The Work of God: Jesus As The Bread of Life

What must we do to perform the works of God? Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’
– John 6:28-29

This verse is often cited in support of some divine election to salvation. Gods work is to make it so that one believes. Or Gods work is the belief they could not do on their own. But is that really what this passage is saying?

Let’s backtrack to verse 14. Jesus has just done a work with the leaves and the fishes. Here was the peoples response.

14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’

They believe he is the prophet. In Jewish terms this would be Elijah. What was their response to this assertation?

15 When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

They wanted to make him king. Jesus’ response is to retreat, with the passage then detailing a story that answers that question, what is the work of God using the analogy of the leaves and fishes. Having retreated they are now looking for their prophet/king. Jesus says,

26Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves

Jesus then goes on to clarify what he means by this.

33″The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’

This proclamation relates to his prior claim that they “not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”

What does this mean? They ate their full meaning they had tasted the true work of God- Jesus.

35 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty

The connection here has nothing to do with the work being some divine election to belief in God. The connection is between the work of God that they were looking for, the signs they were looking for to tell them that God was about to at long last do what He promised to do, the prophet being the precursor, and that work being Jesus, the one sent from Heaven to at long last restore the world.