As the Bread of Life discourse continues from last week's gospel lesson into this week's texts, John re-emphasizes the similarities and contrasts between the old "manna in the wilderness" experience and this new notion of a bread of life that is directly tied to Jesus. In verse 41 John takes advantage of the Jewish identity of the "complaining" crowd and recalls their own unique history. Those listening to Jesus begin to "murmur" against Jesus and his gifts of heavenly bread even as the ancient Israelites began to "murmur" or "complain" against Moses first out of hunger (Exodus 16:2,7,12), then against the monotony of the manna diet (Numbers 11:4-6).

It is important to note here that John's identification of this crowd as "the Jews" is a far more specific term than it seems. These "Jews" a…