
Do you yearn for God or for the things of this world? Remember what Jesus teaches us. “Do not labor 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. I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Amen.