30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform?
Following the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and using them to feed 5000 men, the crowds are even more determined to follow Jesus around. The issue brought up in the previous verses is that Jesus recognises the desires of these people as being materialistic, essentially seeing him as a free food factory. He then explains to them that he has been sealed by God the Father, a synonym for anointed. What is curious about this is that Jesus has already performed the miracle with the loaves but this crowd seem unmoved by it and request another sign to verify his claim that he has been sent by God.
31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
Jesus’ miracle was supposed to reflect a typological fulfilment of the Manna in the wilderness but his audience actually use this event as evidence against him seeing the bread that Jesus miraculously multiplied as being just earthly bread whereas their ancestors ate the bread from heaven. I’ve seen some people claim that they aren’t quoting scripture directly and that they are paraphrasing a verse from Exodus but to me at least, it sounds an awful lot like what is said in Psalm 78:24
“And he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven.”
This would be the English translation of the Masoretic Text, doesn’t sound quite right does it? When we turn to the literal English translation of the Aramaic we have
“And He rained down on them manna to eat, and the produce of heaven He gave to them.”
Closer? Maybe? The real magic starts when we look at the Septuagint, the Greek Translation of the Old Testament.
“And He rained down on them manna to eat, and bread of heaven He gave to them.”
Now we have an almost word-for-word, slightly reordered which can easily be down to how we translate the phrase into English. When in doubt, use the Old Testament that the Gospel authors actually used.
32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
Jesus corrects his audience, when they use the term “He” they are referencing Moses, an Earthly root of the Manna, so Jesus tells them that It was God the Father who gave them the bread from Heaven. Moses was just the mediator but Jesus is also speaking on another level, Manna was commonly used metaphorically as a symbol of God’s infinite wisdom and vitality. God is in the present tense, giving that to his children, they might not accept it, as they do in the person of Jesus but it is being offered at the time Jesus is talking on that spiritual level.
33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.”
Now Jesus is leading them to the conclusion he wants them to make, he has pointed out that earthly hunger is not a penultimate challenge to strive fulfilment of, Moses is not the root or source of the actual fulfilment they should be seeking, God is and the bread that God offers will come down from Heaven and give life to the world.
34 They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.
This is obviously all very exciting and Jesus has led them to want whatever this bread is, so much so that they call him Lord and ask for this bread always. Now the difficult thing to swallow for Jews. Jesus states that He is that bread. The bread of Life. He has come down from Heaven, He gives life to the World and He will be the Father’s offering to feed his people on their final Exodus to reach the promised land of Heaven.
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