|
| Chapter 6 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
|
1 ¶ After these things Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His miracles which He did on those who were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up onto a mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. 4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. 5 And when Jesus lifted up His eyes and saw a great company coming unto Him, He said unto Philip, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" 6 And this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. 7 Philip answered Him, "Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little." 8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said unto Him, 9 "There is a lad here who hath five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?" 10 And Jesus said, "Make the men sit down." Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were sitting down; and likewise of the fishes, as much as they wanted. 12 When they were filled, He said unto His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." 13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above, unto them that had eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus had done, said, "This is in truth that Prophet who is coming into the world!" 15 ¶ When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force to make Him a king, He departed again onto a mountain alone. 16 And as evening had now come, His disciples went down unto the sea, 17 and entered into a boat and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them. 18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. 19 So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh unto the boat; and they were afraid. 20 But He said unto them, "It is I; be not afraid." 21 Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land whither they were going. 22 ¶ The day following, when the people who stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, save the one into which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not gone with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone 23 (however there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they had eaten bread after the Lord had given thanks)" 24 when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither His disciples, they also took boats and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. 25 And when they had found Him on the other side of the sea, they said unto Him, "Rabbi, when camest thou hither?" 26 Jesus answered them and said, "Verily, verily I say unto you, ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you; for on Him hath God the Father set His seal." 28 ¶ Then said they unto Him, "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, "This is the work of God: that ye believe in Him whom He hath sent." 30 They said therefore unto Him, "What sign showest thou then, that we may see and believe thee? What works dost thou do? 31 Our fathers ate manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’" 32 Then Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He that cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." 34 Then they said unto Him, "Lord, evermore give us this bread." 35 And Jesus said unto them, "I am the Bread of Life. He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said unto you that ye also have seen Me, and believe not. 37 All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. 38 For I came down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. 39 And this is the Father’s will who hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the Last Day. 40 And this is the will of Him that sent Me: that every one who seeth the Son and believeth in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the Last Day." 41 The Jews then murmured at Him, because He said, "I am the Bread which came down from Heaven." 42 And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith, ‘I came down from Heaven?’" 43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, "Murmur not among yourselves. 44 No man can come to Me unless the Father who hath sent Me draw him; and I will raise him up at the Last Day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned from the Father cometh unto Me. 46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He that is of God; He hath seen the Father. 47 Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth in Me hath everlasting life. 48 I am that Bread of Life. 49 Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. 51 I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." 52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53 Then Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily I say unto you, unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the Last Day. 55 For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood dwelleth in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. 58 This is that Bread which came down from Heaven, not as your fathers ate manna and are dead; he that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever." 59 These things said He in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. 60 ¶ Many of His disciples therefore, when they had heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" 61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, "Doth this offend you? 62 What if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you that believe not." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who believed not and who should betray Him. 65 And He said, "Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto Me, unless it were given unto him by My Father." 66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. 67 Then Jesus said unto the twelve, "Will ye also go away?" 68 Then Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, 69 and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." 70 Jesus answered them, "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" 71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was who should betray Him, being one of the twelve. |
John is very selective on which events he records, between the events in John chapter 5 and chapter 6 many events took place Luke 6:1 to 9:10; and Mark 3:1 to 6:30.The feeding of the 5000 is recorded in all the gospels. v1-13 Feeding of 5000. Jesus had been busy and in v1-3 he has taken his disciple up into a mountain possibly for rest or teaching, but the people came seeking Him because of the miracles. The text refers to 5000 people, it was common practice to only refer to the men present so if this is the case and women and children are not included then the number of people present could be 3 to 4 times 5000. How to deal with so many people? Jesus knew the answer but he was testing the disciples, v6. 1st answer. Mark 6:35-36; mentions the first response, "send them away," get rid of the problem. It was evening and in the climate of Israel the people could be taken ill if they had to travel any distance without food. 2nd answer. v5 "raise the money to buy food," Philip calculated the cost and feels they would need 200 days wages for just a little food each. How often we think money is the answer, then get put off because it needs so much and lose faith. 3rd answer v8 Andrew has some information but cannot see how it helps. "A boys lunch 5 loaves and 2 small fish." 4th answer Jesus takes what is available and makes a miracle. He takes the boys food, after thanking the Father for the food he starts to distribute the food via the disciples. All are fed and then they collected 12 baskets of the fragments not used. They ended up with more than they started. Jesus wasted nothing. When ever there is a need, give all that is available, money, people, time etc. and let Jesus do the rest. Begin with what you have, but make sure you give it all to Him. v14 The people have seen what has happened, and see the advantage of a person who can make food from nothing, just the kind of leader they wanted. Jesus knows their thoughts and leaves them. v15-21 Jesus walks on water. Were the disciples in danger from the crowd? Jesus makes them get into the boat and leave him. Matt 14:22; Mark 6:45. Probably some of the disciple would have liked Jesus to have been made king, but that was not God’s plan. Jesus knows all things so He knew that a storm was about to come, so had Jesus deliberately sent His disciples into danger? No, he had stopped them being led on by a fanatical crowd but now He wanted to teach them something. The events which take place in the boat and storm are recorded in more detail in Matt 14:23-34; and Mark 6:46-53. As the disciples set off in the boat Jesus goes of into the mountains to pray. v17-21 It has become dark as they row across the sea towards Capernaum. The storm hits and they are frightened as they just cannot row against the wind. Suddenly they see Jesus walk across the water towards them and are scared, they think it is a spirit. Matt 14:27-34; tells us that Peter asked to also walk on the water but became scared, took his eyes of the Lord and sank. There are four miracles in this event, Jesus walks on water, Peter walked on water, Jesus calms the storm, and then immediately the boat was at the shore. Only the disciples knew about them. The people were satisfied with the miracle bread and were prepared to make Jesus their king, how easy are people satisfied. What did they see in Jesus? A healer or someone who gives free food or supplies what they want. Food, entertainment, possessions etc. may satisfied for a period but what of eternity? v22-71 Jesus Teaches. v22-26 The people came looking for Jesus, they could not work out how He had got to Capernaum as they had seen Him going up into the hills on the other side of the sea. Jesus knew what they were seeking, not even miracles, just free food. "Seek the meat of everlasting life not ‘food’ that rots away," v27. Jesus starts to talk to the crowd about seeking the "bread of life" it is at this point in His ministry that some of the followers start to have problems with the teachings of Jesus. There are four types of responses from the crowd. 1) v22-40 Searching for truth. Jesus knows the minds of these people, originally they wanted to see the miracles, then they discovered the free food. Jesus goes on to explain that there are two kinds of food, physical food for the body and spiritual food for the spirit. The people picked up the word "Labor," v27, and thought that Jesus meant that they had to work for their salvation v28 missing the words "the Son of Man shall give unto you;" v27. The only ‘work’ you need to do is to believe in Jesus v29. Good works cannot save you only belief Eph 2:8-10. v30-31, the Jews now ask for a sign, they seem to have forgotten the miracles. Signs are not real proof as Satan can also perform "wonders" 2 Thess 2:8-10. They needed something like Moses did in bringing the manna down from heaven. v32 Jesus reminded them that it was not Moses who supplied the manna but His Father and now God has sent you the true bread of heaven - His Son Jesus. For Jesus had come to give them the bread of eternal life, His body, v33. v34 The people were still thinking of the ‘bread’ Jesus was talking about as a physical loaf, as food to eat, they wanted this food which meant they did not need to work. v35 " I am the Bread of Life," the first of the "I AM " statements, it was the name that God used when He revealed Himself to Moses (Ex 3:14), so when Jesus used "I Am" he was claiming to be God. v37-40 Jesus describes the process of salvation in these verses, it involves both the divine action and a persons action. The Father gives the person to the Son, v37,v39, but the person must come to Jesus v37, and believe in Him, v40. Jesus states that anyone who does come to Him in this way will never be turned away or lost, v37,39. And finally the person will be raised up again with everlasting life, v39, 40. 2) v41-51 Murmuring against. The words of Jesus in v38 "I came down from Heaven," caused the religious leaders a problem, "we know who he is and his parents, he’s from Nazareth. What right does he have to claim he came from heaven?" v42. It is a pity that they did not investigate the past of Jesus on earth, they would have found that he was born in Bethlehem and specially announced. v44,45 further explanation by Jesus on salvation. The believer hears, learns v45, and comes as the Father draws him, v44. Rom 10:17. v48-51 Jesus said that He was the Bread of Life, not another kind of manna, something much better. The people who eat manna were dead, the Bread from heaven brings eternal life. The manna came each day but the Bread of Heaven came once to die for each one, a gracious gift from God. 3) v52-59 The problem of ‘Flesh.’ An orthodox Jew would have a great problem with eating flesh and blood due to a divine instruction (Gen 9:3-4; Lev 17:10-16). The Jews were taking what Jesus said literally, Jesus said that just as you eat normal bread and take it into your body and it become part of you so must you take me into your spiritual life, I must become part of you. v63 confirms that Jesus was not talking physically but spiritually. Some Bible interpreters feel that Jesus was talking about the Communion, the Lord’s Supper but this celebration is for believers and at this time Jesus was talking to disagreeable unbelievers. In addition all references to the Lord’s Supper use the word "Body" and not "flesh." 1 Cor 11:23-34. v60 The statements had caused some problems with the disciples, these are not the chosen 12 disciples but a group of followers of His teaching, they now feel that they could not continue to follow him. The "Hard saying" refers to the "eating of His flesh," they could not see that He was going to be sacrificed on the cross for those who believed. Jesus could read their minds and knew they were having problems. v62 One day He will be lifted up as a sacrifice for sin, and then rise again to heaven, they will have even more problems with that than what concerned them now. v64-71 Followers lose faith. The result of this message was that many turned away from Jesus, they went back to their old faith and religion. v67 Jesus asks His twelve disciples if they are going as well, Peter understood the message and declared their faith, v68,69. "You are the Christ." The only problem was that Peter spoke for all the disciples, he believed that they all believed, However, Jesus knew all their hearts and had to say that there was one who would betray Him. It shows that it was not obvious that Judas Iscariot was having problems. Do you have a problem with this discussion? |
Easy English Translation
| Back to previous page | Return to Home Page |
| The Gospel According to St. John |
