John 6:22-29
“Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life,.”
On the next day the people who remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.
However, boats from Tibe′rias came near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.So when the people saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Caper′naum, seeking Jesus.
When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.”
Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
What do the Fathers say?
St John CHRYSOSTOM. Our Lord, though He did not actually show Himself to the multitude walking on the sea, yet gave them the opportunity of inferring what had taken place.
Yet after so great a miracle, they did not ask Him how He had passed over, or show any concern about it.
And observe their lightness of mind. After saying, This is that Prophet, and wishing to take Him by force to make Him king, when they find Him, nothing of the kind is thought of.
He proceeds to teach them: Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, meaning, You seek for temporal food, whereas I only fed your bodies, so that you might seek the more diligently for that food, which is not temporary, but contains eternal life.
AUGUSTINE. So He Who had fled to the mountain, mixes and converses with the multitude. Only just now they would have kept Him, and made Him king. But after the sacrament of the miracle, He begins to discourse, and fills their souls with His word, whose bodies He had satisfied with bread,
St ALCUIN. When, through the hand of the priest, you receive the Body of Christ, think not of the priest which you see, but of the Priest you do not see.
The priest is the dispenser of this food, not the author. The Son of man gives Himself to us, that we may abide in Him, and He in us.
Do not conceive that Son of man to be the same as other sons of men: He stands alone in abundance of grace, separate and distinct from all the rest: for that Son of man is the Son of God.
St AUGUSTINE. He does not say, That you should believe Him, but, that you should believe in Him. For the devils believed Him, and did not believe in Him; and we believe Paul, but do not believe in Paul.
To believe in Him is believing to love, believing to honour Him, believing to go to Him, and be made members incorporate of His Body.
The faith, which God requires of us, is that which works by love. Faith indeed is distinguished from works by the Apostle, who says, That man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. (Rom. 3:28) But the works indeed which appear good, without faith in Christ, are not really so, not being referred to that end, which makes them good.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes (Rom. 10:4). And therefore our Lord would not separate faith from works, but said that faith itself was doing the work of God;