John 4:34 - Exposition

Jesus said to them, My food— that which satisfies my strongest desire, and quenches all other desire— is that I may do continuously £ the will of him that sent me on my mission to this people and to this world. "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God," was the motto and burden of his life. "Not my will, but thine," was the sacrificial cry which redeemed the world. To teach man to do the will of the Father is the motive which sustained him, and the prayer he put upon human lips was, "Thy will be done." Meyer here rightly says that ἵνα is not equal to ὅτι . Some expression is given by it as to the end and purpose of the mysterious life of which we have these sacred illustrations. The doing of the will of God is a perpetual and sublime activity, a continuing, ceaseless purpose; while the completion of the work will be one consummating act, towards which all the daily doing of the will is a preparation, and of which, in some sense, every day we discern a prelibation and forthshadowing. In John 17:4 he says, τελειώσας , "having completed the work thou," etc. This passage points on to that (cf. also John 5:30 , John 6:38 ; John 7:18 ; John 8:50 ; John 9:4 ; John 12:49 , John 12:50 ; John 14:31 , etc.).