John 5 (Part One)

 Just prior to this Jesus had fed the 5,000+ with 5 loaves and 2 fish.  

^"14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

¹⁵ Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself."

 

What a change of attitude.  From "this is a prophet" to forcefully make Him king.   

 

^"25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the 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.”"

Right here, Jesus Himself seem to be making two things clear.  

1.  That people were only following Him for free food.  They ignored the miracle, for full bellies. 

2.  The physical food that they got isn't the most important thing to Jesus.   

It also seems clear that is one's ministry is only focused on meeting the physical needs/desires of people, that they will only want more and more "free food", and show less and less interest in anything beyond the food.  

Further, Jesus clearly and explicitly teaches that we should work for the "food that endures to eternal life".   This makes the point that "eternal life" is a thing and that he's using food as a metaphor.   

 

 ^"28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” "

 ^{Jesus could have said "Feed the hungry, poor, and oppressed.", but He didn't.   One wonders why He'd ignore this focal point of His ministry and choose to emphasize belief in Jesus.}  

^"30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?^"

^{They ignored the "work" that He had just done the day before.  Why, because they wanted more free food.}   

 

^"31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’  ³² Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave 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.” ³⁴ They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”"

The crowd is interested in  getting ""bread from heaven" because they equate it to the Manna that was provided in Exodus.  Yet what happened in Exodus when YHWH provided far in excess of their daily needs?   They tried to hoard, and complained.   How likely is it that this crowd would have been complaining about too much bread and fish pretty quickly?  

^"35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ³⁶ But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe."

 Finally Jesus flips the script from physical bread to something else entirely.  To Himself as "The bread of life".  It seems clear that without "The bread of life" that life (of some sort) ceases to exist.    He also was clear that hey already knew what He was telling them and they they choose not to believe.

 

" ³⁷ All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And 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. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”"

I fail to see how this direct quote from a sermon by Jesus can lead to anything other than that YHWH gives Jesus those who will "come to Him".   No mention of being "good" or "minor sins" or anything else that involves human action or works.  Again, Jesus is quite clear about an afterlife.