#DailyDevotion What Is The Work Of God?

John 6:22–29 ²²The next day the people were still lingering on the other side of the sea. They had noticed only one boat was there and Jesus had not stepped into that boat with His disciples but they had gone away without Him. ²³0ther boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord gave thanks. ²⁴When the people saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they stepped into these boats and came to Capernaum, looking for Jesus. ²⁵They found Him on the other side of the sea and asked Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?” ²⁶“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered them, “you’re not looking for Me because you’ve seen miracles but because you’ve eaten some of the bread and been well fed. ²⁷Don’t work for the food that spoils but for the food that keeps for everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you because God the Father has sealed in Him the power to give it.” ²⁸“What are the works God wants us to do?” they asked Him. ²⁹“What God wants you to do,” Jesus answered them, “is to believe in Him Whom He sent.”

So the developers of the lectionary slip in this piece of scripture from John (which is usually read during the Easter season) in series c which focuses on the Gospel of Mark. It makes sense though because we read about the feeding of the 5000 a couple of Sundays ago. The disciples and then Jesus went to the other side of the lake. The people not find Jesus or the disciples where they got fed by Jesus, they travel to Capernaum where the know Jesus does a lot of his work.

Now Jesus says some unpleasant things to these people namely they were only looking for him because he fed them and not because of the miracles. You might remember the people didn’t realize Jesus fed them with a miracle, i.e. only five loaves and two fish. They did not recognize he is their LORD who fed the Israelites manna and quail in the wilderness.

It’s a strange saying Jesus has here when he says, “Don’t work for food that perishes but for food that keeps for everlasting life which the Son of Man will give you.” I mean, which is it. Do you work for it or do you receive it as a gift? It’s like the LORD’s invitation in Isaiah 55:1, “Oh, come to the water, all you who are thirsty! You who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come and buy grain without money, and wine and milk that costs nothing.” So I think the work here and the buy in Isaiah are jesting or sarcasm. The real focus is on the giving.

The people don’t focus on the giving though but the work. “What are the works God wants us to do?” We know there is no such thing as a free lunch, right? No one, not even God is just going to give us something, or so we think. Jesus responds with the words which are the key to understanding the rest of John 6. Jesus says, “What God wants you to do is to believe in Him Whom He sent.” The translation here seems to miss something important to try to make it more understandable. What the Greek says is, “This is the work of God.” This believing that receives the gifts of God, food that doesn’t perish, is the work of God. Believing is God’s work in us. Having faith in the one God has sent, namely Jesus, the Son of Man, is God’s work in you. He works that faith in us by the Word of promise which Jesus gives us by the power of the Spirit in the Word. So we do not work or earn this gift but Jesus and the Spirit give it to us through the faith God works in us. Thanks be to God.

Heavenly Father, always work in us the gift of faith that we may always partake your eternal food which is Christ Jesus our Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.