Today Jesus begins by telling the crowds that they are coming in search of him not because of the 'signs' that he is doing but because of the bread that they had been given to eat. They have missed the 'sign', the deeper meaning behind them. The food they are looking for is not the food that counts. The real food brings a life that never ends and that is the food that Jesus is offering. It parallels the water "springing up to eternal life" which Jesus promised the Samaritan woman (Jn. 4:14).

In answer to the question what they are to do in order to do the works of God, they are told, "This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent." For the Jews and sometimes for Catholics, being a 'good' Catholic involves performing a lot of religious exercises. For Jesus it is not what we do that counts but our total commitment to living our lives as he did - based on total love and service of all our brothers and sisters.