John 6:26–27, 35–40

Bible Studies for Life
Samford University and Brookwood Baptist Church, Mountain Brook

Our Need for Contentment

John 6:26–27, 35–40

The feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle of Jesus recorded by all four Gospels. This event was a marvelous sign for our hungering world. Jesus intended the physical bread to point them to higher spiritual sustenance. His generation missed that significance. We should not make the same mistake. Only Jesus can satisfy life’s ultimate, spiritual hunger.

People seek satisfaction in things that don’t last. (26–27)

A crowd was searching for Jesus almost greedily to satisfy their curiosity and their bellies. When they find Him, they address Him as “Rabbi” (v. 25). But their question “When did you get here” is almost a whiny “Why did you leave us?” At the moment, food for their bellies is more important than anything He can teach them. Jesus introduces His statement with the solemn “truly, truly,” which signals a declaration of divine authority. He brushes their question aside and unmasks their true motive. They sought Him out not because the gift of feeding has been a sign through which they have glimpsed the glory of God, but because they ate and “were filled.” Here Jesus uses a very earthy term, literally meaning they were “satisfied with food as animals with fodder.” Jesus contrasts the crowd’s preoccupation with food that perishes with food that endures for eternal life. “Endures” translates one of John’s favorite words for the relationship of the believer with Christ and His Father. Christ is the source of imperishable food that lasts into the next life. “Perish” is a word John uses on two other occasions to contrast with “eternal life,” including John 3:16.

In Jesus we find complete satisfaction now and forever. (35)

Jesus proclaims His bold self-revelation: “I am the Bread of Life.” Verse 35 is the first of the grand “I am” declarations in John, of which there are seven: Bread of Life (6:35); Light of the World (8:12; 9:5); Door of the Sheep (10:7, 9); Good Shepherd (10:11, 14); Resurrection and the Life (11:25); the Way, the Truth and the Life (14:6); and True Vine (15:1, 5). Jesus draws on these common images to break through the limitations of language to speak of the One whose glory is nearly inexplicable. Jesus’ use of “hunger” and “thirst” is to suggest that the deepest, most elemental needs of humanity find their fulfillment in Christ.

Jesus’ revelation of His identity also is His invitation. He beckons anyone who hears to come and believe in Him, not to satisfy a physical appetite nor assume that we can earn this bread. We can only come as beggars, hungry and needy. If we accept the “true bread,” which only the I Am can offer, we can have unending wholeness.

People who put their trust in Jesus experience true contentment. (36–40)

The linking of “seeing” and “believing” is at the heart of John’s understanding of faith. To see rightly is to believe. Verse 36, then, is a negative judgment on the crowd. Their demand for a sign demonstrates that they see without truly seeing and, therefore, do not believe. Verse 40 concludes the passage by affirming the “eternal life” that the believer celebrates in the present as well as its consummation at “the last day.”

This passage represents the delicate balance between our faith response and God’s initiative in “giving.” The key to maintaining the balance is expressed in Verse 38: Jesus has come down from heaven to make eternal life visible and accessible to us. Faith is impossible without God initiating the first move toward us, but we retain responsibility for the decision to make in response to God’s initiative.