John 6:28

‘They said therefore to him, “What must we do that we might work the works of God?” '

The minds of His listeners were momentarily diverted. “What shall we do to in order to carry out God's works?”, they asked. They wanted this continuous supply of miraculous food, so they wanted to know what they had to do to earn it. Like so many they saw religion in terms of what they must  do, and thought that by those ‘good deeds' they would somehow merit favour.

In part the desire ‘to do the works of God' is, of course, a good thing, for the doing is important, as both John the Baptiser and Jesus stressed. But just to consider doing good works in order to obtain benefit for oneself is not good at all. It is bribery. It actually means that the heart is not really right. They had to learn that there was a lot more to pleasing God than just doing good works, however important they might be. The account brings out that it is our attitude of heart towards God which is vital, and this was where they were almost totally lacking.

They needed to recognise that this was a crucial moment in history. Here there was One among them Who was like no other who had come before. And yet here they were, so taken up with getting more “bread” that they were failing to recognise the fact. They must therefore learn that it was necessary first to concentrate on Him and thus to receive ‘the life of the coming age', eternal life. And that is what Jesus now pointed out.