The True Bread of Heaven

The two miracles that John recounts for us in Chapter 6, The Feeding of the Five Thousand and Jesus Walking on the Water, set the stage for a discourse, or dialog, between Jesus and the crowd of Jewish people (the Bread of Life discourse). There's an enthusiasm and excitement that Jesus might be the awaited Messiah. But we see that, in the midst of this great crowd of seekers, an astonishing this happens: Jesus basically, in this discourse, sifts the crowd until there is only a small band of true disciples. Of the crowds that came, there's only a remnant of true believers. This is reminiscent of events in the Old Testament, where the multitudes witnessed God's great acts of deliverance and providence, and yet millions died in theirs sins. This is the tragic irony of people starving in the presences of plenty.