What do you want from Jesus for Christmas? The huge crowd that followed Him across the lake and into the synagogue at Capernaum had initially been attracted to Him because they wanted to be healed from bodily disease (6:2). And all they asked Him to do was to keep on repeating the miracle of the loaves (6:11). They In short, they were only interested in gaining material blessings, so that their lives would be better in this world.

And many people continue to look to Jesus or to the Church for such worldly reasons. From the false “prosperity gospel” teachers to the mainline denominations that neglect evangelism in order to operate soup kitchens, many so-called Christians are exclusively focused on the physical needs of themselves or others.

But Jesus promises all of us something much better. He promises us food that endures to eternal life (6:27). And He makes it clear that He Himself is that food: “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (6:35). In other words, Jesus claims that a relationship with Him is all we really need.

Now, the crowd wasn’t interested in this sort of teaching – they just wanted lunch. But Jesus assures us that everyone who wants Him, everyone who sees Jesus for Who He really is and places our trust in Him will receive a warm welcome from Him. We can thus be sure that, instead of being cast away from His presence because of our sins, He will give us eternal life, raising us from the dead on the Day of His return (6:37, 40).

And yes, that’s all we have to do: just trust Him, just believe in Him, just come to Him (6:29). So, will we stop focusing on worldly things that we can’t keep and that can’t really satisfy us (6:27)? Will we turn to Jesus and live forever?

John 6:22-59 (NASB)

22 The next day the multitude that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone.
23 There came other small boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
24 When the multitude therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”
26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled.
27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him the Father, even God, has set His seal.”
28 They said therefore to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
30 They said therefore to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?
31 “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'”
32 Jesus therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.
33 “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
34 They said therefore to Him, “Lord, evermore give us this bread.”
35 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.
36 “But I said to you, that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.
37 “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.
38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
39 “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
41 The Jews therefore were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.”
42 And they were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven ‘?”
43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.
44 “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
45 “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.
46 “Not that any man has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.
47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
48 “I am the bread of life.
49 “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
51 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
52 The Jews therefore began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
56 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
57 “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.
58 “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate, and died, he who eats this bread shall live forever.”
59 These things He said in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum.