What does Jesus mean when He says, "Labour not for the meat which perisheth"?

When Jesus says not to work for food that spoils, He is not telling people to quit their daily jobs or ignore real needs. He is correcting their main focus. The crowd came to Him mostly because He had filled their stomachs the day before. Jesus uses this to show there is something far more important than bread and fish. The food of this life is temporary and soon gone. He urges them to seek the “meat” that leads to everlasting life, which He alone gives. In other words, make your first effort to know and trust Him.

What is "the work of God" that Jesus talks about in this passage?

When the crowd asks what they must do to work the works of God, they expect a list of tasks or religious duties. Jesus gives a very different answer. He says, “This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent.” The main thing God wants from them is not piles of good deeds done to earn favor, but faith in the One He has sent. Believing in Jesus includes trusting who He is, relying on His words, and resting in Him for eternal life. Other works flow out of this faith, but they cannot replace it.

Why does Jesus call Himself the "bread of life" and the "living bread"?

Jesus calls Himself the bread of life to show that He is to the soul what bread is to the body. Bread was everyday food that kept people alive. He explains that the manna in the wilderness fed people for a time, but they still died. In contrast, He is the true bread that came down from heaven. Whoever comes to Him and believes in Him will never hunger or thirst in the deepest sense and will have everlasting life. Calling Himself the living bread shows that He gives a life that does not fade and that this life is found only in close connection with Him.

What does it mean that the Father has "sealed" the Son of man?

When Jesus says the Son of man is sealed by the Father, He is talking about the Father’s mark of approval and the authority given to Him. Like a king’s seal on a document, God has set His seal on Jesus by sending Him, empowering Him, and publicly confirming Him. This shows that Jesus is the One appointed to give the food that endures to eternal life. He is not just another teacher. The Father has set Him apart from all others to reveal God, to bring people to faith, and to secure eternal life for those who come to Him.

What does this passage teach about people coming to Jesus and the Father drawing them?

Jesus says that all whom the Father gives Him will come to Him, and that no one can come unless the Father draws them. This shows that faith is not something we work up by ourselves. God has to work first in the heart. He teaches, draws, and changes people so they are willing to come. At the same time, Jesus promises that anyone who does come to Him will never be cast out. The drawing of the Father and the welcoming of the Son fit together. Those who hear and learn from the Father come to Jesus, and He will lose none of them but will raise them up at the last day.

Why were the Jews offended when Jesus said to eat His flesh and drink His blood?

The Jews were disturbed because they took Jesus’ words in a very literal way. When He spoke of giving His flesh to eat, they argued, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Eating human flesh and drinking blood sounded shocking and wrong to them. They could not see that He was using strong picture language to speak about deep faith and sharing in His sacrifice. To “eat” His flesh and “drink” His blood means to take Him in by faith, to depend on His death for the life of the world, and to live in close union with Him. Without this, He says, they have no real life in them.

How is Jesus different from the manna that Israel ate in the wilderness?

Jesus points out that the fathers ate manna in the wilderness and still died. Manna was a gift from God, but it only sustained physical life for a time. He contrasts this with Himself as the true bread from heaven. Whoever eats this bread, meaning whoever truly shares in Him by faith, will not die in the eternal sense but will live forever. So the manna was a sign and a shadow, while Jesus is the reality. The old bread filled the stomach; the new bread gives eternal life. By coming to Him, a person receives a life that death cannot end.

Why does Jesus say that whoever comes to Him He "will in no wise cast out"?

Jesus says this to comfort those who might fear being rejected. After speaking about the Father giving people to Him, He adds that anyone who comes to Him will never be thrown away. This shows His kindness and reliability. No true seeker is turned aside. The same God who draws people also promises they will be kept. Jesus came not to do His own will but the will of the Father, and that will is that He should lose none of those given to Him, but raise them up at the last day. So a person who truly comes to Christ can rest in His promise of welcome and keeping.

How can believers today "eat" Jesus’ flesh and "drink" His blood in a spiritual sense?

To eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood is to take Him into the center of your life by faith. It means trusting that His body given and His blood poured out on the cross are for your sins and your life. Just as food must be taken in, chewed, and swallowed to help the body, so Christ’s words and saving work must be received, believed, and relied on. This is not about biting with the teeth but about a deep, ongoing dependence on Him. As you keep turning to Him, listening to His teaching, and resting in His death and life, you “feed” on Him and find your strength in Him.

What does this passage show about eternal life and the last day?

Again and again in this passage Jesus ties believing in Him to eternal life and to being raised up at the last day. He says that whoever believes in Him has everlasting life already, and He also promises a future resurrection. So eternal life is both a present gift and a coming fullness. This life comes from being joined to Him, the living bread from heaven. Death ended life for those who only ate manna, but for those who feed on Christ by faith, death is not the end. He will raise them up, body and soul, when the last day comes, just as the Father has willed.

John.6.22

John 6:22

KJV

The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone;

Jesus the Bread of Life

The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone;

(Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:)

When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.

And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?

Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?

Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.

For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.

And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?

Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

I am that bread of life.

Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

Cross References

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