Welcome to Episode 10 of The Single Eye Podcast.
John 6 is a deep chapter on our identity in Jesus. We touched on it in Chapter 5, but this chapter will have two runs at this topic: this one and again later towards the end of The Single Eye Pilgrimage.
Take a few deep breaths and let all the tension release from your body.
This chapter reveals the deepest truth about Jesus’ identity and about your own.
This is the chapter where Jesus confronts the crowd’s mixed motives, the dual eye’s dependence on externals, and the human longing for a God who will meet our needs without asking for our hearts.
John 6 is not about bread.
It is not about miracles.
It is not about hunger.
It is about to whom we are slaves.
It is about who we seek for wisdom.
It is about the life that cannot be taken, cannot be earned, cannot be lost.
This is the chapter where Jesus reveals that He is not merely the giver of life — He is the Life.
The chapter begins with a miracle that captures the crowd’s imagination.
Jesus feeds five thousand people with five loaves and two fish.
The crowd sees abundance.
The single eye sees revelation.
Jesus is not showing that He can provide bread.
He is showing that He is the bread.
He is not demonstrating power.
He is revealing our identity in Him.
He is not meeting a need.
He is unveiling a truth.
The crowd sees a miracle worker.
The single eye sees the Source of life.
But the crowd does not understand.
They want to make Him king — a king who will meet their needs,
solve their problems, and secure their future.
The dual eye always wants a Jesus who fits its expectations.
But Jesus withdraws. He refuses to be the king they want because He is the King they cannot yet see.
That night, the disciples crossed the sea and encountered a storm.
Jesus comes to them walking on the water.
The crowd sees a display of power.
The single eye sees a revelation of presence.
Jesus is not conquering nature. He is revealing that it is HE who created the waters yet is not bound by them.
He is not showing off.
He is showing that the Source of life is never far away.
“Do not be afraid. It is I” says Jesus.
Not a reassurance.
A revelation.
The “I AM” is with them.
The next day, the crowd searches for Jesus and finds Him on the other side of the sea.
They ask, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
But Jesus sees their hearts.
John 6:26 LSB 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.”
The crowd wants more bread.
The single eye wants the One who is the bread.
The crowd wants provisions.
The single eye wants union.
The crowd wants a miracle.
The single eye wants the Source.
John 6:27 LSB “Do not work 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 the Father, God, set His seal.”
The crowd hears effort.
The single eye hears the invitation.
They ask,
“What must we do to do the works of God?”
The dual eye always asks for instructions.
It wants steps, rules, and requirements.
John 6:29 LSB Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
Not effort. Not striving. Not performance.
Trust. Receiving. Union.
But the crowd is not satisfied.
They ask for another sign — as if the feeding of five thousand
was not enough.
They remind Jesus that Moses gave their ancestors manna.
The crowd always prefers the God of the past to the God who stands before them.
Jesus responds with the heart of the chapter:
John 6:35 LSB Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
Not:
“I give the bread of life.”
Not:
“I can provide the bread of life.”
But rather “I am the bread of life.”
The crowd hears a metaphor.
The single eye hears identity.
Jesus is saying:
“I am your source. I am your sustenance. I am your life. I am the One you live from.”
This is not poetry.
This is ontology.
He is revealing that the life of God is not something He gives — it is something He is.
And that life is now given to you.
Pause here for a moment
Gather your thoughts around this truth.
The life of Yahweh is in YOU!
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus! I am redeemed!!
I find it hard to contain my emotions when I contemplate this.
I am with Yahweh now. Not when I go to heaven. Now! Today!
OK, let’s return to the text.
Then Jesus says something that shocks the crowd:
John 6:53-59 LSB So Jesus 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 will 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 will live forever.” (59) These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
This is an amazing passage of scripture. Jesus is speaking to Jews in the synagogue.
These people are the heart of the Old Covenant.
Yet Jesus uses the metaphor of the manna from heaven to reinforce that the manna He provides now gives eternal spiritual life, whereas the manna He provided then had only physical, life-giving properties.
Put yourself in the scene.
Imagine the looks on the faces of the Jews in the synagogue.
This entire discourse is about spiritual slavery, not bread and blood.
As Jesus is a slave to His Father in Heaven, so too are we to be slaves to the One the Father has sent.
This is sanctification.
The crowd hears cannibalism.
The single eye hears sanctification.
He is saying:
“My life must become your life.
My being must become your being.
My union with the Father must become your union.”
The crowd cannot accept this.
They want a Jesus who gives them things, not a Jesus who gives them Himself.
They want a Jesus who meets their needs, not a Jesus who becomes their life.
They want a Jesus they can use when it suits them, not a Jesus that must become their DNA.
When Jesus reveals union, the disciples grumble:
John 6:60 LSB……. “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”
And they walk away. The crowd always walks away when Jesus reveals union.
The dual eye cannot accept a God who is this close, this intimate, this present.
It prefers a God who is distant, manageable, and external.
But Jesus does not chase them.
He does not soften His words.
He does not adjust His message.
John 6:67 LSB So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go?”
Jesus has no interest in numbers. He is only interested in your heart.
The next time you hear a Pastor brag about their numbers in their services, turn them off or leave.
Peter answers,
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Not:
“You give eternal life.”
But:
“You have it.
You are it.”
This is the single eye.
John 6 reveals that Jesus is not the giver of life — He is the Life.
Jesus is not the provider of bread — He is the Bread.
Jesus is not the source of miracles — He is the Source of being.
Jesus is not outside you — He is the life within you.
Union is not symbolic — it is the essence of salvation.
The crowd sees Jesus as useful.
The single eye sees Jesus as the Tree of Life.
The crowd sees Jesus as a provider.
The single eye sees Jesus as the Tree of Life.
The crowd sees Jesus as separate.
The single eye sees Jesus as the Tree of Life.
Let the Spirit now show you where your eye is still divided.
Where are you still seeking Jesus for what He can give you rather than for who He is?
Where are you still living as though life is outside, instead of within you?
Where do you still eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
What do you value more than your relationship with Jesus?
Don’t skip over these questions.
Contemplate them.
Allow the Spirit to guide you.
Let the Tree of Life fill your whole being with light.
Rest in Jesus, He IS your life.
Matthew 5:3 LSB “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs IS the kingdom of heaven.
This is your present-tense reality.
This is sanctification!
This is the single eye.
Thank you for listening.
Next, John 7.
Until next time, many blessings to you and yours.
Blessings
Geoff
