Jesus answered, “You’ve come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs—and for free.

27 “Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last.”

28 To that they said, “Well, what do we do then to get in on God’s works?”

29 Jesus said, “Sign on with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God’s works.” (The Message)

Jesus recognised that the crowd was seeking Him out of self-interest. He had given them a free meal, and they wanted more. He saw through their apparent clamour for Him to its motivation.

All that this world has to offer can be described as ‘perishable goods’. Nothing of it lasts and it isn’t satisfying. I am reminded of the famous C.S.Lewis quote from ‘Mere Christianity’:

“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

In the NIV, verses 27-29 read:

‘27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

We know that we are not saved by works, but by faith. Jesus, here, refers to faith/belief as the ”work of God”. It is both a duty and a gift; and because it is a gift we cannot boast (Eph.2:8-10)