The dialogue between Jesus and the Jews in the synagogue of Capernaum.
The multitude followed our Lord on the following day across to Capernaum.
I. JESUS DISCLOSES TO THEM THE SELFISH MOTIVES THAT GOVERNED THEIR CONDUCT. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw signs, but because ye ate of those loaves, and were filled."
1. Jesus knew the hearts of men.
2. He exposes their inward character with an unshrinking boldness.
3. How seldom is Christ sought for his own sake! The Jews followed him for selfish ends, for mere worldly advantage. Lunge says, "Instead of seeing in the bread the sign, in the sign they beheld only the bread." Their search after Jesus, therefore, had a pre-eminently unspiritual character.
II. JESUS DIRECTS THEM TO THE TRUE WAY OF SEEKING HIM. "Work not for the food which perisheth, but for the food which endureth in life eternal."
1. He does not counsel any neglect of the due discharge of our daily calling. All men must work for "the meat that perisheth." "If any man will not work, neither let him eat." Yet the best things of this life are fading and perishing.
2. He proclaims the essential superiority and indispensableness of "the food which endureth in life eternal."
(a) The Father appointed him to be the Saviour of his people;
(b) he approved him by the Spirit's descent upon him, and a voice from heaven declared him to be his beloved Son;
(c) he sealed him as such by miraculous signs. What security for his salvation is thus possessed by every believer!
III. THE HUMAN SIGN IN THE ACT OF SALVATION. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." The Jews asked what works of God should they do as conditions precedent to their receiving this gift.
1. They were seeking for life, not by faith, but as it were by the works of the Law. They imagined there was some higher work yet to be done than any commanded by the Law of Moses.
2. Our Lord points to faith as the only work to be done. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." It is the work of God
3. Our Lord points to the true Object of faith. "Him whom he hath sent."