Transcript
Well, you can't really talk about how the Bible employs the word picture of food to help us to understand the gospel and how God satisfies our hunger. No one ever talks about that without talking about John 6. John 6 is the feeding of the five thousand, that awesome miracle of Christ where He takes a little boy's lunch and with that lunch feeds five thousand or more people with baskets of leftovers.
What This Passage Is Really About
And often people think that there's a picture of the glory of Jesus, His ability to miraculously provide and that's all true, but that's not really what this passage is about. And you know that when you really examine the punchline incident of the passage. Here's what happens. As a result of this awesome miraculous meal, the crowd seeks Jesus to make him king.
Now, you would think that's the grand moment. He is the King. They're recognizing He's King. Let's set up a throne. This is it. This is the kingdom. What does Jesus do? He runs and hides, and you think, "Well, what's up with that? This is what I thought you came to do."
And when the crowd finally finds Him, here's the interchange. They say, "Rabbi, Master, why'd You come here? Why'd you run away?" And He says this. "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 food that perishes but for 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." You see, what Jesus says is very interesting. He uses the word sign. "You ate the bread, but you didn't see the sign." He's saying the bread is not the thing. The bread points you to the thing.
A Disney World Example
A sort of dumb example of that, pretend that I'm going to take my family to Disney World and we look at those websites for six months, we save our money, we finally get in the car, we're driving all the way down the Disney World. We get to the first sign that says "Disney World 120 miles" and we stop the car unpack and we have a vacation there.
You would say that is absolutely insane, but listen. There are millions of human beings that do that every day. The sign is not the thing. The sign can't do what the thing can do. The sign is meant to point you to the thing and Jesus is saying, "You want Me not, because you want Me. You want Me because you think I'm going to provide for you an endless buffet."
The problem is that buffet will never satisfy you. Seek food that satisfies. What Jesus is saying is, "I'm the bread you need. I am bread and you eat me, and you will not be hungry anymore. I'm bread that satisfies. I'm bread that transforms. I'm bread that gives you life. Don't be satisfied with the sign. Run to what the sign points you to.
