Charles Ellicott Commentary John 6:30

"They said therefore unto him, What then doest thou for a sign, that we may see, and believe thee? what workest thou?" — John 6:30 (ASV)

What dost thou work?—They feel that His words are an assertion that He is the Messiah, and they demand of Him Messianic signs and works. Do they demand a sign, who had seen the thousands fed and would then have made Him a king? It was only yesterday that He was obliged to withdraw from the enthusiasm of the multitude.

Do they today need a further proof? The answer is to be found partly in the fact that a feeling soon quickened is soon cooled, and that even the disciples had not learned the true meaning of the earlier sign (John 6:19); and partly in the fact that He Himself had taught them since, that the work of life was spiritual and eternal, and that He too could give them that food.

This seems to them a claim to a power in the world of spirit analogous to that which He had exercised in the world of matter. They demand proof of this power. Where is the sign of it? What is the work that He Himself does answering to the work of faith which He demands from them?