John 6:29-33

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.”

1. In John 6:30 the crowd asked Jesus, “What sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?” Why would they ask this after Jesus fed as many as 20,000 just the day before? Were they just dull? Or was there something else behind their request? Look at Jesus’ words in 6:29 and how they responded in 6:31. Why do they go back to Moses and Manna? Also, notice that they ask for a “sign” and not just a ‘miracle’. Why?
2. Getting the ‘bigger picture’ might help us to understand what’s happening here. Consider how the crowd is thinking about Jesus at this point. Read John 6:14-15. What are they saying about Him? Read Deuteronomy 18:15. Who’s speaking there? How does this passage help our understanding? Consider the interrogation of John the Baptist in John 1:19-27. Anything relevant to our passage?
3. How might the crowd have considered Jesus’ feeding miracle the day before ‘small potatoes’ compared to Moses’ provision of Manna? Read through the account in Exodus 16 carefully.
4. In John 6:15 Jesus rejected the people’s attempt to coronate Him. Why? Consider this question in light of John 2:24 & 6:66.
5. Consider Jesus’ Parable of the Seeds and the Soil in Matthew 13:3-23. How many kinds of seed are there? How many kinds of soil? How many of these soil types lead to salvation? Which soil best describes the crowd in John 6?
6. According to Jesus in Matthew 13:12, why do some understand His words while most do not? What does this mean? Read the following verses in this context: John 1:12-13, 3:27, 6:36-37, 39, 43b-44, 63-65. What are they saying? What do we make of them?
7. Is the crowd being unbiblical in their response to Jesus? (See 6:31.)
8. In this 3^rd of six verbal exchanges, there is an important emphasis. Compare John 6:31-33, Exodus 16:4, Psalm 78:24, Nehemiah and think ‘origin’. What phrase comes up over and over again?
9. In 6:32, Jesus makes four corrections to the crowd’s statement of 6:31. Can you find them?