The day following, when the people who stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one into which his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone;
All Commentaries on John 6:22 Go To John 6
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Knowledge of the miracle was conveyed to them indirectly. Other ships had come to the place where they had eaten bread; in these they went after Him; However there came other boats from Tiberias, nigh to the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks. When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither His disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.
So He Who had fled to the mountain, mixes and converses with the multitude. Only just now they would have kept Him, and made Him king. But after the sacrament of the miracle, He begins to discourse, and fills their souls with His word, whose bodies Ho had satisfied with bread.
As if He said, you seek Me to satisfy the flesh, not the Spirit.
Under the figure of food He alludes to Himself you seek Me, He said, for the sake of something else; seek Me for My own sake.
As He told the woman of Samaria above, If you knew Who it is that said to you, Give me to drink, you would have asked of Him, an He would have given you living water. So He says here, Which the Son of man shall give to you.
How many there are who seek Jesus, only to gain some temporary benefit. One man has a matter of business, in which he wants the assistance of the clergy; another is oppressed by a more powerful neighbor, and flies to the Church for refuge: Jesus is scarcely ever sought for Jesus’ sake.
