John 6.22-29
22The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.23Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.24So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”26Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.27Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”
28Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
Thoughts: Here we have the beginning of a very sad section of John's Gospel. The people are looking for Jesus because he feed their physical hunger--not because of who he is. Jesus challenges us to hunger for him just as powerfully and naturally as we hunger for bread. There is more at stake in life than just having our fill. There is a deeper spiritual hunger that most also be addressed. For those of us who follow Jesus--he is that bread. That is, the very thing that gives us life.
Questions: If someone miraculously provided for your needs one evening, would you chase them down the next day and try to get more? Do you think the peoples question is sincere---'what must we do to perform the works of God?' Or do you think they wanted to know what they needed to do to get more free bread and fish?
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