John 6

Feeding of the five thousand

1 After this Jesus went across the Galilee Sea (that is, the Tiberias Sea).

2 A large crowd followed him, because they had seen the miraculous signs he had done among the sick.

3 Jesus went up a mountain and sat there with his disciples.

4 It was nearly time for Passover, the Jewish festival.

5 Jesus looked up and saw the large crowd coming toward him. He asked Philip, " Where will we buy food to feed these people?"

6 Jesus said this to test him, for he already knew what he was going to do.

7 Philip replied, "More than a half year's salary worth of food wouldn't be enough for each person to have even a little bit."

8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said,

9 "A youth here has five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that for a crowd like this?"

10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass there. They sat down, about five thousand of them.

11 Then Jesus took the bread. When he had given thanks, he distributed it to those who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, each getting as much as they wanted.

12 When they had plenty to eat, he said to his disciples, " Gather up the leftover pieces, so that nothing will be wasted."

13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves that had been left over by those who had eaten.

14 When the people saw that he had done a miraculous sign, they said, "This is truly the prophet who is coming into the world."

15 Jesus understood that they were about to come and force him to be their king, so he took refuge again, alone on a mountain.

Jesus walks on water

16 When evening came, Jesus' disciples went down to the lake.

17 They got into a boat and were crossing the lake to Capernaum. It was already getting dark and Jesus hadn't come to them yet.

18 The water was getting rough because a strong wind was blowing.

19 When the wind had driven them out for about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the water. He was approaching the boat and they were afraid.

20 He said to them, "I Am. Don't be afraid."

21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and just then the boat reached the land where they had been heading.

22 The next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the lake realized that only one boat had been there. They knew Jesus hadn't gone with his disciples, but that the disciples had gone alone.

23 Some boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they had eaten the bread over which the Lord had given thanks.

24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"

Bread of life

26 Jesus replied, " I assure you that you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate all the food you wanted.

27 Don't work for the food that doesn't last but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Human One will give you. God the Father has confirmed him as his agent to give life."

28 They asked, "What must we do in order to accomplish what God requires?"

29 Jesus replied, " This is what God requires, that you believe in him whom God sent."

30 They asked, "What miraculous sign will you do, that we can see and believe you? What will you do?

31 Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat."

32 Jesus told them, " I assure you, it wasn't Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

33 The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

34 They said, "Sir, give us this bread all the time!"

35 Jesus replied, " I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

36 But I told you that you have seen me and still don't believe.

37 Everyone whom the Father gives to me will come to me, and I won't send away anyone who comes to me.

38 I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me.

39 This is the will of the one who sent me, that I won't lose anything he has given me, but I will raise it up at the last day.

40 This is my Father's will: that all who see the Son and believe in him will have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day."

41 The Jewish opposition grumbled about him because he said, " I am the bread that came down from heaven."

42 They asked, "Isn't this Jesus, Joseph's son, whose mother and father we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven'?"

43 Jesus responded, " Don't grumble among yourselves.

44 No one can come to me unless they are drawn to me by the Father who sent me, and I will raise them up at the last day.

45 It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to the Father and learned from him comes to me.

46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father.

47 I assure you, whoever believes has eternal life.

48 I am the bread of life.

49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they died.

50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that whoever eats from it will never die.

51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

52 Then the Jews debated among themselves, asking, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

53 Jesus said to them, " I assure you, unless you eat the flesh of the Human One 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 My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.

56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them.

57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me lives because of me.

58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. It isn't like the bread your ancestors ate, and then they died. Whoever eats this bread will live forever."

59 Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

60 Many of his disciples who heard this said, "This message is harsh. Who can hear it?"

61 Jesus knew that the disciples were grumbling about this and he said to them, " Does this offend you?

62 What if you were to see the Human One going up where he was before?

63 The Spirit is the one who gives life and the flesh doesn't help at all. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

64 Yet some of you don't believe." Jesus knew from the beginning who wouldn't believe and the one who would betray him.

65 He said, " For this reason I said to you that none can come to me unless the Father enables them to do so."

66 At this, many of his disciples turned away and no longer accompanied him.

67 Jesus asked the Twelve, " Do you also want to leave?"

68 Simon Peter answered, "Lord, where would we go? You have the words of eternal life.

69 We believe and know that you are God's holy one."

70 Jesus replied, " Didn't I choose you twelve? Yet one of you is a devil."

71 He was speaking of Judas, Simon Iscariot's son, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.

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John 6 Commentary

Chapter 6

Five thousand miraculously fed. (1-14) Jesus walks on the sea. (15-21) He directs to spiritual food. (22-27) His discourse with the multitude. (28-65) Many of disciples go back. (66-71)

Verses 1-14 John relates the miracle of feeding the multitude, for its reference to the following discourse. Observe the effect this miracle had upon the people. Even the common Jews expected the Messiah to come into the world, and to be a great Prophet. The Pharisees despised them as not knowing the law; but they knew most of Him who is the end of the law. Yet men may acknowledge Christ as that Prophet, and still turn a deaf ear to him.

Verses 15-21 Here were Christ's disciples in the way of duty, and Christ was praying for them; yet they were in distress. There may be perils and afflictions of this present time, where there is an interest in Christ. Clouds and darkness often surround the children of the light and of the day. They see Jesus walking on the sea. Even the approaches of comfort and deliverance often are so mistaken, as to become the occasions of fear. Nothing is more powerful to convince sinners than that word, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest;" nothing more powerful to comfort saints than this, "I am Jesus whom thou lovest." If we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, though the night be dark, and the wind high, yet we may comfort ourselves, we shall be at the shore before long.

Verses 22-27 Instead of answering the inquiry how he came there, Jesus blamed their asking. The utmost earnestness should be employed in seeking salvation, in the use of appointed means; yet it is to be sought only as the gift of the Son of man. Him the Father has sealed, proved to be God. He declared the Son of man to be the Son of God with power.

Verses 28-35 Constant exercise of faith in Christ, is the most important and difficult part of the obedience required from us, as sinners seeking salvation. When by his grace we are enabled to live a life of faith in the Son of God, holy tempers follow, and acceptable services may be done. God, even his Father, who gave their fathers that food from heaven to support their natural lives, now gave them the true Bread for the salvation of their souls. Coming to Jesus, and believing on him, signify the same. Christ shows that he is the true Bread; he is to the soul what bread is to the body, nourishes and supports the spiritual life. He is the Bread of God. Bread which the Father gives, which he has made to be the food of our souls. Bread nourishes only by the powers of a living body; but Christ is himself living Bread, and nourishes by his own power. The doctrine of Christ crucified is now as strengthening and comforting to a believer as ever it was. He is the Bread which came down from heaven. It denotes the Divinity of Christ's person and his authority; also, the Divine origin of all the good which flows to us through him. May we with understanding and earnestness say, Lord, evermore give us this Bread.

Verses 36-46 The discovery of their guilt, danger, and remedy, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, makes men willing and glad to come, and to give up every thing which hinders applying to him for salvation. The Father's will is, that not one of those who were given to the Son, should be rejected or lost by him. No one will come, till Divine grace has subdued, and in part changed his heart; therefore no one who comes will ever be cast out. The gospel finds none willing to be saved in the humbling, holy manner, made known therein; but God draws with his word and the Holy Ghost; and man's duty is to hear and learn; that is to say, to receive the grace offered, and consent to the promise. None had seen the Father but his beloved Son; and the Jews must expect to be taught by his inward power upon their minds, and by his word, and the ministers whom he sent among them.

Verses 47-51 The advantage of the manna was small, it only referred to this life; but the living Bread is so excellent, that the man who feedeth on it shall never die. This bread is Christ's human nature, which he took to present to the Father, as a sacrifice for the sins of the world; to purchase all things pertaining to life and godliness, for sinners of every nation, who repent and believe in him.

Verses 52-59 The flesh and blood of the Son of man, denote the Redeemer in the nature of man; Christ and him crucified, and the redemption wrought out by him, with all the precious benefits of redemption; pardon of sin, acceptance with God, the way to the throne of grace, the promises of the covenant, and eternal life. These are called the flesh and blood of Christ, because they are purchased by the breaking his body, and the shedding of his blood. Also, because they are meat and drink to our souls. Eating this flesh and drinking this blood mean believing in Christ. We partake of Christ and his benefits by faith. The soul that rightly knows its state and wants, finds whatever can calm the conscience, and promote true holiness, in the redeemer, God manifest in the flesh. Meditating upon the cross of Christ gives life to our repentance, love, and gratitude. We live by him, as our bodies live by our food. We live by him, as the members by the head, the branches by the root: because he lives we shall live also.

Verses 60-65 The human nature of Christ had not before been in heaven, but being God and man, that wondrous Person was truly said to have come down from heaven. The Messiah's kingdom was not of this world; and they were to understand by faith, what he had said of a spiritual living upon him, and his fulness. As without the soul of man the flesh is of no value, so without the quickening Spirit of God all forms of religion are dead and worthless. He who made this provision for our souls, alone can teach us these things, and draw us unto Christ, that we may live by faith in him. Let us apply to Christ, thankful that it is declared that every one who is willing to come unto him shall be made welcome.

Verses 66-71 When we admit into our minds hard thoughts of the words and works of Jesus, we enter into temptation, which, if the Lord in mercy prevent not, will end in drawing back. The corrupt and wicked heart of man often makes that an occasion for offence, which is matter of the greatest comfort. Our Lord had, in the foregoing discourse, promised eternal life to his followers; the disciples fastened on that plain saying, and resolved to cleave to him, when others fastened on hard sayings, and forsook him. Christ's doctrine is the word of eternal life, therefore we must live and die by it. If we forsake Christ, we forsake our own mercies. They believed that this Jesus was the Messiah promised to their fathers, the Son of the living God. When we are tempted to backslide or turn away, it is good to remember first principles, and to keep to them. And let us ever remember our Lord's searching question; Shall we go away and forsake our Redeemer? To whom can we go? He alone can give salvation by the forgiveness of sins. And this alone brings confidence, comfort, and joy, and bids fear and despondency flee away. It gains the only solid happiness in this world, and opens a way to the happiness of the next.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)