Read the passage here.

This passage follows a remarkable event in the Gospel of John—taking five loaves of bread and two fish and, with them, feeding of 5000 people—with 12 baskets of bread left over.

It would be impossible to overstate the significance of this experience for those who were there. Think of it—thousands of people had followed Jesus to a remote place because they had seen his remarkable works of healing. He had become a celebrity for them. But as the day wore on and evening was approaching, Jesus is concerned that they need to eat and miraculously multiplies the bread and fish to satisfy the hunger of the crowd.

Understandably, the crowd is impressed. Indeed, they conclude that Jesus must be “the prophet who is to come into the world.” (v14).

This is not an unreasonable conclusion, based on Deuteronomy 18:15:

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen. (NASB)

And in 2 Kings 4:42-44, tells a story of the prophet Elisha miraculously feeding 100 men:

⁴² A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” ⁴³ But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord: They shall eat and have some left.” ⁴⁴ He set it before them; they ate and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.

It is not at all surprising that many in the crowd conclude that Jesus is the prophetic figure  promised by Moses—the prophet-leader who will deliver Israel from its oppression under Rome.

He’s our man! He is our ticket to be freed from Rome. He is our ticket to prosperity and power. He is our ticket to health and wealth. And so they set about to make him king.

¹⁵ When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

To take Jesus by force—interesting to contemplate. But quite understandable. Their needs were real and pressing. Having just witnessed this miracle of the bread, and within the context of the healings they had seen, Jesus was an amazing source of hope, the One who would restore Israel to its power and glory.

And what an opportunity for Jesus! Be proclaimed King.

Note Jesus’ response—to withdraw to a mountain by himself. Why? When else did we see Jesus by himself? Tempted in the wilderness. By my reading, the text implies that Jesus is wrestling with temptation. Is the cross really needed?

As one commentator observes:

“Jesus refused to become a political opportunist. He did not yield to populism of the mob.”

“The crowd correctly recognized Jesus as the Messiah but wrongly equated His Messiahship with the setting up of an earthly kingdom at that present time. They were fervent political activists who attempted to be king-makers for Israel. They wanted to use Him for their own ends. Their goals were temporal (not eternal) and materialistic, not God-centered. They evidently wanted to kidnap Him and force Him to go with them. The crowd was willing to resort to violence to make Jesus king. They were in the business of sedition and rebellion against Rome.” (https://versebyversecommentary.com/2017/04/07/john-615/)

Recall what Jesus said to Pilate in John 18:36: “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”

We need to ponder the crowd’s intentions. There is always a temptation to commandeer Jesus to serve our own purposes of health, wealth, and power. Think of all the political empires and armies who have claimed Jesus as their own, using Jesus as the guarantor of their righteousness, the rightness of their cause. We see many examples of this in the world today, including in the US, Russia, and many other nations that consider themselves ‘Christian’.

But it is not just nations. Each of us needs to consider whether we are using Jesus to serve our own agendas or submitting and trusting ourselves to Jesus’ agenda. This is the conversation that emerges as these would be king-makers pursue Jesus to the other side of the lake. But first there is another ‘sign’ that the disciples experience.

¹⁶ When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷ got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸ The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.

¹⁹ When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. ²⁰ But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” ²¹ Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

Jesus has disappeared. They are waiting for him and finally (likely exhausted), as the storm threatens, they decide they need to set out without Jesus. Try to imagine the discussion, arguing about whether or not to leave. Finally, as evening falls, they set off—perhaps hoping to get across before dark. It’s a journey of 7-8 miles. But halfway across a storm arises and the going becomes very rough. They are rowing for all they were worth.

And suddenly, Jesus was there. Supernaturally present, walking on the water. It seems a strange thing to be doing. But Jewish men knew their scriptures. And John is far more sophisticated as a writer immersed in the OT scriptures than we typically are as modern readers. 

The text says they were terrified—and understandably so if a passage in Job 9: 4 – 8 came to mind:

⁴ He is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
    who has resisted him and succeeded?
⁵ He removes mountains, and they do not know it
    when he overturns them in his anger;
⁶ he shakes the earth out of its place,
    and its pillars tremble;
⁷ he commands the sun, and it does not rise;
    he seals up the stars;
⁸ he alone stretched out the heavens
    and trampled the waves of the Sea;

Jews had great respect for and fear of the sea—representing chaos and uncontrollable forces of nature. And here is Jesus walking on the raging sea—untroubled, totally in control.

Jesus’ declaration to the disciples in the boat is evocative. Most translations have some version of “It is I.” But the Greek literally is “I am.” Literally, “Don’t be afraid, I am.” Ring any bells?

Exodus 3:13 – 14:

¹³ But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”^[b] He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

It is impossible to overstate the significance of what Jesus is saying to his disciples in this encounter, even if they (like us—certainly like me) can only dimly grasp the full weight of the implications. Jesus—this rabbi whom they have been following, whom they have come to hope/believe is the long-promised Messiah, is more than a miracle worker, more than a prophet like Moses or Elijah. This man, Jesus, who grew up in Galilee, is the One who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush—the One who created the world, the One who “stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea.” (Job)

We can trust this One. But we cannot control or manipulate him. And we dare not presume to try. He did not come to be a servant to our agenda, a genie in the lamp to grant our wishes. And it is this temptation that Jesus goes on to address as the crowd has now reconnected with him.

²² The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not gotten into the boat with his disciples but that his disciples had gone away alone. ²³ But some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

The crowd is mystified. Where did Jesus go? They know his disciples departed the night before in their boat, but Jesus was not with them. He had slipped away into the wilderness. So, they set out to look for him.

Finding him on the Capernaum side of the sea, they are surprised and puzzled, wondering how he managed to get there.

Jesus’ reply in v26 seems a bit strange at first. After all, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes was a sign. So, in at least one sense, it is precisely because they saw that sign that they are looking for Jesus. So, what could Jesus mean?

When Carol and I were driving home from Victoria in June, we paid attention to the signs that kept us informed about how much further it was to the various communities along the way, with a  kind of special satisfaction when Whitehorse started showing up on the signs.

The signs were important and helpful—but they were not the destination, not an end in and of themselves. Rather they pointed to the thing that is important.

Jesus is saying they are confusing the sign (the bread they miraculously received) for the thing that the sign was pointing to—namely Jesus. For the crowd, Jesus is the means, the instrument, to serve their earthly ends.

Jesus goes on to share a solemn lesson in v27:

²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”

Don’t you see? My providing the sign of the physical bread that satisfies your bodily hunger for a little while points to who I am—the Son of Man (very significant title) who has spiritual food that will feed you for eternity. It’s not physical bread that you need. You need ME, the one sent from the Father.

But they still do not get it.

²⁸ Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”

Note the question. What must we DO to live righteously, to fulfil God’s righteous requirements? I.e., they seem to be looking for a rule book—a list of behaviours, practices, that will allow them to participate in this remarkable demonstration of power that they have witnessed in Jesus feeding the 5000. Perhaps they were wondering if there was a set of practices that might enable them to multiply bread?

²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

They are looking for a list of works. Jesus replies that there is only one ‘work’—to believe in him as the One sent from God, the One on whom the Father has set his seal.

This is a strange ‘work’—to believe in him.  How might we understand what Jesus means? What comes to mind for me is a picture of a child trusting a loving parent. In a loving family, a child trusts their parents to provide for their needs, to take care of them, to ensure that they are safe. It does not occur to the child that they need to earn their parents’ affection or protection.

In effect, I think Jesus is saying that the ‘work of God’ is to trust him, to trust him as the one sent from the Father to give us ‘food’ that will sustain us for eternity.

 “You think you need bread. But what you really need is me.” (My thoughts are inevitably drawn to the Last Supper, when Jesus takes bread, breaks it, and says “this is my body, broken for you.”)

³⁰ So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us, then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”

³² Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is that whichcomes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

This is a hard pill to swallow and they struggle with making sense of Jesus’ claims. They recognize that he is making an extraordinary claim about himself. But they still can’t quite get past thinking in terms of their immediate context and their desire (indeed their need) to have bread—to have their very real human needs met. In effect they are negotiating with Jesus—give us a sign that will persuade us to believe you. (More bread would be nice…)

Are you another Moses? Can you provide bread for us like Moses did?

Jesus’ reply first of all reminds them that it was not Moses who provided bread—it was God–Jesus’ Father. And he goes on to make a distinction between the bread they received in the wilderness and the True Bread of God.

The bread in the wilderness, God’s provision for the children of Israel (and, by implication, the bread that Jesus just provided for the 5000) is a sign, a pointer to the real thing—but it was not the real thing.

Jesus describes this True Bread—it comes from heaven and it gives life to the world. I.e., this bread is not just for Israel, it is for the entire world. The crowd was thinking of how to restore Israel to its former glory and see Jesus as the means to that end. But the True Bread is for the entire world.

And the True Bread gives life to the world. The manna gave sustenance for a day (and only a day at a time). The bread Jesus had multiplied gave sustenance for an evening. Earthly bread, as Jesus noted in v27, perishes—just as the manna would turn rotten overnight. But the True Bread “endures for eternal life.”

Naturally enough, the crowd responds with enthusiasm—“Sir, give us this bread always!” This is the kind of bread we want!

(I am reminded of the woman at the well (Jn 4) who, when Jesus tells her that he is the source of “living water” exclaims, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”)

It seems pretty clear that the crowd is still thinking in terms of literal loaves of bread (even as the woman at the well was thinking of literal water). They are still imagining that Jesus might be offering some kind of miraculous meal ticket.

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Imagine their shock and consternation when Jesus makes this declaration. Jesus is the destination to which all the signs have been pointing.

I cannot help but wonder how the expressions on their faces might have altered as they hear Jesus’ proclamation. Does eager anticipation change to bewildered disappointment? They had seen Jesus as the great Bread Provider—a means to satisfy what they thought was important to them. But Jesus is not the Bread Provider. He is the Bread.

In Tom Wright’s words, “What matters is not what Jesus can do for you; what matters is who Jesus is.”

Who is Jesus for us this morning? Is he the means to an end? Is he a miracle vending machine to satisfy our wishes and desires? Or do we rest simply and only in him—trusting him, believing him, resting in him.

As we turn to the Lord’s Supper, we have before us Bread and Wine—symbols of Jesus’ body and blood. And, symbolically, as a sign, we eat his body and drink his blood. A bit later in this same John 6 conversation, Jesus goes on explicitly to make that point:

⁵⁴ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, ⁵⁵ for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.

As we share together in this richly meaningful bread and wine, may we set aside our agendas and our plans for how we might use Jesus. May we come with childlike faith, trusting our needs and our lives to him who has given himself for us.