So when the people saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' "

Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Lord, give us this bread always."

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:24-35 (RSV)

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." (v. 35)

In a broadcast address in London, T. S. Eliot talked about "spiritual awareness." He observed that many persons aspire to become Christians and believe, presumably, in the efficacy of the Christian faith, but never reach the stage of actually experiencing it. Aspiring towards real belief, i.e., becoming truly Christian, is one thing, whereas complete awareness of it is another. Aspiring can easily become an end in itself. And, as Charles H. Duthie of Edinburgh remarked: "It is a matter of living forever in the preface and never becoming involved in the story."

This condition of spiritual awareness is clearly defined by Jesus in the words of our text. It is a state of soul devoutly and eagerly to be aspired to, in contrast to what Lord Cecil of Britain once referred to as "believing in God in a commonplace sort of way." And, it becomes the gift and possession of any persons who are utterly dissatisfied with themselves, and who decide to fulfill those important requisites that make them completely satisfied in Christ.

What were the circumstances that drew this strong and telling remark from Jesus? It was the morning after the day he had fed the five thousand on the Galilean hillside. He and the disciples had crossed the lake, but the people followed them. Uppermost in their thinking was the human cry for bread. Moreover, behind it all was their misconception of Jesus' mission and their notion that life was a matter of performing certain things, in order to qualify to receive what they wanted. Jesus undertook now to set them straight. For him, life was a matter of being, not merely of doing. By so saying, he sorted out for them their priorities: ordinary bread that feeds and satisfies the body can be earned, but the bread Jesus offered them had to do with the inner life; it comes as a gift to those whose spiritual lifestyle qualifies them to receive it. Hence their question, "What must we do?" (v. 28) was out of order. Bread for mind and soul asks more accurately, "What must we be?"

At this point, Jesus did not leave them confused or in the dark over the nature of his mission and purpose among them. Their motives were worldly; his, moral and spiritual. They were materially ambitious and they had hoped to have found, in Jesus, a potential political leader who would restore their lost national status and root out the tentacles of Rome. Moreover, the miracle on the hillside was a reason for speculation that maybe an era of free handouts was, for them, just around the corner. But Jesus put the issues into another context entirely. Bread and water were the basic staples of their daily diet, but this man declared, "I am the bread of life. I am the water of life." He offered them himself. "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." What they wanted was not what they needed. The latter was there in their midst; not something to be earned, but received. As St. Augustine wrote: "We do not come to Christ by running or walking, but by believing, not by the motion of the body, but by the will of the mind."

I

There are lessons here for every one of us who aspires towards a level of life where a sense of spiritual awareness holds us fast. "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger." Jesus is instructing us here, first of all, about the true nature of life. Note how the word "life" dominates these lines. And Jesus zeroed in that day upon the attention and interest of the crowd by singling out the two elements that meant most to life - bread and water. These they would think of naturally when the words "life" and "hunger" were mentioned. But Jesus was leading their thinking towards a deeper hunger, for which he himself was the answer and the cure.

Remember, for example, the Prodigal. He had a hunger for independence, the thrill and excitement of living high and fast and wild, entirely free from the dull routine of the farm. But, all too soon, this superficial bread and water, the thrills and frills of sensuous living, reduced him to the level of scrounging for any available scraps of leftover food and drink. Suddenly he came to himself and was arrested by a deeper hunger, a longing for home, family, and love; these were elements without which his soul was starved. Lasting satisfaction began to emerge when, as Luke tells us, "He was a great way off, his father saw him ..."

Ours is a generation with its own various kinds of hunger. We may deplore, but yet enjoy, what Wordsworth called "this unaimed prattle flying up and down." We may question the American dream, yet acclaim anyone who is "on the make" and aggressively acquiring more and more things. We may take overweening pride in the products of American science and know-how, but we dodge the arresting question: "What's it all for?" Jesus heard the people ask, "Give us this bread always" (v. 34), which today would be put, "Give us everything we want; forget any thought of what we need." This would not be living, and surely it cannot produce true life. "He who comes to me shall not hunger," said Jesus. Why? Because Jesus brings us real bread that can make the poorest life among us an awareness of a great satisfaction. To those who come to him, he gives new moral and spiritual standing (Mark Rutherford spelled out another Beatitude: "Blessed are they who give us back our self-respect"); a new start when the old lifestyle led us downward and got us nowhere; a new character that shook off our self-centeredness and showed us how to use life in a new way; and a new set of promises to nourish our souls and give us reason to go on with courage toward innumerable victories. These are the answers he gives when you and I pray constantly and sincerely, "Give us this day our daily bread."

II

"He who comes to me" is a somewhat general invitation, but the matter becomes specific when Jesus added in effect, "He who comes believing ..." There's the rub. Jesus indicates, in the second place, the manner of being which nourishes and feeds the true life. There are actually two kinds of bread: material - helps us from without inwards; and spiritual - helps us from within outwards. Jesus' concern was for the latter, because the inward life was, to him, the true life. As one commentator has written: "There is a vacuum in the soul of man which nothing can fill save faith in God." "He who believes in me shall never thirst" - shall never be unsatisfied; shall never lack that chief ingredient needed to provide full life. Few of us take this seriously. If our physical condition is not up to par, we run to the physician. If we are frustrated, despondent, filled with a sense of failure, aimlessness, and lost meaning, we rarely get upset by it. We long for peace of mind, fulfillment, and a well-rounded life. We aspire, but fall short of spiritual awareness. This means: get to know him (read and reread the Gospels); live with him (talk to him in your prayers); love him (give him the edge of your affection over the things you crave for and want); and let his presence daily permeate your whole lifestyle. That is a tall order. It is a holy diet. It produces moving examples of eternal life.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,"Behold, I freely giveThe living water, thirsty one;Stoop down, and drink, and live."I came to Jesus, and I drankOf that life-giving stream;My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,And now I live in him.- Horatius Bonar