John 6:22-29
22 The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat, but only his disciples had left.
23 Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread when the Lord gave thanks.
24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
25 And when they found him across the sea they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"
26 Jesus answered them and said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
27 Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal."
28 So they said to him, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"
29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."
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This passage begins with "the next day." The previous day Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, and that night the disciples saw Jesus walk on water.
This is a good passage to refer to "the dust." For those new here - when I say "the dust", I'm referring to the Church Fathers, Doctors of the Church, and Saints. The following is from the "Catena Aurea" (aka "Golden Chain"), which St. Thomas Aquinas compiled in the 13th century. It is a collection of scriptural commentaries from some of the greatest teachers of the first millenium of the Church.
You can find the Catena Aurea for John 6 at this link: http://dhspriory.org/thomas/CAJohn.htm#6
AUGUSTINE (4th - 5th century). Only just now they would have kept Him, and made Him king. But after the sacrament of the miracle, He begins to discourse, and fills their souls with His word, whose bodies Ho had satisfied with bread.
ALCUIN (8th century). He who set an example of declining praise, and earthly power, sets teachers also an example of deliverance in preaching.
CHRYSOSTOM (4th century). He shows them that He did not desire the honor that comes from man, by the severity of His answer, which both exposes the motive on which they acted, and rebukes it. Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
AUGUSTINE (4th - 5th century). As if He said, you seek Me to satisfy the flesh, not the Spirit.
CHRYSOSTOM (4th century). After the rebuke, however, He proceeds to teach them: Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures to everlasting life; meaning, you seek for temporal food, whereas I only fed your bodies, that you might seek the more diligently for that food, which is not temporary, but contains eternal life.
ALCUIN (8th century). Bodily food only supports the flesh of the outward man, and must be taken not once for all, but daily; whereas spiritual food remains for ever, imparting perpetual fullness, and immortality.
AUGUSTINE (4th - 5th century). Under the figure of food He alludes to Himself you seek Me, He said, for the sake of something else; seek Me for My own sake.
ALCUIN (8th century).When, through the hand of the priest, you receive the Body of Christ, think not of the priest which you see, but of the Priest you do not see. The priest is the dispenser of this food, not the author. The Son of man gives Himself to us, that we may abide in Him, and He in us. Do not conceive that Son of man to be the same as other sons of men: He stands alone in abundance of grace, separate and distinct from all the rest: for that Son of man is the Son of God, as it follows, For Him has God the Father sealed.
AUGUSTINE (4th - 5th century). How many there are who seek Jesus, only to gain some temporary benefit. One man has a matter of business, in which he wants the assistance of the clergy; another is oppressed by a more powerful neighbor, and flies to the Church for refuge: Jesus is scarcely ever sought for Jesus’ sake.
BEDE (7th-8th century). They too seek Jesus, not for Jesus’ sake, but for something else, who ask in their prayers not for eternal, but temporal blessings. The mystical meaning is, that the conventicles of heretics are without the company of Christ and His disciples. And other ships coming is the sudden growth of heresies. By the crowd, which saw that Jesus was not there, or His disciples, are designated those who seeing the errors of heretics, leave them and turn to the true faith.
