Scripture scholars often call the first twelve chapters ofthe Gospel of John as the Book of Signs, and there areseven of these signs. Signs or miracles point to a deeperreality. The reality to which these signs are pointing isthis: The God who is transcendent, eternal, invisible, andalmighty has become immanent, temporal, visible, andvulnerable in the person and ministry of Jesus.The miracle of the feeding of the multitude, which weheard last week, is the fourth of the signs. Today we aregoing to see what this sign is saying about Jesus. We canfind it helpful to use the analogy of a building which hasmany levels. Last Sunday, we entered the building on theground floor, which was the story of the miracle itself. Butat this level, the people fail to understand where the signis pointing. The people want to make Jesus king. They’rethinking, “If Jesus has the power to feed thousands ofpeople from five loaves and two fish, what else might hebe capable of, what else could he do for us?” The peopleare hoping that Jesus as “king” will liberate them fromRoman oppression and restore the fortunes of Israel. Butthey had misinterpreted the miracle; they had misread themeaning of the sign.John wants to make sure that his Gospel readers do notcommit the same mistake. To do this, he leads usprogressively deeper into the meaning of the miracle. Totake up the analogy of a building, we climb the steps tolevel 2. At this level, the Exodus motif, which comes fromour first reading today, becomes more explicit.We hear the story about the people of Israel complainingagainst Moses: “You had to lead us into this desert tomake the whole community die of famine?” The Lord thenpromises Moses: “I will rain down bread (manna) for youfrom the heavens.”Any First Century Jew would have known that the miracleof the manna is a temporary miracle. In the book ofExodus 16, they begin to receive the manna after leavingEgypt, but once they get to the Promised Land, fortyyears later, in the Book of Joshua 4 and 5, the miracle ofthe manna ceases. The miracle lasted while they were inthe desert but the minute they crossed over the riverJordan, the manna ceased.That is the springboard for Jesus to lead them to themeaning of the sign. He says, “I am the bread of life; hewho comes to me will never hunger, and whoeverbelieves in me will never thirst.”St Augustine once wrote: “You have made us for yourselfand our hearts are restless, until they rest in you.” In otherwords, God is the very ground of our being. If we attemptto sever ourselves from God, we will remain foreverrestless and unsatisfied. But if we remain in Him, we willnever go hungry or thirsty again, because God alonesuffices.