Jesus, as we
have noted, responds to the rejection of Him as Messiah by the religious leadership. He
begins to:
1. Instruct His Apostles on ministry
2. teach in parables.
After
Jesus’ rejection, along with news of the murder of John the Baptist, Jesus moves out
of Capernaum to an area near Bethsaida that was outside of Herod Antipas’
jurisdiction. Herod Philip was tetrarch of this area. Jesus wanted to give the Apostles
rest along with training. In spite of attempts to remove Himself from the crowds, 5000
were gathered to hear Him in Capernaum and only followed Him It is probably from this event that Peter begins
to learn what he would later write in 1`Peter 5:2-4
“1
Peter 5:2-4
Shepherd the flock of God which is among you,
serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you,
but being examples to the flock; and when the
Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.”
NKJV
Jesus
wants to feed the people spiritually. The apostles were making observations on how to
physically feed such a crowd. Jesus tells His disciples to feed the people. They respond
by saying that it would take a man’s wage of 8 months to do so.
Jesus now
teaches them to shepherd people by feeding them spiritually and physically.
They had on
hand 5 barley loaves (considered as animal fodder compared to wheat) and 2 fishes. (Matt
14:22-23, Mark 6:45-46, John 6:14-15. The
lesson for the apostles was that it is not what they have that makes them good shepherds,
it is what they give of themselves to Jesus that He might minister through them as the
chief Shepherd.
After being
fed bread and fish miraculously, the people were ready to make Jesus a King, for the wrong
reasons. (physical substance rather than faith in His person. Since the religious
leadership had rejected Jesus, the plan to institute the millennial kingdom reign of
Messiah would have to be delayed.
The Crowd
had seen the Apostles depart from Capernaum without Jesus, however they were surprised to
find Jesus in Gennesaret with His apostles.
During the
night Jesus came to the boat of the Apostles walking on water. The winds and waves posed
problems for these experienced fishermen. They were afraid that the boat would capsize.
Since this
was during the fourth and last watch, this incident occurred between 3am and 6am. Peter,
the only one to attempt to move by faith, asked Jesus to invite him to Himself. Jesus
responded by saying “come”. Peter walked on water until he saw the wind &
waves around him. He then began to sink and cried out “Lord, save me!” which is
what Jesus did. No other Apostle ever walked on water. The lesson Peter learned was once
you begin to walk by faith, you must continue to walk by faith. The other apostles never
used the faith they had to attempt what Peter did.
Of all three
of the accounts of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, John goes into this most in depth
to show the spiritual truths Jesus was trying to teach a people who were concerned only
about the physical realm of their daily lives.
Since the
rejection of Jesus occurred in Matthew 12 and this account is found in Matthew 14:34-36,
we need to understand that the Gospel writers, such as John, were not interested in
preserving a chronology. Jesus’ sermon on “The Bread of Life” appears in
John 6, while Jesus’ rejection in this Gospel occurs at John 8. It should not be
supposed that Jesus rejection came from all of the religious leadership at one point of
time but rather through a series of verbal exchanges.
GOSPEL OF JOHN - 6
John 6 does not deal with
the Lord’s Supper. It shows rather the teaching of Jesus who uses metaphor here to
teach of spiritual things.
Jesus is speaking about
“belief” (pistis, pistueo) in Him while the crowd s
Thinks and speaks about
being fed physical bread and “working the works of God”.
When Jesus refers to
Himself as the Bread of Life, He is not using a parable. There are not parables in the
Gospel of John despite the use of the word in John 10:6. The word “paroimia” is
used which means metaphor (a word suggesting a comparison). A parable is the use of a
comparative principle or allegorical story e.g.
The Prodigal Son.
Please
note that three groups of people are addressed here: the people v. 24, The Jews vs. 41 and
52, and the disciples – v.60. All of these are Jews. Therefore, when the term
“The Jews” is used in the Gospels, it refers to the Jewish religious leaders
only
1 “After these
things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.
2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they
saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.
3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He
sat with His disciples.
4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.
5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great
multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these
may eat?"
6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew
what He would do.
7 Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii
worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s
brother, said to Him,
9 "There is a lad here who has five barley
loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"
10 Then Jesus said, "Make the people 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 them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and
likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.
12 So when they were filled, He said to His
disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."
13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve
baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had
eaten.
14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that
Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."
15 Therefore when Jesus
perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed
again to the mountain by Himself alone.” NKJV Matt
14:14-21, Mark 6:31, Luke 9:10-17
(NOTE: Jesus did not want to
be received as King by those who wanted Him only because He could feed them with bread and
perform miracles for them. This large assembly may have wanted Him to state clearly that
He is the Messiah and lead them in battle against Rome. Of course, this was not the
Father’s will for Jesus at this time.)
16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to
the sea,
17 got into the boat, and went over the sea toward
Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.
18 Then the sea arose because a great wind was
blowing.
19 So when they had rowed about three or four miles,
they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.
20 But He said to them, "It is I; do not be
afraid."
21 Then they willingly received Him into the boat,
and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.
22 ¶ On the following
day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no
other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not
entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone—
23 however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the
place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks—
24 when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not
there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
25 And 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 and said, "Most
assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate
of the loaves and were filled.
27 "Do not labor for the food which perishes,
but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you,
because God the Father has set His seal on Him."
28 Then they said to Him,
"What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"
29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the
work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."
This is always the response
of unregenerate men; what works must we do to be saved?Notice Jesus’ call to believe
on Him. This is the main theme in this chapter on our Living Bread of Life.
30 Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will
You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?
31 "Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as
it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’" (Note: they just had a great
sign.)
32 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I
say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true
bread from heaven.
33 "For the bread of God is He who comes down
from heaven and gives life to the world."
34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this
bread always."
35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of
life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never
thirst. Jesus
is using a metaphor in the physical realm in order to teach a spiritual principle. He is
not calling Himself a real loaf of bread, and this passage has nothing to do with Roman
Catholicism’s doctrine of Transubstantiation.
36 "But I said to you that you have seen Me and
yet do not believe.
37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to
Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do
My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
39 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me,
that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
40 "And this is the will of Him who sent Me,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life;
and I will raise him up at the last day."
41 The Jews then complained about 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 says, ‘I have come
down from heaven’?"
43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them,
"Do not murmur among yourselves.
44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who
sent Me draws 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.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from
the Father comes to Me.
46 "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except
He who is from God; He has seen the Father.
47 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has
everlasting life.
48 "I am the bread of life.
49 "Your fathers ate the manna in the
wilderness, and are dead.
50 "This is the bread which comes down from
heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.
51 "I am the living bread which came down from
heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall
give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."
52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves,
saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"
53 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I
say to 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 him up at the last day.
This is the Stone of
Stumbling & the Rock of Offense. However, instead of persevering in faith in Jesus as
Nicodemus and the Syro-phoenician woman did, these people reject Jesus. It is from these
two verses that Roman Catholicism derives its strange teaching on the Eucharist. There is
no teaching in the Gospel of John on the Lord’s Supper.
55 "For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is
drink indeed.
56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood
abides in Me, and I in him.
57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live
because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.
58 "This is the bread which came down from
heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will
live forever."
59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught
in Capernaum.
60
Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying;
who can understand it?"
61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples
complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?
62 "What then if you should see the Son of Man
ascend where He was before?
63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh
profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
(This is the explanation
for verses 53 – 54.)
64 "But there are some of you who do not
believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and
who would betray Him.
65 And He said, "Therefore I have said to you
that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."
66 From that time many of His disciples went back and
walked with Him no more.
67
Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you
also want to go away?"
68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom
shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 "Also we have come to believe and know that
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
70 Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you,
the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"
71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for
it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.
(NOTE: The word used for devil here is diablos, meaning
devil, not daimon meaning demon)
During this
exchange between Jesus and the people, the people began to reason that Jesus was not
the Messiah or He would not have refused their attempt to make Him king. Also,
Jesus’ words in John 6:53-54 are difficult and offensive to the people, some of whom
were the religious leadership.
The true
Messiah – comes in the Father’s Name. The false Messiah comes in his own
name. Matthew 11:29 "Take My yoke
upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
The false
Messiah comes in his own name and blasphemes, speaking great things Rev 13:5-6
“ And
he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to
continue for forty-two months.”Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to
blaspheme His name,” NKJV
Again in
2Thess 2:3-4 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come,
except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of
perdition;
Who opposes and exalts
himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple
of God, showing himself that he is God.”
The coming
Messiah, according to some Jewish Rabbis, will come back in power not bearing any wounds.
This view will hurt many Jews because they fail to read their prophets:
Zech
12:10 "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the
Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me
whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son,
and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” NKJV
‘Pray
for the peace of Jerusalem. They will prosper who love you.” Psalm 122:6
How many
Jews will be saved in the Great Tribulation – of those going into the period,
one-third “Zech 13:9 I will bring the one-third through the
fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They
will call on My Name, and I will answer them.
I will say,
'This is My people'; And each one will say, 'The LORD is my God.' " NKJV
Rom 11:26-27
“And so all Israel will be saved,
as it is written:
"The
Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is
My covenant with them,
When I take
away their sins." NKJV
The
rejection of Jesus by the religious leaders occurs in Matthew 12, Luke 11, Mark 3 and John
8. Each of these chapters mark a turning point in Jesus’ ministry. After each chapter
Jesus begins teaching in parables and preparing His disciples.
JESUS’ Prophetic Words Regarding His Death
“Now
while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to
be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be
raised up." And they were exceedingly sorrowful.” NKJV
3. Matt 20: 17-19, Mark 10:32-34, Luke 18:31-34
“Now
Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to
them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the
chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to
the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise
again." NKJV
4. Matt 12:38-41, Luke 11:29-32
“Then some of the scribes and
Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." But He
answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and
no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three
days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days
and three nights in the heart of the earth.” NKJV
5. John 3:14-15 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have eternal life.” NKJV
6. John 12:32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all peoples to Myself." This He said, signifying by what death He would
die.” NKJV
7. John 10:16-18 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I
lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it
down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it
again.” NKJV
G. Campbell
Morgan, The Crises of the Christ (Old Tappan,
New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell, 1936), pp. 229-232.
“These
opinions are explained in part by an expectation then commonly entertained, that the
advent of the Messiah would be preceded by the return of one of the prophets by whom God
had spoken to the fathers, partly by the perception of real or supposed resemblances
between Jesus and this or that prophet; His tenderness reminding one hearer of the author
of the Lamentations, His sternness in denouncing hypocrisy and tyranny reminding another
of the prophet of fire, while perhaps His parabolic discourses led a third to think of
Ezekiel or of Daniel.” Bruce, Training of the
Twelve, pp. 164-165.
179 “At
a time when those who deemed themselves in every respect immeasurably superior to the
multitude could find no better names for the Son of man than Samaritan, devil, blasphemer,
glutton and drunkard, companion of publicans and sinners, it was something considerable to
believe that the calumniated One was a prophet as worthy of honor as any of those whose
sepulchres the professors of piety carefully varnished, while depreciating, and even
putting to death, their living successors.” Ibid., p. 165.
180
“But however men differed on these points, in this all agreed, that they regarded Him
not as an ordinary man or teacher, but His mission as straight from heaven; and, alas, in
this also, that they did not view Him as the Messiah.” Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, New American Edition, 1965), II, p. 79.
This
translation reflects the original text which places the pronoun (you) in the most emphatic
position possible in the Greek language.
“St.
Chrysostom has beautifully designated Peter as ‘the mouth of the Apostles.”
Edersheim, Life and Times, II, p. 80.
Bruce, Training of the Twelve, p. 167.
“He
doubtless here plays on the name of Peter which denoted a smaller detachment—a stone
broken out of the quarry for building purposes. The rock on which Christ would build was
the massive ledge of the eternal truth of His divinity, incarnated in the personality of
all believers, transforming them, as it had transformed Peter, into the rock-nature,
suitable for the purposes of kingdom-building. To Peter was given the honor of being primus enter pares the first to have expressed
the great confession. Jesus did not assert the
supremacy and primacy of Peter, as Romanists contend. He expressed first to Peter, His
purpose to found His church, because Peter had been the first to confess Him confidently
as the Messiah and Son of God.
“One
day when Jesus was walking in Solomon’s porch in the Temple, a group of his fellow
countrymen accosted him. ‘How long dost thou make us to doubt?’ they said.
‘If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly’ (John 10:24). But the greatest things
in life cannot be ‘told’ in that way. Can you ‘tell plainly’ what
honor is or beauty or love? Can you put a sunset into a sentence? Jesus knew that it would
not be by any voice proclaiming, ‘I am the Son of God,’ that conviction would be
born in human hearts. Although Jesus plainly reveals Himself as Messiah to the
Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:25-26), He does not do this with the religious
leaders. All who receive Him must receive Him by grace (through the enlightenment of
the Holy Spirit through faith (Eph 2:8-9).
188 “The
traditional site of the transfiguration according to the Greek church was Tabor, where
they celebrate annually, on the sixth of August, the Feast of the Transfiguration, The Thaborium. But this is an impossible fancy,
since Tabor is almost fifty miles from Caesarea-Philippi and Jesus was at this time
avoiding Galilee. The summit of this mount was also occupied by a fort and was no fit
place for such a scene. Furthermore, Mark states that Jesus did not “pass through
Galilee”—in which Mount Tabor is situated—until later. The most probable
site of this wonderful event was one of the lower spurs of snow-clad Hermon, visible
from all parts of the land as far south as the Dead Sea. There could be no more suitable
place in all Palestine than the accessible slopes of this famous mountain, cool and fresh
with the evening breezes from the snow-clad heights above, where solitude reigned, and one
of the grandest scenes of all nature and history lay visibly before them.” Shepard, The Christ of the Gospels, p. 314.
189
“Our sources do not say whether the transfiguration took place during the day or at
night, but several factors favor the idea that it was a nocturnal scene. The sleep of the
disciples points in this direction, as does Luke’s note that Jesus went to pray. We
know from other notices in the Gospels that he usually withdrew for prayer in the night
seasons. Then there is the consideration that the descent from the mountain came on the
following day (Lk. 9:37).” Harrison, A Short
Life of Christ, p. 154.
190
“Moses’ presence signified that in Jesus the shadows of the law were all
fulfilled and now withdrawn. In Jerusalem men were still fighting, not merely for the law
of Moses, but for the traditions of the elders, and priests and leaders were still arguing
about the tithe of mint and cumin, while here upon the mount was the great law-giver
himself, by his presence acknowledging that this glorified One, Who should presently be
crucified in the name of the law, did in Himself gather up all that was hinted at,
suggested, included in the economy of the past.” Morgan, The Crises of the Christ, pp. 238-239.
191
“… these two had much in common with Jesus of Nazareth. Moses performed signs
and wonders before Israel in the name of the Lord, but to little avail. The people were
stubborn in their unbelief and failed to enter the promised land because of it. Jesus had
a similar reception for his mighty works. And as Moses interceded for Israel in the midst
of failure and threatened judgment, being willing to be cut off himself if they could be
spared, so Jesus wept in compassion over Jerusalem. Elijah was a lonely prophet, even when
surrounded by the throngs on Mount Carmel. Jesus, too, was in many ways a lonely figure,
despite his popular following. He prayed alone, suffered alone, and died alone. The two
had something in common respecting the close of their ministries. Elijah was
supernaturally taken up for a glorious reception into heaven, as though anticipating the
ascension of the Savior into glory. As Elijah was able to bestow the power of his spirit
on Elisha, so did the ascended Lord pour out his Spirit on his disciples.” Harrison, A Short Life of Christ, p. 156.
192 G.
Campbell Morgan, The Crises of the Christ, p.
229.
193 Quoted
by James S. Stewart, The Life and Teachings of Jesus
Christ, (Nashville: Abingdon, Festival Ed., 1978), p. 135.