Chapter 5 finds Jesus in Jerusalem and now in Chapter 6 He is
back in Galilee. The distance between the two, as the crow flies, is
approximately 130 kilometres. Jesus’ ministry is truly ‘a back and forth’
between Galilee and Jerusalem, and that without air transport, rail transport and
tar roads. I hardly walk 20 kilometres a week! No wonder that there is no
mention of Banting and Keto and other weight loss diets in the Bible. There is
also no mention of slap chips and koek-sisters (you have to be born in Southern Africa to understand this) in the Bible … only
fish and barley loaves. We read of ears of grain harvested from the fields with
the hands and eaten raw, as people were passing through them, walking to their
various towns and villages. We read of no pies and a coke at the truck-stop along the way.
In Chapter 5 Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath, and the
Jews were angry about that. They were not concerned that a man had been made
well. They were concerned that Jesus had used the Sabbath to do that. In engaging them Jesus is beginning to assert
the source of His true authority. He calls God His own Father, and in so doing
they understand that He is making Himself equal with God (5:18). Jesus is now getting
into real trouble. The Jews are now persecuting him (5:16) and in fact they want to kill him (5:18). Unbelief is written across their foreheads. Jesus
uses some of the strongest language to accuse them of their unbelief with
respect to Himself and His ministry in 5:39-47.
They will believe every other false prophet, but they will not believe this
true Prophet sent from God (John 1:11).
They are hostile towards Him. For this reason, Jesus finds it necessary to go back
into Galilee. This is where we find Him in this 6th chapter.
Outline of chapter 6
(i)
6:1-15: An account of the feeding of the 5000,
recorded in all the 4 gospels.
(ii) 6:16-21: An account of Jesus miraculously walking across the lake of Galilee (also known as lake Tiberias[1]),
and this during a strong wind and
a rough sea.
(iii) 6:22-59: In this section He makes the first of
His famous 7 “I AM” statements – I am the Bread of Life. This section, as
we shall see next time, is closely related to the feeding of the 5000. It illustrates
both, the divine nature of Jesus, and it illustrates the necessity of believing
in Him as our only Life-giver and our true Nourisher. Here He illustrates that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word that comes from the mouth of God “(Deut. 8:3, cf. Matt. 4:4).
(iv)
6:60-71 : The 6th chapter closes
with an account of the sad fact that
many of His disciples are now turning away from him, because they find His teaching hard to believe (6:66). We shall see that only 11 of the original disciples,
represented by Peter, continue to trust in the Lord Jesus. In this chapter we shall find one of the
greatest affirmations or confessions from the lips of a man, as to who Jesus
is. The central point of this chapter is contained
in this last section. Humanly speaking, it is impossible to follow and to trust
Jesus. We shall see that more is needed to be a Christian than a mere decision
to be one. The chapter ends with the
doctrine of sovereign election (6:63,64,65,70)
And now that you have the roadmap for the 6th
chapter, let us consider our text.
6:1-15: The Feeding of
the 5000
We saw that Jesus had found it necessary to withdraw from
Jerusalem, because the pressure was mounting. The first talk of killing Him was
being expressed (5:18). John tells us that this was near the time of
Passover (6:4). Jesus would
eventually be killed during the Passover. He was after all, as John the Baptist had said earlier,
the Passover Lamb of God that was going to be killed to take away the sin of the world (John
1:29,36).
Back in Galilee then He was again followed by a crowd, because they saw the signs He was doing on
the sick (6:2). You really need
to see this picture here. This was a needy, physically sick, depressed and often
demon possessed crowd. Mark 6:34 tells
us, “He had compassion on them, because
they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things…”
. Did you hear that? Moved with
compassion, He teaches them many things! Their greatest need at this
stage was not food. They needed the Word of God – they needed perspective for
Life from the God who had made them. They needed the Bread of Life. These were
a spiritually needy, ignorant, sin sick people that had been in the hands of
spiritual neglect and of spiritual wolves for far too long. They needed perspective from the Word of God.
He, who was the Word, was now here – in
person (John 1:1-3). This Word, full
of grace and truth, had become flesh and now dwelt among them. (John 1:14).
Jesus knew full well that these people coming towards Him (6:5) were going to be hungry. He was
going to make their physical hunger an illustration of the spiritual hunger,
which they ought to have. The disciples,
represented here by name were Philip (6:7)
and Andrew (6:8). Jesus (by way of a
testing) challenges them to find food for these many people. Frankly speaking,
this is impossibility. This was not a town with a Checkers shop or a Pick ‘n Pay.
This was the open country. There was nothing here. Do you know how much food you need to feed
5000? Philip quickly figures that it
would take about 8 months’ wages (200 denarii)[2]
to buy enough bread for each one to have even only a little (6:7). Given these facts then, this
becomes the moment for Jesus to show who He is, once again (as if He hadn’t
done it enough!)
After a brief prayer of thanksgiving to the Father (6:11) Jesus divides the few bread loaves
and the few fishes (which were, incidentally, given by a boy), and now the
seemingly impossible happens! The food is miraculously multiplied. There is, incidentally a foreshadowing of this
miracle in 2 Kings. Elisha told his servant to feed the people gathered there,
although there was not enough food for the hundred men. One of the men said, “How can I set this before a hundred men?”
(2 Ki. 4:42–43) In the end, however,
the men not only had enough to eat, but “they
ate and had some left” (2 Ki. 4:44).
And so, in 6:12-13 we read, “And when
they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, ‘gather up the
leftover fragments… and they filled up 12 baskets…”. This is a true miracle. Remember, that He has
done this before. In Cana of Galilee, in
2: 1-12, not far from here, He had the
jars filled with water as He turned the water into finest wine for a wedding.
What’s the point here? This is all a testimony to the divine
nature of Jesus. He who was in the beginning with God, He by whom all things
were created, was simply doing what was within His nature to do! As such He
exercises His authority over nature (and
we shall see this just now), and over creation, over bread, over life and
death, over demons and principalities – over everything! Do you know what Jesus
is saying in effect here? He is saying, I your Creator, your Sustainer and Provider (though
I am veiled in this flesh- this body), I am here among you.
This story is like so many situations in our life, isn't it?
Like right now, in the life of our church.
We don't have the resources to meet the many challenges we face. Many a problem
is too big for us. But our extremity is
God's opportunity. Where are we going to find sufficient to do what we have to
do? We look to Jesus. He has the answer. The problems of this city, the problems of this
country with its vicious drought crisis and financial crises – we look to
Jesus. For our depressions, our
difficult marriage, our children and all our personal problems we look to Jesus. Lord
you know!
At the end of this story we find the people beginning to look
at Jesus in a different way. 6:14 says, “When the people saw the sign that He had
done, they said. This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
Something was beginning to dawn. Something miraculous had happened, and now they
saw Jesus as the prophet who is to come
into the world. This is most likely a reference to Deut. 18:15 – a prophet like Moses who would appear in the last
days. They will refer to Moses again in 6:30,
31. At any rate, this prophet, in their eyes was a political deliverer,
which Jesus was not. He was much, much bigger than that. He was the Saviour
from the tragic and horrific consequences of their sin! And so Jesus had to
escape again from them. He withdrew to the mountain by Himself. (6:15)
6:16-21 Walking on
Water
While Jesus is on the mountain by Himself, the disciples take
a boat to row across the lake – most likely to find a place to sleep for the
night. A strong wind comes up and they
are in trouble. This is apparently not unusual. The Sea of Galilee is about 200
meters below sea level and it is surrounded by mountains up to 500 metres above
sea level. When it gets dark, the temperature
suddenly changes and with that these squall develops as cold air rapidly sinks
to the low lying areas causing this strong wind. Mark tells us that it was
during the 4th watch of the night (i.e. from 3 am in the morning)
that they were battling against this wind, when Jesus appeared walking on the water! [3]
Now what was this all about?
If all you had was John's version of the story, we would not have the
same clarity as the gospel of Mark provides. Mark gives us a possible reason why the
disciples were experiencing this trial. He refers to the disciples’ hearts as
being hardened (Mk. 6:52). Their
response to the feeding of the 5000 had been a disappointment to Jesus. They
did not understand who He was.
Jesus comes to these disciples, walking on the lake, in the
midst of the storm. He could have
stopped this storm from wherever else. But He walks out to them into the middle of
the storm. That is the kind of Saviour we have. He did not want to
perform His miracle from a distance. He comes to us in the storm. He wanted to show them who He was. They
thought He was a ghost (Matt. 14:26)
. But He assured them with these words, “Take
heart. Don't be afraid, it is I.” And after
He took His place in the boat, the journey was soon over (6:21)
The feeding of the 5000 and the walking on the water correct our
wrong notions of Jesus. He is not just a miracle worker. He is not just a
prophet like Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel. He is infinitely greater. He is One
whose sandals we are not worthy to untie. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
incarnate Son of God. And He has not just come to give us what we want in our
physical hour of need. He has come to give us much, much more. He is the Bread
of life. Look beyond the externalities. See Him for who He is.
He has come to deliver us from the power of sin and death. He
invites you now to look to Him. May be
you have never seen Jesus for who He is before.
If you do today, then repent of your hardness of heart and your unbelief. Stop running from Him. Turn to Him while He
is passing by right now.
Give Him your sin, and He, in turn will give you eternal life,
and the real food that will sustain you, which will
not lead you to be at the mercy of the world and yourself, and all this while you wait for His coming.
[1]
Tiberias ( the sea of Galilee) was so named by Herod Antipas in about AD 20
in honour of Roman emperor Tiberius, the second Roman emperor (reigning from 14 AD to
37 AD), succeeding Caesar Augustus.
[2] a
denarius was a day’s wage
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