John 6:25-40
25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” 28Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 38for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”
Jesus continues to draw large crowds, and He feeds the crowd of five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish. Miraculously, everyone eats as much as they want, and there are still twelve baskets of leftovers. The people are convinced that He is the Messiah, and they want to make Him king by force, so He withdraws to the mountain by Himself.
The disciples get into a boat and start to sail to the other side. The wind starts to blow, and the sea gets rough, and three or four miles out, they see Jesus walking on the sea. As soon as Jesus enters the boat, they miraculously reach the other side.
When the crowd notice that Jesus and the disciples are gone, they too get into boats and go to Capernaum looking for them.
The feeding of the five thousand, Jesus walking on water, and Jesus declaring that He is the bread of life – It is natural to consider all these events separately. Especially since we probably tend to remember the miraculous feeding and the walking on water from the other gospels, rather than John’s version. But John makes it clear that he wants us to see the connection between the feeding and the bread of life statement.
In the beginning of this chapter, John informs us that the festival of the Passover is near. People would already be thinking about Moses, the ten plagues of Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the covenant with Yahweh on Mount Sinai, and the forty years of wandering, when the LORD fed the people with manna, the bread from heaven.
Then Jesus miraculously feeds the five thousand with bread. Because of this miracle of bread, the people are convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, and that is the reason that they follow Him to Capernaum. Jesus had set the stage for the crowd to hear that He is the bread of life.
Jesus starts off by telling the crowd that He knows they followed Him because of the miracle of the loaves. Then He tells them that there is a more important thing then food that perishes that He can give them – Something that will last for eternity.
The crowd reminds Jesus that Moses gave their ancestors manna – What sign will Jesus provide them? Jesus tells the people that it was not Moses who gave their ancestors the manna, but it was God the Father. And the same God is sending Jesus to give eternal life to the world. Jesus then declares that He is the bread of life.
Jesus says that He will never drive away those who come to Him. This means that regardless of what sins you have committed, you can go to Him and He will accept you. Even if you stumble, as long as you go back to Him, He will not drive you away.
Jesus says that He came down from heaven. He is no mere human. He is fully God. Unlike sinful human leaders, Jesus is sinless and is one hundred percent God. That is why He was able to go to the cross for our sake, and for the forgiveness of our sins. That is why we can trust Him – He will not abandon us, nor drive us away, no matter what.
Jesus says that He will lose nothing that the Father has given Him but raise it up on the last day. This means that no matter what happens to us in this life, if we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are assured that at the end of this age, we will be resurrected and will spend eternity with the Lord and other believers. He says this clearly in verse 40 – “This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”
Then Jesus goes on to talk about how it is necessary for people to eat His flesh and drink His blood to have eternal life. For us living in the age where the New Testament has been completed and we have been taught about communion, this does not sound too strange. However, for people living at the time Jesus said this, they were perplexed and alarmed by the image of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Verse 66 tells us that many of His disciples turned back and no longer went about with Him.
Jesus then asks the twelve whether they also want to stop following Him, to which Peter responds in vv. 68-69 – “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
This is a great reminder for us, when things get tough and we see so many around us that will not follow Jesus. Jesus has the words of eternal life. Those words have been given to us, not only to hold onto, but to share with those who do not know Him. Let us continue to declare to all around us that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.
In Acts 20, Paul addresses the elders of the church of Ephesus for what he believes is the last time, he can tell them that he has completed his responsibilities to the people – That he did not shrink from declaring to them the whole purpose of God. Let us be reminded that we have a responsibility to be like Paul and declare to the people we encounter the whole purpose of God.
(the above is a summary of the message shared by Pastor Shun Takano during our worship of July 13, 2025.)
Japanese Congregational Church 