St Theodore's Sermon

	St Theodore's Wattle Park

Sermon of the Week

11/4/99

Jesus the Bread of Life Jn 6:22-71

'Let's consider your age to begin with - how old are you?'

'I'm seven and a half exactly.'

'You needn't say "exactly",' the queen remarked: 'I can believe it without that. Now I'll give you something to believe. I'm just one hundred and one, five months and a day.'

'I can't believe that!' said Alice.

   'Can't you?' the queen said in a pitying tone. 'Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.'

   Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said: 'one can't believe impossible things.'

   'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.' (Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass)

   Lewis Carroll is commenting in that passage from Through the Looking Glass on the enigma of faith. Why is it that some people manage to believe things that others find utterly incredible? As far as the White Queen is concerned it's all a matter of effort. Just hold your breath and shut your eyes. You can believe anything if you try hard enough. But we, like Alice, realise that it isn't that simple. There's a big difference between faith and mere wishful thinking. To fail to understand that is to confuse reality with fantasy. If you have to make yourself believe it then there's something wrong.

   Yet having said that people do believe in the impossible. Certainly we Christians appear to, don't we? That God would become a human being and walk on earth. That he would be killed but then come back to life in a body that could be touched and yet at the same time walk through walls. Alice would be excused for laughing at such an idea wouldn't she? Yet most Christians would argue that they're not forcing themselves to believe. They're not suspending their rational faculties in order to believe all this. No, rather, we believe because of a deep inner conviction that the Christian message is the truth.

   Now why is that? It can't just be that we're gullible. I mean there are plenty of gullible Christians around, I'm sure, but there are plenty of intelligent, reasonable, rational Christians around as well. So why is it that some people believe, while others don't?

   Well that's the question that Jesus addresses in the conversations we find here in John 6. So let's look at the passage.

   A Why do unbelievers not believe?

   1. The Spirituality of Jesus' Message.

   (John 6:26-27 NRSV) "Jesus 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.""

   To properly understand what Jesus is saying here, we need to think back to what's gone before. If you were here 2 weeks ago you'll remember the story of the feeding of the 5000. And I hope you'll remember what we said then about the significance of that act in terms of Jesus' role as the new Moses, the new saviour of the people. Some of the people recognised what Jesus did for what it was, but what they saw wasn't quite right. They thought Jesus was the one who would bring them liberation from the Roman oppression, the way Moses brought salvation from slavery in Egypt. They thought Jesus would provide food to eat that could sustain an army in battle. But Jesus says, you've got it all wrong. There are two sorts of food: "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life." There's the bread that nourishes our physical existence, but which is doomed to perish in the end, but there's also bread that nourishes our spiritual existence which is destined to last forever. The trouble was, these Galileans were basically materialists. They'd eaten the loaves and had their fill. They saw the economic benefits of following Jesus and had decided they were on a good thing. But they'd completely missed the spiritual significance of what had happened. They'd seen the miracle but they hadn't seen the sign. Remember when we started this series, I pointed out that in John's gospel we find a series of signs, the significance of which is to point us to who Jesus is. They're like road signs, pointing the way. But sometimes people are so intent on the obvious that they miss the more important things. Jesus had looked at the crowd and seen not just hungry people, but also people searching in vain for something to fill a spiritual vacuum within them. On another occasion Mark tells us that when Jesus saw the crowd he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So his willingness here to feed them is a sign, or a pointer to the deeper spiritual truth that he has food for us that will satisfy our spiritual hunger, a food, he says, that will endure for eternal life.

   This is a message for us still, even in the 20th century. Let's face it, we're just as materialist now as the people of Galilee were in Jesus' day. We still tend to look at the physical, the material before we notice the spiritual. I think it's true to say that we're much more aware of our material needs than we are of our spiritual needs. I think we're probably working as hard or even harder for our physical needs today than people did 100 years ago yet how much time do we put into satisfying our spiritual needs? So Jesus' words come to us with renewed urgency: "Do 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." (Jesus msg is essentially spiritual)

   The second reason that people fail to believe in Jesus is

   2. The supernaturalism of his claims

   (John 6:41-42 NRSV) "Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." ⁴²They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?""

   In the previous chapter there's a long discourse between Jesus and the religious leaders in which Jesus claims over and over to have come from God, indeed to be the Son of God. Again, here, he's claiming a divine origin.

   It's the sort of thing you expect to hear in a mental hospital: from people who have lost touch with reality. In the space of a mere 7 verses, from 34 to 40, Jesus uses the words 'I' or 'me' or 'my' 17 times. (a megalomaniac) Yet, Jesus' claims, as amazing as they are, are tempered by an equally amazing modesty. He isn't on about his own agenda. No, he's come to do the will of his Father in heaven. (John 6:38-39 NRSV) "for 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." Still, his claim is for a divine origin: 'I have come down from heaven;' a divine mission: 'I have come to do the will of him who sent me;' and, a few verses earlier, a divine ministry: 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.' (John 6:35 NRSV) Jesus has come to satisfy the most important need of human beings: the need to fill the spiritual void caused by sin. Do you remember what Jesus said to Satan during the first of his temptations in the desert? 'Human beings don't live by bread alone.' There's far more to life than our material needs.

   Yet there are still those who disagree; who argue that such an idea is just a way of seducing the masses; of stopping them from worrying about their real state of existence. Marx claimed that religion was the opiate of the masses. Something to keep the poor happy and ignorant of the economic oppression under which they live. But according to Jesus the opposite is true. It's actually materialism that's the narcotic, which deadens us to our spiritual state. Just listen to our politicians some time. They'll tell you that all that matters is our economic well-being. And it's true isn't it? As long as we're acquiring the latest gadget, the newest car, the clearest hi-fi system, we don't seem to think about the spiritual side of life. Not, that is, until we realise what a spiral we're in: where our latest purchase is never quite enough, where the appetite for more becomes insatiable, where our buying becomes a substitute for satisfying what's really a spiritual hunger for something: for significance, for a relationship with the living God. A hunger to satisfy the longing that Job describes when he says that God has put eternity in our hearts.

   Do you know that hunger? Chances are, since you're here, that you do, or that you have in the past and have found the answer to it here. It's a profound hunger that only God can satisfy. It's a hunger that, Jesus tells his hearers, he's come to satisfy, as both the giver and the gift. "The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. ... I am the bread of life." (John 6:33-35 NRSV)

   But, if you'll pardon the pun, they just couldn't swallow that. After all, they knew Jesus. They'd seen him grow up. They'd bought furniture from his father. They'd eaten with his family. How could he claim to have come down from heaven? That's ridiculous! He may have a strange ability to heal people, even to produce food in unexplainable ways, he might be able to do amazing miracles, but it's another thing to claim to be a miracle. That's a bit unbelievable wouldn't you say? Yet that's his claim.

   Of course it's still his claim today and it's still an obstacle to faith for many today. You see, we're so intent on understanding our world, of being able to judge for ourselves what's true and what isn't that we find it hard to accept someone who claims to come from heaven and so to be beyond our field of measurement.

   The third reason some find it hard to believe is because of

   3. The scandal of the cross.

   (John 6:51-52 NRSV) "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." ⁵²The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?""

   Jesus takes the idea of the bread that comes down from heaven and extends it to describe what he is soon to do on the cross. That is, he's about to give up his life in order to bring life to others. Now we have to be careful about how we understand this expression. There are some who think this is talking about communion and saying that you have to partake of communion regularly if you're to have eternal life. But that's to totally misunderstand what Jesus is saying here. No, all through this passage Jesus tells them how they can receive eternal life. He repeats himself over and over again. In v29 he says: "The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent." And in v35, "Come to me, and you will never go hungry. Believe in me and you will never thirst." v40: "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." And then in v47 "Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life."

   So when we get to v51 and he starts talking about eating his flesh, it's fairly clear that eating his flesh has to do with believing in what he's done with his flesh: that is, his death on the cross; his flesh given for the life of the world.

   Again his hearers take offence at this language. The thought of eating his flesh is enough to turn them off completely. But Jesus takes the metaphor even further: he says that his flesh and blood are real food and drink. They're such that if you partake of them you'll partake of Christ himself (v.56). To eat of this food is to have the life that the Father gives to the Son.

   Well, I guess we can understand how hard this was for Jesus hearers to understand. Even his disciples begin to complain what a hard saying this is. So Jesus responds, in v62: "Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?" There would come a time when an even more amazing thing would happen. Not only would Jesus be killed on a cross, but he'd rise from death and ascend again to the Father in heaven. Then their faith would really be tested and even having seen all that, there would still be some who wouldn't believe.

   So we see here 3 reasons why people fail to believe in Jesus: 1. The spiritual nature of his message. 2. The supernaturalism of his claims. And 3. The scandal of the cross.

   But that leaves us with the question

   B Why do some people believe?

   I think there are two reasons given in the passage.

   1. A Gift from God.

   Three times in this section we're told the same thing:

   John 6:37 "Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away;"

   Jn 6:44 "No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day."

   John 6:64-65: ""But among you there are some who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. ⁶⁵And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father."" At first glance we don't like the idea that our coming to Christ is the work of God. We'd prefer to think that we can solve our own problems. There's a certain independence of mind that's inculcated in us from an early age these days that rebels at the thought that God does it all for us. Yet that's the message of the gospel. Everything to do with our salvation comes from God.

   Yet as we think more about it this becomes not a thing to rebel against, but a thing of comfort. Think about how well you do in keeping to God's will for your life. How good are you at overcoming those bad habits? How often do you find yourself regretting your words or your actions? If you were left entirely to your own devices how long do you think you'd continue to be a follower of Christ? For most of us I fear it wouldn't be too long. No, we need God's help all along the way and that's no less true at the start of the journey as half way through or at the end. So isn't it wonderful that it's God who calls us to himself and that Jesus promises that anyone who comes to him will never be driven away.

   But for those with an independent frame of mind, there is another side to this.

   2. What alternative is there?

   Look at v 67: (John 6:67-68 NRSV) "So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" ⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life." There is a rational response to Jesus that says 'What alternative is there? Where else would we go? With Jesus we find the words of eternal life. Anywhere else we might go leads only to death.' Now notice that this doesn't take anything away from what we've already said. Jesus has already said that those who come to Jesus do so because the Father brings them. So this expression of faith on the disciples' part is equally the work of the Father, or of his Spirit (v63), but nevertheless, it does indicate that the faith they express isn't just blind faith. Rather it's rational faith that comes about because of the work of God in their hearts. It's rational faith that comes about as the Spirit takes the words of God (vs63,68) and sets them to work in our hearts to bring eternal life. As Jesus says in v45 the disciples are those who have listened to God and so come to Jesus in faith.

   The choice is the same today as it was 2000 years ago. Do you believe in Jesus or not? Will you come to him or will you reject him? If you're one who's still deciding, then ask God to open your eyes so you can see the truth about Jesus and come to belief in him. Ask him to feed you with living bread that endures to eternal life. If you already believe in Jesus then make sure you're spending time with God's word so God can continue to feed your faith in Jesus so you too will live with him forever.


	Contact us	Preaching Program	Home		Last Week's Sermon

	Sermon of the Week
	11/4/99
	Jesus the Bread of Life	Jn 6:22-71

	'Let's consider your age to begin with - how old are you?'
	'I'm seven and a half exactly.'
	'You needn't say "exactly",' the queen remarked: 'I can believe it without that. Now I'll give you something to believe. I'm just one hundred and one, five months and a day.'
	'I can't believe that!' said Alice.
	'Can't you?' the queen said in a pitying tone. 'Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.'
	Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said: 'one can't believe impossible things.'
	'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.' (Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass)
	Lewis Carroll is commenting in that passage from Through the Looking Glass on the enigma of faith. Why is it that some people manage to believe things that others find utterly incredible? As far as the White Queen is concerned it's all a matter of effort. Just hold your breath and shut your eyes. You can believe anything if you try hard enough. But we, like Alice, realise that it isn't that simple. There's a big difference between faith and mere wishful thinking. To fail to understand that is to confuse reality with fantasy. If you have to make yourself believe it then there's something wrong.
	Yet having said that people do believe in the impossible. Certainly we Christians appear to, don't we? That God would become a human being and walk on earth. That he would be killed but then come back to life in a body that could be touched and yet at the same time walk through walls. Alice would be excused for laughing at such an idea wouldn't she? Yet most Christians would argue that they're not forcing themselves to believe. They're not suspending their rational faculties in order to believe all this. No, rather, we believe because of a deep inner conviction that the Christian message is the truth.
	Now why is that? It can't just be that we're gullible. I mean there are plenty of gullible Christians around, I'm sure, but there are plenty of intelligent, reasonable, rational Christians around as well. So why is it that some people believe, while others don't?
	Well that's the question that Jesus addresses in the conversations we find here in John 6. So let's look at the passage.
	A Why do unbelievers not believe?
	1. The Spirituality of Jesus' Message.
	(John 6:26-27 NRSV) "Jesus 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.""
	To properly understand what Jesus is saying here, we need to think back to what's gone before. If you were here 2 weeks ago you'll remember the story of the feeding of the 5000. And I hope you'll remember what we said then about the significance of that act in terms of Jesus' role as the new Moses, the new saviour of the people. Some of the people recognised what Jesus did for what it was, but what they saw wasn't quite right. They thought Jesus was the one who would bring them liberation from the Roman oppression, the way Moses brought salvation from slavery in Egypt. They thought Jesus would provide food to eat that could sustain an army in battle. But Jesus says, you've got it all wrong. There are two sorts of food: "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life." There's the bread that nourishes our physical existence, but which is doomed to perish in the end, but there's also bread that nourishes our spiritual existence which is destined to last forever. The trouble was, these Galileans were basically materialists. They'd eaten the loaves and had their fill. They saw the economic benefits of following Jesus and had decided they were on a good thing. But they'd completely missed the spiritual significance of what had happened. They'd seen the miracle but they hadn't seen the sign. Remember when we started this series, I pointed out that in John's gospel we find a series of signs, the significance of which is to point us to who Jesus is. They're like road signs, pointing the way. But sometimes people are so intent on the obvious that they miss the more important things. Jesus had looked at the crowd and seen not just hungry people, but also people searching in vain for something to fill a spiritual vacuum within them. On another occasion Mark tells us that when Jesus saw the crowd he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So his willingness here to feed them is a sign, or a pointer to the deeper spiritual truth that he has food for us that will satisfy our spiritual hunger, a food, he says, that will endure for eternal life.
	This is a message for us still, even in the 20th century. Let's face it, we're just as materialist now as the people of Galilee were in Jesus' day. We still tend to look at the physical, the material before we notice the spiritual. I think it's true to say that we're much more aware of our material needs than we are of our spiritual needs. I think we're probably working as hard or even harder for our physical needs today than people did 100 years ago yet how much time do we put into satisfying our spiritual needs? So Jesus' words come to us with renewed urgency: "Do 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." (Jesus msg is essentially spiritual)
	The second reason that people fail to believe in Jesus is
	2. The supernaturalism of his claims
	(John 6:41-42 NRSV) "Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." ⁴²They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?""
	In the previous chapter there's a long discourse between Jesus and the religious leaders in which Jesus claims over and over to have come from God, indeed to be the Son of God. Again, here, he's claiming a divine origin.
	It's the sort of thing you expect to hear in a mental hospital: from people who have lost touch with reality. In the space of a mere 7 verses, from 34 to 40, Jesus uses the words 'I' or 'me' or 'my' 17 times. (a megalomaniac) Yet, Jesus' claims, as amazing as they are, are tempered by an equally amazing modesty. He isn't on about his own agenda. No, he's come to do the will of his Father in heaven. (John 6:38-39 NRSV) "for 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." Still, his claim is for a divine origin: 'I have come down from heaven;' a divine mission: 'I have come to do the will of him who sent me;' and, a few verses earlier, a divine ministry: 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.' (John 6:35 NRSV) Jesus has come to satisfy the most important need of human beings: the need to fill the spiritual void caused by sin. Do you remember what Jesus said to Satan during the first of his temptations in the desert? 'Human beings don't live by bread alone.' There's far more to life than our material needs.
	Yet there are still those who disagree; who argue that such an idea is just a way of seducing the masses; of stopping them from worrying about their real state of existence. Marx claimed that religion was the opiate of the masses. Something to keep the poor happy and ignorant of the economic oppression under which they live. But according to Jesus the opposite is true. It's actually materialism that's the narcotic, which deadens us to our spiritual state. Just listen to our politicians some time. They'll tell you that all that matters is our economic well-being. And it's true isn't it? As long as we're acquiring the latest gadget, the newest car, the clearest hi-fi system, we don't seem to think about the spiritual side of life. Not, that is, until we realise what a spiral we're in: where our latest purchase is never quite enough, where the appetite for more becomes insatiable, where our buying becomes a substitute for satisfying what's really a spiritual hunger for something: for significance, for a relationship with the living God. A hunger to satisfy the longing that Job describes when he says that God has put eternity in our hearts.
	Do you know that hunger? Chances are, since you're here, that you do, or that you have in the past and have found the answer to it here. It's a profound hunger that only God can satisfy. It's a hunger that, Jesus tells his hearers, he's come to satisfy, as both the giver and the gift. "The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. ... I am the bread of life." (John 6:33-35 NRSV)
	But, if you'll pardon the pun, they just couldn't swallow that. After all, they knew Jesus. They'd seen him grow up. They'd bought furniture from his father. They'd eaten with his family. How could he claim to have come down from heaven? That's ridiculous! He may have a strange ability to heal people, even to produce food in unexplainable ways, he might be able to do amazing miracles, but it's another thing to claim to be a miracle. That's a bit unbelievable wouldn't you say? Yet that's his claim.
	Of course it's still his claim today and it's still an obstacle to faith for many today. You see, we're so intent on understanding our world, of being able to judge for ourselves what's true and what isn't that we find it hard to accept someone who claims to come from heaven and so to be beyond our field of measurement.
	The third reason some find it hard to believe is because of
	3. The scandal of the cross.
	(John 6:51-52 NRSV) "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." ⁵²The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?""
	Jesus takes the idea of the bread that comes down from heaven and extends it to describe what he is soon to do on the cross. That is, he's about to give up his life in order to bring life to others. Now we have to be careful about how we understand this expression. There are some who think this is talking about communion and saying that you have to partake of communion regularly if you're to have eternal life. But that's to totally misunderstand what Jesus is saying here. No, all through this passage Jesus tells them how they can receive eternal life. He repeats himself over and over again. In v29 he says: "The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent." And in v35, "Come to me, and you will never go hungry. Believe in me and you will never thirst." v40: "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." And then in v47 "Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life."
	So when we get to v51 and he starts talking about eating his flesh, it's fairly clear that eating his flesh has to do with believing in what he's done with his flesh: that is, his death on the cross; his flesh given for the life of the world.
	Again his hearers take offence at this language. The thought of eating his flesh is enough to turn them off completely. But Jesus takes the metaphor even further: he says that his flesh and blood are real food and drink. They're such that if you partake of them you'll partake of Christ himself (v.56). To eat of this food is to have the life that the Father gives to the Son.
	Well, I guess we can understand how hard this was for Jesus hearers to understand. Even his disciples begin to complain what a hard saying this is. So Jesus responds, in v62: "Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?" There would come a time when an even more amazing thing would happen. Not only would Jesus be killed on a cross, but he'd rise from death and ascend again to the Father in heaven. Then their faith would really be tested and even having seen all that, there would still be some who wouldn't believe.
	So we see here 3 reasons why people fail to believe in Jesus: 1. The spiritual nature of his message. 2. The supernaturalism of his claims. And 3. The scandal of the cross.
	But that leaves us with the question
	B Why do some people believe?
	I think there are two reasons given in the passage.
	1. A Gift from God.
	Three times in this section we're told the same thing:
	John 6:37 "Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away;"
	Jn 6:44 "No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day."
	John 6:64-65: ""But among you there are some who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. ⁶⁵And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father."" At first glance we don't like the idea that our coming to Christ is the work of God. We'd prefer to think that we can solve our own problems. There's a certain independence of mind that's inculcated in us from an early age these days that rebels at the thought that God does it all for us. Yet that's the message of the gospel. Everything to do with our salvation comes from God.
	Yet as we think more about it this becomes not a thing to rebel against, but a thing of comfort. Think about how well you do in keeping to God's will for your life. How good are you at overcoming those bad habits? How often do you find yourself regretting your words or your actions? If you were left entirely to your own devices how long do you think you'd continue to be a follower of Christ? For most of us I fear it wouldn't be too long. No, we need God's help all along the way and that's no less true at the start of the journey as half way through or at the end. So isn't it wonderful that it's God who calls us to himself and that Jesus promises that anyone who comes to him will never be driven away.
	But for those with an independent frame of mind, there is another side to this.
	2. What alternative is there?
	Look at v 67: (John 6:67-68 NRSV) "So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" ⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life." There is a rational response to Jesus that says 'What alternative is there? Where else would we go? With Jesus we find the words of eternal life. Anywhere else we might go leads only to death.' Now notice that this doesn't take anything away from what we've already said. Jesus has already said that those who come to Jesus do so because the Father brings them. So this expression of faith on the disciples' part is equally the work of the Father, or of his Spirit (v63), but nevertheless, it does indicate that the faith they express isn't just blind faith. Rather it's rational faith that comes about because of the work of God in their hearts. It's rational faith that comes about as the Spirit takes the words of God (vs63,68) and sets them to work in our hearts to bring eternal life. As Jesus says in v45 the disciples are those who have listened to God and so come to Jesus in faith.
	The choice is the same today as it was 2000 years ago. Do you believe in Jesus or not? Will you come to him or will you reject him? If you're one who's still deciding, then ask God to open your eyes so you can see the truth about Jesus and come to belief in him. Ask him to feed you with living bread that endures to eternal life. If you already believe in Jesus then make sure you're spending time with God's word so God can continue to feed your faith in Jesus so you too will live with him forever.

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