Mark

continuing on…

Joh 6:26 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.
Joh 6:27 Do not labor 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.”
Joh 6:28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
Joh 6:29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
Joh 6:30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?

Verses 26-30 ought to understood around two key themes, 1. ‘works’ and 2. ‘bread’ (or food).

Verse 26. Rather than Jesus giving an answer to the question of verse 25, He goes straight to the heart of the matter literally. He exposes the heart of the crowd. Although they followed him because of the signs (6:2), it was purely a physical and selfish reason- to be fed. They had failed to the see the ‘spiritual’ dimension of Jesus works as the Messiah.

Verse 27. Jesus gives a command (a present imperative) ‘Stop working’ for the wrong food. He tells them to labor for the eternal food. Note also that this food is a gift ‘given’ by the Son of Man as well as the eternal life. Both the ‘food’ and ‘eternal life’ are in the feminine. The ‘which’ likewise is in the feminine, linking the food and life to the ‘gift’ that the Son of Man will give.

Vers 28. The crowd in the stupidity miss what Jesus has said. They think Jesus intentions are some ‘works’ (works of the Law) which can give them eternal life.

Verse 29. Jesus corrects them by saying there is only one ‘work’ and that is to believe in the Son of Man. We should not understand here that Jesus is promoting a ‘work’ based salvation contrary to the teaching of the rest of the New Testament. It is clear throughout the teaching of Jesus in John that salvation is entirely by grace (1:13,17,29; 3:3, 5, 16) just to name a few. We need to understand the context of how the crowd has misunderstood Jesus command to stop ‘working’ for the wrong food in verse 27. But also note that this does not mean that salvation is not conditional on one believing in the saving work of Jesus. Here it is clear that to be saved one must believe. However it would be wrong here to forget that the act of faith is itself the gift of God (Eph 2:8-9, John 6:44, Romans 12:3)

Also note that Jesus has been sent by the Father. The ‘he’ is emphatic showing it is none other that God the Father who sent his son (3:16)

Verse 30. The stupidity of the crowd is highlighted as they ask for another ‘work’ so that they may believe. You would think they have seen enough would you not? But this inability to believe will be further highlighted in the passage, since none can actually come to the Father unless he enables them (6:65)