Commentary on John 6:24-35

This week, we come to the beginning of Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse. Building on last week’s exploration of Jesus’ feeding miracle that tested his disciples on land and on sea, Jesus addresses the crowd he fed, who had sought to make him their king (6:14). Jesus’ retreat from this crowd demonstrated his rejection of this title from them at this time (6:15). For John’s Gospel, Jesus is assuredly “king,” but of God’s kingdom, which operates differently from the kingdoms of the world (12:13–15; 18:36–37). 

Yet, this crowd is persistent, and for that, we should give them some credit. The crowd lingered after Jesus’ withdrawal, remaining when the disciples left without their teacher. Moreover, this crowd is resourceful. They didn’t know how Jesus got to the other side of the Sea of Tiberias, but when the opportunity came to join him, they jumped aboard arriving boats and traveled to meet him. Then, they searched for him. 

When they finally catch up to him and ask respectfully, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” (6:25), we can imagine they both are genuinely curious and feel they deserve an answer. After all, they have shown themselves faithful students by keeping track of their rabbi’s movements and investing time to find him. Nevertheless, as Jesus’ teaching reveals, we can do all the right things and not even know we’re doing them for insufficient reasons until we have allowed our outlook to be reframed by his instruction. 

I call them “insufficient reasons,” rather than “wrong reasons,” on purpose. This crowd that tracked Jesus down had initially followed him because of the “signs that he was doing for the sick” (6:2). Jesus healed members of this crowd and then fed them, testing his disciples to show them he can provide the impossible (6:5–15). In his actions, then, Jesus acknowledges and provides for the physical needs of this crowd. His ability to do so sparks their allegiance. Jesus, more than any governor, bureaucrat, or emperor, provided for them on that day. No wonder they wanted him to be their king! 

Showing their loyalty, this crowd toiled to find Jesus the next day. But rather than praise, Jesus chastises them, exposing the shortcomings of the crowd’s faithfulness. Although the crowd calls Jesus “Rabbi,” they aren’t quite ready to receive the revelatory teaching he gives (see also 3:2; 4:31). Rather than telling them about his miraculous sea-crossing, Jesus answers: “Truly, truly, I tell you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate from the loaves and were satisfied. Stop working for food that is perishing but for food that remains for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (6:26–27; my translation). 

Like his earlier evaluation of enamored groups, Jesus doesn’t trust this crowd; instead, as 2:23–25 informed us, Jesus “knows what is in humanity.” Jesus knows that this crowd has followed him and worked to do so. But while they might be searching for the right one, they are doing so for an insufficient reason. No matter how good it is to cure and feed a needy crowd, Jesus says he has been sent to give something even greater: himself. 

When I read this story, I find it easy to understand the crowd’s confusion. Haven’t they done the right thing? Didn’t they wait for Jesus even after his disciples abandoned him? Yes—and no. According to John’s Gospel, the crowd is right to follow Jesus, but they, like us, need help to see that Jesus’ life-giving mission reaches farther than they can imagine. The crowd wants Jesus to repeat signs they already know—by giving them daily manna in this wilderness (6:30–31)—so that way, their existing definition of Jesus as “the prophet, the one coming into the world” is affirmed (6:14; see also Deuteronomy 18:15–18). 

Yet, as Jesus explains, their analogy is all wrong. Jesus isn’t a new Moses, and he isn’t offering more manna. Even though Moses was a great prophet and leader through whom God did wonderful signs and liberated the Israelites, Jesus says he is a greater gift from the Father. He is the “bread of life” given so that all who consume him—who believe, remain with, trust him even when he says scandalous things—will participate in God’s type of life. Even when the crowd asks for “this bread,” Jesus knows they aren’t quite ready for it (6:34–36).

The crowd suddenly disappears in John 6:41. While this might surprise us, it’s a part of John’s consistent focus on the audience listening to the entire Gospel, so they will then have the advantage of knitting this story together. Careful audiences can make connections between 6:24–35 and previous scenes, such as 2:23–25 mentioned above. But they might also catch the language of “descending” and the “Son of Man” that sounds like Jesus’ initial promise to his disciples (1:51) and his later conversation with Nicodemus (3:13). 

Jesus also calls himself the “true bread” (6:32), which may remind us of his being the “true light” in 1:9. The discussion of “food” and “works” resonates with 3:19–21, and with his previous teaching to the disciples in 4:32–35. When his disciples reasonably and rightfully try to make him eat after a day of traveling, Jesus chides them with the cryptic words “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work” (4:34). Only by working through the Gospel repeatedly can we begin to make these connections and put together the more profound portrait of God’s self-revelation through Jesus. 

God certainly knows our daily needs, but through Jesus, God also shows us that our preoccupation with our needs can prevent us from seeing the “greater things” God is doing (1:51) and that God wants to do through us (14:12). God’s will isn’t for temporary sustenance, but for ongoing life. And this living only happens when we allow our expectations to be reshaped and we receive the living bread given to us.

Be sure also to check out the blog article by Kendall Vanderslice on Preaching the Bread of Life series from John 6.