John 6:26 Commentary and Bible Study

But they get a rebuke from Christ. ‘Verily, verily,’ – truly, truly; I most gravely and solemnly assure you – ‘I say unto you, ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles.’ Actually the word in the Greek is ‘signs’, translated here for us as miracles. That is fair, but ‘signs’ is the original in the Gospel of John, that is, ‘pointers’. You seek me not because you understood the pointers. These miracles are pointers to me, as Messiah, as Christ, and you have not understood them in those terms. You have not grasped their meaning. You have just said to yourselves, this is the man who can get us a better life on earth, a better lot here. You have not said, this is Messiah who has come to save us from our sins, and reconcile us with God, and enable us to walk to God, and give us a hold on heaven. ‘… but because ye did eat of the loaves.’ Loaves! He fed us and we received the loaves, the barley cakes and fish. They were multiplied over and over again, and the people ate all they could. They ate many barley cakes, many loaves, until they were filled and more than satisfied. That is what came home to them: this man fed all of us and so much. ‘That confirms in our minds that he is our political deliverer, he can do astonishing things.’ So instead of reading the meaning of the sign, which was the significance of what the miracle was. They simply thought of food and prosperity and provision.