John 6:16-32 Work for the bread of heaven

John 6:16-25 Jesus was up on the mountain alone, so His disciples decided it was time to go home to Capernaum. They got in the boat and a storm came up. Is this a different incident from the time when Peter walked on the water? (Matthew 14:22-33) Both are recorded immediately after the feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. But John records that when Jesus got there the boat was immediately at its destination and mentions nothing about Peter walking on the water. In any event, the disciples were terrified by the storm. There was a contrary wind. When they had rowed 25 to 30 stadia (each stadion being approximately 185 m, for a total distance of 4.6-5.6 km), Jesus came to them walking on the water. Perhaps this metaphor illustrates the ups and downs of spiritual life. Jesus had performed a great miracle, and then seemingly vanished. The disciples, left to their own decision-making, did something routine, and ran into a terrible storm. But Jesus hadn't really left them completely, He had withdrawn so that they could grow a little bit. He came to them in their distress, and said "I am; fear not." The 'I am' is one of several that occur in the gospel of John. In this case, He did not add a qualifier as He did in the other 'I am's' that John recorded. He simply identified Himself with YHWH, the great I am that I am of the Old Testament. And so, when we see great miracles followed by great tests, we should trust in His unconditional existence and not fear the trials. Perhaps that is the reason for the mild rebuke recorded in Mark 6:51-52.

John 6:22-25 People are genuinely puzzled by the circumstances on how Jesus got across the sea to Capernaum. Just as people today are genuinely puzzled when The Lord works in the world and, even though they may experience one miracle, are unable to grasp the totality of the power that is inherent in Jesus. Or maybe they just want the details of everything that He does.

John 6:26-32 Jesus does not rebuke the people for their curiosity, but for their motives. He uses this interaction to have a genuinely spiritual revelation of Himself and God to the crowd. The important thing is not to have food to eat to nourish the body, although God will provide that because He knows we need to eat. But when He tells them that the important thing is to work for the bread of heaven, they are naturally mystified. So He reminds them that He miraculously fed them the previous day, and that this is essentially the same kind of supernatural provision that God made for the Israelites in the wilderness when He gave them manna every day, by quoting Psalm 105:40. Psalm 105 recounts the miraculous provision of God for Israel over the course of their early history, with the perspective that all the promises made to Abraham were fulfilled during their sojourn in Egypt and the exodus from Egypt and travels in the wilderness. The point is that it was not Moses who gave the Israelites manna in the wilderness, but God, His Father, just as He had done the previous day.