Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Six

                                                                                                                                      Verses 28-29

The material minded multitude completely missed Jesus' message that the material food that He had given them represented spiritual food that Jesus would give them for their everlasting life. They then asked Jesus what kind of good works they could do to please God. They ignored the fact that they had no way of getting any food in the wilderness and that Jesus had given them food and that Jesus had also told them that He would give them spiritual food. Any person who becomes saved by grace must first realize that they are completely helpless to save themselves, and they can only trust in Christ who alone has the power, through His sacrifice for them, to save them forever. Romans 5:6-8.

Jesus replied that the only good work that they could do would be to have faith in God. Everything that humans need for physical and spiritual life comes from God. James 1:17. In effect, Jesus told them that just as they were helpless in the desert, and He supplied them with food, so they were helpless to do anything to please God to the extent that they could save themselves in any spiritual way. Jesus informed them that only God had the power to save them and feed them spiritual food, and all they needed was faith that He had that power. Romans 5:6-8. Jesus tried to awaken their spiritual natures so that they could come to faith in Him as their God and Savior so that He could immediately give them the spiritual food that they needed to obtain everlasting life, but the people still adhered to their material way of thinking. John 5:24.