Food that lasts: from where does it come?

When I was much younger I would read the Scriptures with certainty that I would have been on the side of the good people, that I would have been among the faithful people following Jesus, that I would have been among the crowd that didn't grumble, and that, had I been there, I would have been one of the good people.
The older I get, the more convinced I am that, had I been there, I would have been among the crowds who were grumbling, and I would have been among those who were asking for a sign, and I'm not at all certain that I would have been in the good group.
You know, it was not easy to follow Moses to the promised land. What did they get? In one view of the story they left slavery, they left exile in a foreign land and came into their own land. As the story unfolds, they leave behind a place where they had enough to eat, where life was hard but they knew what the problems were, and they went out into the desert where they had nothing to eat. So they said to Moses, "Why did you lead us out into this wilderness with nothing to eat?"
The crowds followed Jesus into the wilderness. Think of those crowds following. As long as they're getting what they want, they follow enthusiastically. They loved it when Jesus spoke back to the scribes and the Pharisees, and they loved to watch him put them down. But they quickly abandoned him.
Where do you think you'd be if you were there in that crowd? Just ask yourself the question and wonder, would you be among the grumblers, or would you be among those who followed?
As I thought of these readings today, I thought of the debates in our country and in our society, and I thought of the newspapers that I read, especially the online stuff where they have these instant headlines. Do you know what I'm struck by? No matter what the issue, the headline is, "What will this cost you?" or, "What will it do for you?" No matter what the issue, the headlines are always pointing out the conflict. It's almost as if the media wants to start a fight and step back and watch it, and almost as if they assume that all of us are motivated only by our own self interest and only by our own pocketbook.
Against all that background, listen to the words of Jesus again in the Gospel today. What advice would he give us as part of the crowd? "Don't work for what perishes, but work for what will last forever." Can you feel that hunger within you and also the dissatisfaction? If I had a lot of time, I'd ask you to make a list of all the things you bought that failed to satisfy you, all the things that you invest your time and energy in that didn't last. Can you hear Jesus today saying, "Don't work for the food that perishes, but work for food that lasts forever"?
I think another piece of advice he would give us is don't ask, “What's in it for me?” but ask how do you know that you're doing what God wants in the world. Did you ever notice in the headlines in the paper, they never ask you what is the just thing to do, what is that love calls us to do. They always appeal to something else, usually our crass self-interest.
So Jesus might ask us, "Ask yourself, 'How do I know that I am doing the work of God?'" Then he might lead you beyond that to say, "Ask not what you're doing, but ask from what place of communion or union within your heart does what you're doing flow?"
Finally, can you hear him say, "Trust me. I am the bread of life. I am the bread that satisfies, and I am with you here as we worship today"?
Anyway, just some questions to ask yourself and maybe to be with as we worship today: How do I know that I am doing the work of God, and what place deep within me do my thoughts and my actions flow from? How do my thoughts and actions flow into the world? Do they flow in accord with God's love and God's justice, or do they flow with some other spirit?