(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
This is the context of today’s reading. Jesus had just fed five thousand men with five loaves of bread and two fish. Then, in some mysterious way over the sea, Jesus had come to Capernaum. There the people found him and wondered how Jesus had arrived in Capernaum since he had not left the mountainside with his disciples. Should we be thinking of the crossing of the Red Sea under Moses as part of the mystery of this story?
This story forms part of the Book of Signs. Signs point, but signs can be ambiguous also. Red only means stop or danger because we have learned it. My GPS tells me to turn here, but it really wants me to turn in 50 feet. What do the signs mean? To whom or to what do the signs in John’s book point?
Jesus acknowledged that the people had appreciated the feast on the mountain. He also declared that his purpose was more than providing food to eat. He wanted to feed them the food that endures for eternal life.
The crowd wanted more information. It wanted to know more about doing the works of God.
Jesus replied that there was only one work of God that they had to do, they had to believe in the one whom God had sent.
In tomorrow’s reading (John 6:30-35), the crowd will quote the Bible (He gave them bread from heaven to eat) referring to the manna Moses gave the people in the desert. Jesus will answer by proclaiming that the true bread is Jesus himself who has come down from heaven. Believing in Jesus will satisfy every hunger and thirst the people have. Believing in Jesus is the nourishment God wants us to have. This is more than the Eucharist: is the Word that nourishes first and the bread and wine of Eucharist after that.
John has told us where the signs point. They point to the person of Jesus, the agent of God’s blessings for us, the Christ and the Son of God. This brings us to the final question: how well do we follow the signs John presents so that we believe in this Jesus?