John 6:28-34 (ESV)

²⁸ Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” ³⁰ So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, 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 from heaven to eat.’ ” ³² Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴ They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus had told the crowd they should not only work for the bread that perishes, but for things of eternal value. The crowd didn’t get what he meant, so they asked what they needed to do. They were basically saying, “Tell us what God wants from us, and we will do it.” Jesus responded that the “work” God wanted from them was to believe. But they weren’t to believe in just anyone or anything, because the work of God was to believe specifically in Jesus. The crowd then requested that he perform another sign. If he made the food again, then they would believe. Actually, if he continued to provide them with food, like Moses did with the manna in the wilderness, then they would follow. Jesus told them it wasn’t Moses who gave them manna to eat, but God. In fact, God gives true bread from heaven. The true bread that came from heaven was Jesus himself. Manna fed and sustained the body, but Jesus feeds and sustains the soul. “Hmm,” the people thought, “true bread?” Then they asked him to give them this true bread, not just today but always. The people were still focused on the here and now.

This crowd may frustrate us. We can think, “Seriously? Jesus just fed your crowd of possibly fifteen thousand or more with a young kid’s snack. But that wasn’t enough? You want more signs to believe?” In verse 30, they asked Jesus, “What will you do?” They wanted him to go above and beyond what Moses did if he was who he claimed to be. Let’s not forget that we can sometimes act and think as oddly as this crowd did. Jesus answers our prayers, yet we soon grow frustrated by what he doesn’t do. Jesus rescues or delivers us from trouble, and we say we aren’t sure whether it really was him. Jesus saves our souls and graces us with his righteousness, and we feel like things aren’t fair and we aren’t getting all that we deserve. Who knows how strange we might appear to the multitude watching from above. Choose today to focus on what you have, rather than thinking about what you don’t have. To begin, if you are a follower of Jesus, then you have the true bread from heaven.