John 6 - Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand and Explains How He is the Bread of Life!

Click Here To Read or Listen to John 6 to John 6

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

Today Jesus performed another one of his great miracles, which John calls "signs". While they essentially mean the same thing, a sign has the connotation of pointing to something. In John, the signs point to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah. 

Once again Jesus is not only going to feed the hungry people who are following him because of the signs he is doing, but he is also teaching his disciples and allowing them to participate in the sign. He asks Philip how they are going to feed the people. He wonders what they will do so with only a few loaves in hand. Andrew sees a boy with a five barley loaves and two small fish. Clearly Jesus is showing that them is no way that these meager resources will feed five thousand without God's intervention. 

So what did Jesus do? First, he had them sit down. We know from other gospels they were organized in groups of 50. 

Jesus was in no panic or hurry. He had a huge catering job to fulfill, but went about His work in an orderly way, making them sit down upon the grass. -Guzik

Then, it says Jesus simply gave thanks and distributed all of the bread and there were even leftovers. Wow! That seems so simple, How did he do it? What actually happened?  We aren't given the formula, except that he gave thanks God, who multiplied the bread and fish so as to feed the five thousand. The fact that there were even leftovers shows that when God provides it is always more than enough. God is not a God of scarcity but a God of abudance.

It reminds us when we have an overwhelming need, we should give thanks for what God has already given us and then ask him to provide for what we don't have. Notice there was nothing more Jesus had to do. Sometimes we think have to go through all kinds of machinations to get God to answer our prayers, but Jesus simply prepared for to God to provide by organizing the people in anticipating of God's miraculous provision. 

Where are you lacking? What has God already given you that He can multiply to meet your need?

Jesus Walks on the Water

Next, Jesus performs a sign only for his disciples. They got back on the Sea of Galilee and a violent storm kicked up. Jesus knew what was happening, as he walked on the water out to meet them in the middle of the lake. Jesus says to them as they help him into the boat, "It is I, don't be afraid."  Jesus is always in the middle of our storms. We need to welcome him into our boats and realize that if he is with us, we don't need to be afraid.

The crowd figured that Jesus was no longer at the spot where he fed them so they went to Capernaum to find him. 

“That is, as many of them as could get accommodated with boats took them and thus got to Capernaum; but many others doubtless went thither on foot, as it is not at all likely that five or six thousand persons could get boats enow to carry them.” (Clarke)

Jesus the Bread of Life

One of my favorite foods is bread. A nice fresh loaf of baked toasted with butter on it is pretty darn good. It doesn't get much better than that. Jesus uses the metaphor of bread to explain several aspects of how God's kingdom works in and through him. Of course, God provided manna in the wilderness to sustain the Israelites during their wilderness wanderings. So the idea of God supplying bread when they were in need was not new to them. 

The disciples still didn't comprehend that the bread God had provided miraculously was just enough feed them for the day. But through His Son, the Father was going to give them a bread that would give them eternal life. 

The only way the disciples can make the connection is through Moses' providing the bread to them in the desert. When Jesus explained that this bread came from God, they still didn't quite undestand so they said, "Give us this bread always." It is then that Jesus utters the words, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

This is first time John will use the distinctive "I am" as Jesus reveals His unique nature to the world.  John is the only gospel to use this phrase. Again John's purpose is to reveal the true nature of Jesus. Jesus is not the literal bread of life but the spiritual bread that has come down from heaven from God.  

When we are hungry, we feel as though food will answer all our problems. It’s the same way with almost all other practical difficulties we find ourselves in. Just as Jesus tried to lift their understanding above their material, physical needs, so we need to have our minds lifted. - Guzik

“This is the first of the distinctive ‘I am’ sayings of this Gospel (where Jesus uses ego eimi with a predicate).” (Bruce)

In an important passage in Exodus when God is asked who is He? He replies, "I am". The word the Hebrew word "Yahweh" and is"Ego Eimi" in the Greek. 

So we can reasonably conclude Jesus is not using this name by accident, as the disciples would have recognized this translation of the Hebrew name Yahweh (the LORD). 

If you want to read a good article about this concept click on here

When Jesus says, "I am the bread of life", the Jews grumbled about it thinking he was talking about giving them his "literal flesh". Then Jesus responds to them by saying, 

"Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them." 

What does he mean by this? Again I don't think he is meaning this literally, but he is definitely making an important point. I think these commentators help us to understand what he is saying.

 Morris on the use of flesh: “It is a strong word and one bound to attract attention. Its almost crude forcefulness rivets attention on the historical fact that Christ did give Himself for man.”

“To give ones flesh can scarcely mean anything other than death, and the wording here points to a death which is both voluntary (‘I will give’) and vicarious (‘for the life of the world’).” (Bruce)

“The words, then, are a cryptic allusion to the atoning death that Christ would die, together with a challenge to enter the closest and most intimate relation with Him.” (Morris)

The sacrificed life of Jesus is food and drink for the hungry and thirsty soul. When we receive and internalize Jesus Christ and Him crucified for us, we truly abide in Jesus, and He in us (abides in Me, and I in him). - Guzik

To summarize, Jesus' correlation between the bread and his body and blood is referring to his impending crucifixion, which will provide forgiveness and eternal life. To eat and drink Jesus' body and blood shows the importance of our believing in what Jesus did for us on the cross. It is not simply head knowledge, but something we take into our very being. 

 “The actual flesh and blood, the human life of Christ, was given for men; and men eat His flesh and drink His blood, when they use for their own advantage His sacrifice, when they assimilate to their own being all the virtue that was in Him.” (Dods)

I believe there is a connection here to Holy Communion, when we receive the bread and wine as symbols of His body broken for us and his blood poured out for us. Though Lutherans do not believe in "transubstantiation", where the Catholics believe the bread and wine are the literal body and blood of Christ, we do believe Jesus is "truly present in the bread and wine". What does that mean? 

We believe Jesus is present because he says, "This is my body. This is my blood!" We receive presence of Christ by trusting the bread and wine are just that, his body and blood given and shed for us. When we receive the bread and wine in Holy Communion, we are not only remembering what Jesus did for us on the cross, but also experiencing His presence and power in our lives today. 

Many Disciples Desert Jesus 

Many of the disciples either misunderstood what Jesus was saying, or realized that there would be a cost to following him, so they left him. Jesus was speaking words from the Spirit, but they were only able to think in the flesh. Jesus re-affirmed that it is only through the Holy Spirit that God's Word comes alive in us. 

Jesus aware of the fact that the disciples might be having similar thoughts said, "What are you going to leave me too?" Peter answers, "Lord to whom shall we do, you have the words of eternal life." Once again Peter gets it right. Jesus reminds them that it is not their works that have saved them, but that he has chosen them. Well all of them but one.