‘Jesus answered them and said, “In very truth I tell you, you do not seek me because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled”.'
Previously we have had emphasised the difference between those who truly believed and those who merely ‘believed' because they saw signs (John 2:23-25). Now we have a third category, those who only wanted physical satisfaction, although this in itself was because of a sign which they had misinterpreted.
So Jesus immediately challenged them as to their true motives. ‘You seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.' He is bringing out that instead of seeing in the signs which He had done, evidence that He was from God and should be listened to because He could meet their innermost need, they were looking at them in terms of having their physical needs met. To respond to their desire would have been a guarantee of popularity, but it would have been the very opposite of what He had come to do. Those who only want physical satisfaction only have the short term in view. He was concerned for the long term. They lived only for bread. But however understandable that might be among poverty-stricken people, Jesus was ever conscious of the fact that ‘man must not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God' (Matthew 4:4). They sought only bread, He wanted those who would seek and concentrate on the bread of life.