First Baptist Church
The Book of John (Chapter 6a/b)
- III. Incoming Persecutions of ChristB. The Fourth Sign (5,000 Feed)- John 6:1-15Recorded in all 4 Gospels- Matt. 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-14“After this”.... what things just happened and where was Jesus?Where was Jesus at? Why was He there? (look at other gospel accounts) Where would you think that He should have been, and why wasn’t He at that place? (For this last question, may have to skim to next chapter as well as look at other accounts of this miracle in the other books.)sea of Galilee, more specifically city of Bethsaida (Luke 9:10)he was there to rest (Mark 6:31), to grieve the loss of John the Baptist (Mark 6:29-30), to heal the sick, and of course, feed the multitude (which happens later)John records that it was Passover time and Jesus wasn’t at Jerusalem for the feast. He wasn’t there because the Jews in Judea were actively seeking to kill Him (John 7:1). He also had other work to do outside of Judea.What are some life lessons that we can apply from what we see of Jesus and what happened in this passage.Jesus instructed His disciples to get away and to rest. These are Biblical things not to feel guilty about.Jesus was prudent/wise in what He did and where He went. So should we.As Jesus retreated to this hilly region, a multitude of people came after Him. For what reason did they follow Him? And did Jesus meet their needs anyway? Why did Jesus meet their needs?Jon Courson’s Application Commentary Chapter 6
Although the disciples and Jesus ascended a mountain, the crowd tracked Him down—not so much because they wanted to be with Him, but because they were curious about Him. Having seen His miracles, they no doubt looked at Jesus either as a magician to entertain them or as a physician to assist them. The crowd followed Jesus for the wrong reasons. And it still does. The crowd mentality is still to manipulate the Lord for a personal, private agenda—to get something from Him rather than simply to be with Him.
John 6:26 tells us that Jesus knew exactly why they came. To get their bellies full. Even later there intentions were known. Political gain. They were gonna make Him King. But Jesus was not about that right now. They asked questions, and He responded with the truth that He was indeed the Son of God but for them now He would be the Bread of Eternal life.Yes, Jesus fed them because as Mark tells us, He had compassion on them (Mark 6:34). I love this about our Lord! Even though the crowd followed Him for the wrong reason, even though Jesus Himself was exhausted and zero time to Himself (even to eat), and even though, in the space of the chapter, these people would turn away from Him completely, Jesus still has compassion on them, for, as Mark’s Gospel tells us, He looked on them as sheep without a shepherd. Jesus set for us an example. A shepherd feeds at all costs. Circumstances don’t matter, your needs aren’t the most important, how people respond to you doesn’t matter… you do what’s right.Why did Jesus as Philip about how they were gonna feed them? And what lesson do we take away about how Jesus interacts with His followers?Did this to test himJesus will often put difficult things in our path that we stress about and don’t know what to do about it. He knows what He is going to do but He is waiting to see how we will respond to it. When we come to think about it, who was the feeding of the 5,000 really for or asked another way, what were really the results of this massive miracle?Why did Jesus retreat to a mountain after the feeding of the 5,000?to pray (Matt. 14:22-23)
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