III: Du fils de Zébédée (pas du tout Jacques!)

Jean chapitre 6
{Continued from previous post..}

vv.22-29
Once again, the crowd are searching for Jesus - a crowd that wanted to make Him king by force. In the wider context of the whole chapter, this is by no means commendable..but anyway, as Jesus implies, this crowd is more interested in "food that spoils" (v.27) than they are in what endures to eternal life which the God-approved Son of Man gives.

Perhaps, the gentle nudge about wanting what God wants to offer us by Jesus
- rather than wanting what WE want for ourselves?
{In other words, knowing what God wants for us might be
the eternal life that Jesus the Son of Man gives - not complete physical/material satisfaction now..?(v.27)}

The question of the crowd seeking Jesus next runs like this:
"What must we do to do the works God requires?" (v.28)
Oh, how classically Jewish that sounds to me - although it is also the 2nd of the questions I've been asking while reading this gospel.

And even more classic is the response of Jesus - a perfect fit for the context so far:
"The work of God is this: To believe in the One He has sent."
(v.29)

Oh, boy!!
That idea of "..believing.." just keeps coming back - we're up to FOURTEEN TIMES!!!!!
________________

vv.29-33
Oh, good grief.
Look with me at the crowd's reaction. They've just had a big miraculous feeding, and now it seems they want ANOTHER sign? How thick can you get??!?
"So they asked Him, 'What miraculous sign will you give that we may see it and believe You?..'" (v.30)

For crying out loud!!

Back to topic questions..knowing God appears to be knowing & receiving the bread of heaven that God sends
- "..the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.." (v.33); that is, Jesus Himself, the Word become flesh, the Lamb of God who the Baptist recognised would take away the sins of the world.

So this is about knowing & receiving Jesus (= bread of life).
________________

vv.33-51
I've split this off from the previous chunk only so that there's less clutter for readers - logically it seems that these two segments in vv.29-51 really belong together.

Jesus identifies Himself as the bread of life, assuager of hunger & thirst; the One from heaven;
- the One by whom we can know God; knowing God is about believing in Jesus, looking to & coming to Him (vv.35-37; also v.40 and v.47).

It's also about God the Father being the One who draws people to Himself (v.44).

And knowing what God wants for us is closely tied into that
~ that we listen to Him our Father, be taught by Him & learn from Him (v.45)
~ life eternal & resurrection at the last day (v.33, v.35, v.40, v.47 and vv.50-51).

Example:
"For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." (v.40)
________________

Seems to be more reinforcement of similar ideas here
~ belief for eternal life
~ the work, the will & the way of God (ie. not our way),
related to His desire for us to know Him (v.37-39, for instance).

Some new stuff too.

*pausing to catch breath*

L/T.