The attitude of ingratitude.
To pick up where we left off, Jesus has
fed the five thousand. After He performed this wondrous
miracle people followed him across Galilee and were after
him to perform more miracles.
30 Therefore they said to Him,
“What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and
believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the
manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread
from heaven to eat.’”
After everything Jesus
had done for them, the teaching was lost on them. They were
chasing the flash in the pan, and unbelievably required more
of Jesus than what He had provided (We never do
that….right?). It’s very interesting that they quote
scripture to press this point. Very few people approached
Jesus with the word, many of them were not his “friends”
notable among these are the Devil and The Pharisees. Of
course there were those who honestly used the word when
talking to Jesus, and these He admired greatly.
32
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you,
Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father
gives you the true bread from heaven.
33
For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and
gives life to the world.”
Jesus is reminding them who the source
of every good thing is. The Father in heaven. Their question
“What sign will you perform?” showed Jesus that they were
not focused on God, but rather on their own selfish desires.
34
Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
And no longer able to contain
themselves, they ask him for a everlasting bread supply,
missing the point. God did not give the Israelites
manna to sustain them to live in the desert, but rather
to sustain THROUGH desert until they could accomplish what
God had set before them, the taking of the promised
land. The purpose of God rarely ever focuses on making our
life peaches and cream, but rather on the furthering of his
kingdom and the salvation of souls. If you are seeking to
enrich yourself in this life, to become powerful and
rich…..well fed by the never ending bread of life, then you
are missing God’s purpose.
35
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who
comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me
shall never thirst.
Jesus formulates His answer, and in
doing so, many of the people will be alienated because it is
NOT want they wanted to hear. Everything a
Christian needs comes from the Father, through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Mind you it does not promise steak
dinners and Jaguars in the garage, but our needs will always
be sufficiently met.
36
But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not
believe.
Was their disbelief based on an
inability to believe, or an unwillingness? And now
begins one of the those passages, where Jesus lays it all
down on the line. The bare and for some people bitter truth.
Jesus rarely ever sugar coated the truth, but rather, spoke
it with the authority of God and in doing so, alienated
everyone, who in their heart rejected God. The same
can be seen today. Were the people who promote tolerance and
acceptance of many view points and lifestyles are lauded,
and those who peskily insist on telling the truth that there
is just one way, one Lord, one baptism for the forgiveness
of sins and labeled as haters and scorned.
37
All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one
who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
What a comfort to know that once we
come to Jesus we are his forever, He will never cast us out
38
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but
the will of Him who sent Me.
39
This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He
has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up
at the last day.
40
And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who
sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life;
and I will raise him up at the last day.”
The promise that we
cling to, the hope of salvation, is in Jesus Christ and He
will raise us up into everlasting life in that day. An
everlasting life, which we hold even this day. We surely
will never see death, even if the body dies. Again
Jesus points out that none of this is His doing alone, but
rather it was done at the Father’s will. Jesus points
this out many times and it must be restated that while Jesus
is God, while He was on earth, he walked , breathed and
acted as a man. He set aside all expression and power of
diety. The miracles He did, He did as a man through the will
of the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
41
The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am
the bread which came down from heaven.”
42
And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I
have come down from heaven’?”
And finally. truth
told, and knowing they we’re not going to get a life time
supply of wonder bread, those who were chasing Jesus only
for the splash and the flash, start grumbling and accusing.
They had no problem accepting that This son of a carpenter
could provide them with an everlasting supply of Bread…but
there is no way He could be sent from God. If He was
sent from God, then they would be required to acknowlege and
, humble themselves in faith and commitment. “Hey I
just came from the bread….don’t ask me to change my life.”
No matter how things
change, things remain the same. To this day there are people
hitting up Jesus for everything they want, for their
desires, never caring that God grants the desires of His
children’s hearts when their desires line up with His.
“Hey don’t get me wrong…I think God is cool and I like the
singing at church……but don’t expect me to change my life
around for this.”
The attitude of ingratitude. Take the
cream and leave milk
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