Losing students—and keeping the good ones.

John 6.66-71.

Growing up, I’ve heard many a Christian claim the worst verse in the bible was John 6.66. I suspect most of that is because of the address. Plenty of Christians are superstitious about the number 666, forgetting it’s only a hint of what the Beast’s name is; it’s not an inherently evil number. And there are much worse verses. But here’s how that verse goes:

John 6.66 KWL

Because of this,

many of Jesus’s students are going back,

and are no longer walking with him.

You remember a crowd came to Jesus hoping he’d give ’em free bread, and maybe overthrow the Romans, and instead he tells them he’s living bread who wants to save us, and expects our response to be a deep commitment—we gotta eat this living bread. And no, this isn’t actually about holy communion; Jesus is not making statements about how eating and drinking the communion elements literally work. He’s talking about abiding in him. Jn 15.4 About being one with him. About really following him.

He didn’t just weird out the crowd; this was too much for some of his own students. And if this freaks you out, Jesus pointed out, wait till you see Jesus get raptured.

Jesus had already pointed out the people didn’t trust him, Jn 6.36, 64 and the radical stuff he was saying—much of which affirms he’s actually God. It broke them. So they quit. They followed him no more.

Christian apologists love to point to this, and claim it’s part of the “trilemma,” John Duncan’s claim (which C.S. Lewis popularized; no, he didn’t invent it) that Jesus is either a fraud, self-deluded, or divine. Or, as Josh McDowell rephrased it, a liar, lunatic, or Lord. (Pagans typically choose a fourth option: Jesus never said any of these things, for overeager Christian fanboys made ’em up.) So the students who quit figured Jesus was either phony or crazy, and the students who stayed figured Jesus is Lord. In other words a good old-fashioned di-lemma: Jesus is either wrong, or right.

As for those who stayed:

John 6.67-71 KWL

67So Jesus tells the Twelve,

“You² don’t want to leave too?”

68Simon Peter answers Jesus,

“Master, to whom will we go?

You¹ have the sayings of life in the age to come,

69and we trusted you

and knew you¹ are God’s saint.”

70Jesus answers them, “Don’t I choose you² Twelve?

And among you is an accuser.”

71Jesus is saying this

of Judas bar Simon Iscariot,

for Judas is about to betray him,

despite being one of the Twelve.

Jesus goes too far for some of his students.

John 6.59-66.

The first time I heard this story, I thought, “Wait, some of Jesus’s students left him? I thought the Twelve always stayed with him.” And in fact John’s very next verses say the Twelve stuck with him. But somehow I had the idea Jesus only had the 12 followers. The fact he’d been teaching 5,000 followers in the beginning of this chapter, kinda skipped my notice; I didn’t think of these followers as students, but as fans. Fans love what you’re doing, and wear your merchandise, but you shouldn’t expect them on the training field with you. Same deal with “Christians” who love being Christian, and heartily approve of Jesus, but don’t obey him any, never plan to, and never produce good fruit.

And yeah, the people who followed Jesus to Capharnaum looking for him to give ’em more bread: A lot of them were nothing more than fans. Jesus starts talking about serious dedication with all his “living bread” talk, and they’re all, “Nope, I’m tapping out,” and the fans scatter. But apparently the living bread stuff was too much for some of his legitimate students, the ones he was teaching along with, and same as, the Twelve—the ones Jesus designated apostles. The ones we Christians usually call “disciples.”

In Acts, Luke identifies two of these students, who were nominated to take Judas Iscariot’s place in the Twelve after he died—Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. Ac 1.21-26 These two guys, among others, had been with Jesus from his baptism to his rapture. No doubt there were others who joined them along the way, who were just as much disciples as Matthew—both men and women, ’cause Jesus had no problem with women students like Mary the Magdalene. We really don’t know how large Jesus’s class was.

Here’s where it gets smaller.

John 6.59-66 KWL

59Jesus says these things

while teaching in the Capharnaum synagogue.

60Upon hearing it, many of Jesus’s students

therefore say, “This is an outrageous lesson.

Who can listen to it?”

61Having known within himself

his students are bellyaching about these things,

Jesus tells them, “This trips you² up?

62So what’ll you do when you² see

the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

63The Spirit is making you alive.

The body benefits no one.

The sayings I spoke to you²

are of the Spirit, and are life.

64But there are some of you²

who don’t trust me.”

For Jesus knew from the beginning

some are unbelievers,

and some will betray him.

65Jesus says, “This is why I told you this:

No one can come to me

unless the Spirit was given to them¹

by {my} Father.”

66Because of this,

many of Jesus’s students are going back,

and are no longer walking with him.

Wait, we gotta 𝘦𝘢𝘵 Jesus?

John 6.47-58.

Jesus is the living bread. It’s a metaphor for how we gotta commune with him. And in this passage, Jesus gets a bit graphic with the metaphor: The living bread is his body, and if we wanna abide in him, we gotta eat his body. The living drink—he doesn’t specify here whether this drink is living water, or the wine we use as part of our ritual of holy communion—is his blood, and if we wanna abide in him, we gotta drink his blood. (Since drinking blood is a no-no in the Law, Lv 17.10 that got their attention.)

This is where Jesus goes way too far with the Galileans who came to him hoping for free bread. They wanted Jesus to feed them like Moses (properly, the LORD) fed the Hebrews in the wilderness with manna. They didn’t expect him to make profound divine statements, and tell them if they wanted life in the age to come (KJV “eternal life,” because the coming age of the kingdom of God lasts forever) they’d have to eat and drink him.

And like I said, Jesus gets graphic. In verses 54, 56, and 58 he uses the word τρώγων/trógon, which doesn’t merely mean “eating,” like we see in a lot of bibles; it means chewing. Not necessarily loudly, but yeah, like livestock chews on its grain or cud. You gotta chew on the Son of Man. We’re meant to get the idea of rumination—or meditation. We’re meant to turn this food over and over in our mouths—or turn Jesus’s word over and over in our minds, and really work on abiding in Jesus.

Of course, since Jesus is talking about eating and drinking him, it immediately brings to mind the ritual of communion which Jesus introduced in his last supper. Mk 14.22-25, 1Co 11.23-26 Which is likely why bibles don’t translate trógon as “chewing,” but simply “eating.” You know how a lot of churches discourage us from chewing on the communion wafers, because they represent Jesus and they consider it disrespectful to chew Jesus? Yeah, Jesus doesn’t share their hangup. He says trógon. Which is why “chewing” is in my translation.

John 6.47-58 KWL

47“Amen amen! I promise you²

one who believes has life in the age to come.

48I’m the living bread.

49In the wilderness,

your² forefathers did eat manna,

and did die.

50This is the bread

which comes down from heaven,

so one might eat it,

and might not die:

51I’m the living bread

which comes down from heaven.

When anyone eats of this bread,

they¹ will live in the age to come.

Also, the bread which I will give you,

my body,

is for the life of the world.”

52So the Judeans are debating one another,

saying, “How can this man

give us his body to eat?”

53So Jesus tells them, “Amen amen! I promise you²

unless you² eat the body of the Son of Man,

and drink his blood,

you² don’t have life in you².

54One who chews on my body

and drinks my blood

has life in the age to come,

and I will resurrect them¹ on the Last Day.

55For my body is really food,

and my blood is really drink.

56One who chews on my body

and drinks my blood

abides in me,

and I in them¹.

57Just as the living Father sends me,

and I live because of the Father,

one who chews me—

that one will live because of me.

58This is the bread

which comes down from heaven.

It’s not like the forefathers did eat

and die;

One who chews on this bread

will live in the age to come.”

The living bread who comes from heaven.

John 6.41-46.

As I’ve said previously, there are a lot of Christians who incorrectly teach the reason Jesus’s teachings in John 6 made the Galileans freak out and stop following him, is because the teachings went over the Galileans’ heads. It’s a popular myth. It’s totally false though; the text of John 6 doesn’t support it. The Galileans understood Jesus perfectly, and that was their whole problem: Jesus is making radical divine statements about himself, which didn’t at all jibe with anything the Pharisees had ever taught ’em about the End Times. Jibes with the bible just fine, but not Pharisee teachings.

Jesus is telling them he’s living bread. He came down from heaven. He’s going to resurrect people on the Last Day. Pharisees had taught ’em God would resurrect everybody, not the Son of Man—because they had no idea the Son of Man is God, incarnate.

The Galileans were so thoroughly indoctrinated in what their rabbis had claimed, there was no room in their minds for anything Jesus claimed. They’d never heard anything like this before—even though plenty of it is found in the Prophets!—so they responded same as most humans do: Automatically presumed it’s wrong. And automatically presumed Jesus is nuts.

After all, isn’t Jesus a man like them? Isn’t he Galilean like them? Don’t they know his parents? How did the son of Joseph and Mary of Nazareth come down from heaven?

John 6.41-46 KWL

41So the Judeans are bellyaching about Jesus

because he’s saying, “I’m the bread which comes down from heaven.”

42They’re saying, “Isn’t this Jesus bar Joseph?

Haven’t we known his father and mother?

Now how does he say this—

‘I came down from heaven’?”

43Jesus replies, and tells them,

“Stop bellyaching with one another.

44No one can come to me

unless the Father my Sender attracts them¹,

and I will resurrect them¹ on the Last Day.

45It was written in the Prophets:

‘All of them² will be taught by God.’ Is 54.13

Everyone who listens to the Father, who learns,

comes to me.

46Not that anyone saw the Father

except the one who’s from God.

That one saw the Father.”

Again, the Galileans (whom John calls “Judeans” because they are; the Galilee was settled a century before by Judeans) are ἐγόγγυζον/egóngyzon, “complaining in a low tone; muttering” because they don’t like what Jesus is saying. They’re not loud about it, because John eventually reveals they’re in synagogue when Jesus says these things, Jn 6.59 but the bellyaching is making enough noise in Jesus’s class for their rabbi to overhear and rebuke.

He knows why they’re bellyaching too—and he doubles down.

The living bread wants to save us.

John 6.35-40.

You’re gonna find today’s passage translated a bit differently in other bibles. It’s because Jesus is using a lot of conditional verbs. Grammarians call this “the subjunctive mood,” and it refers to things which should happen, ought to happen; things which Jesus wants to happen. Since he sits at the Father’s right hand, he has the unlimited power to make ’em happen. But they might not happen.

Because they’re conditional. There’s a variable which first has to be met. It’s not Jesus; he wants all this stuff to happen. It’s us humans. We have to abide in Jesus. Jn 15.4 We have to come to him, to trust him, to follow him. If we don’t, the conditions aren’t met. Jesus might grant us eternal life—but if we don’t trust him, he might not.

So why do bible translators regularly render these verbs as unconditional; as if they will happen? Well, commentators and translators don’t say. All of ’em are just following custom. Other bibles translate ’em as unconditional, definitive statements, and so do they.

Going all the way back to the first bible translations. When the New Testament was translated into Latin, which has no subjunctive-form verbs—where you have to recognize these statements are conditional by their context, same as English—Jesus’s conditional statements weren’t translated into Latin as conditional statements.

Most of us have commonsense and basic reading skills, and recognize Jesus must be speaking only of the people who come to him. Jn 6.37 But—no surprise—there are always exceptions. Universalists will insist this is proof Jesus is gonna save everybody, even antichrists. Certain determinists will insist this is proof if the Father chooses us for salvation, his will is paramount and must prevail, and these people will come to Jesus, whether they want him or not. It’s a really iffy interpretation of this passage… but it’s mighty popular among some Christians who really want their pagan loved ones to be saved.

Well. Whether you can deduce the conditional nature of this passage or not, I decided to translate all the conditional verbs as conditional verbs, and make it nice ’n obvious. Here ya go.

John 6.35-40 KWL

35Jesus tells them, “I’m the living bread.

One who comes to me ought not hunger.

One who trusts in me ought not thirst.

36But I tell you² that you² also saw me—

and you² don’t trust me.

37Everyone the Father gives me

will come to me.

I ought never throw out

one who comes to me.

38For I came down from heaven

not so I might do my own will,

but my Sender’s will,

39and this {the Father} my Sender’s will:

That I might lose none of everything he gave me,

but I might resurrect it on the Last Day.

40For this is my Father’s will:

Everyone looking to the Son,

and trusting in him,

might have life in the age to come

and I might resurrect them¹ on the Last Day.”

As you can see, Jesus isn’t the variable. He wants to save us. He’s never unable, never unwilling; the whole reason he came into the world was to save it. Jn 3.17 But we humans were granted free will, which means we can misuse it and reject God’s salvation. He 2.3 And no small number of us will, for bitter or wrongheaded reasons, do so.

But the crowd doesn’t 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 living bread.

John 6.29-36.

To recap: The crowd of Galileans whom Jesus and his students fed literal bread were fixated on this literal bread. Plus the idea Jesus is the Prophet-Like-Moses who, according to Pharisees, would feed them literal bread during the End Times—but not so much that as the bread. (Hey, unlimited food is a big deal to a poor community!) Whereas Jesus told ’em to not seek bread; seek “the living bread,” i.e. him.

Well they didn’t want him. They wanted actual, literal bread. They wanted a thing, not a person. They wanted to fill their bellies, not to pursue a relationship with the Son of Man.

So the discussion with these Galileans deteriorated from there. I should point out John refers to them in this story as Ἰουδαῖοι/Yudéï, “Judeans,” and no, he’s not mixing up the province they’re in. The word means both “Judeans” and “Jews,” and of course they’re Jews—and they’re descended from Judeans. About a century before, some Judeans chose to go north—farther north than the province of Samaria—and re-settle any available territory which used to be part of the kingdom of northern Israel. This became the Galilee. They’re Galilean Jews, same as Jesus.

Anyway. In verse 29, which I’ll repeat today, Jesus tells ’em they have to trust the Son of Man, i.e. “that man he sends.” (Jesus likes to refers to himself in the third person, y’know. And it doesn’t confuse the Galileans at all; they respond to Jesus in verse 30 about trusting “you,” i.e. the man God sent. All my life I’ve heard Christians claim part of the reason the Galileans reacted to Jesus the way they did, was Jesus was somehow way too difficult for them to understand; that his metaphors went right over their heads. That’s not what the text shows at all. They were following Jesus’s train of thought just fine. Following him personally, however, they balked at. Free bread is one thing, but following Jesus? They didn’t wanna sign up for that.

I’ve also shared John 6 with pagans. And they understood it just fine as well. John didn’t write it in complex, hard-to-translate Greek; beginning Greek students can translate this no problem. Nope; it’s not at all about misunderstanding Jesus. It’s about understanding him—and then rejecting him.

John 6.29-36 KWL

29In reply Jesus tells them, “This is God’s work.

So you should trust in that man he sends.”

30So the crowd tells Jesus,

“So what sign do you¹ do

so we might see it

and might trust you¹?

What are you¹ doing?”

31Our forefathers ate manna in the wilderness,

just as it’s written,

‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Ps 78.24

32So Jesus tells them, “Amen amen!

I promise you Moses didn’t give you² bread from heaven.

But my Father gives you² true bread from heaven.

33For God’s bread is the one

who comes down from heaven,

and who gives life to the world.”

34So the crowd tells Jesus,

“Master, always give us this bread!”

35Jesus tells them, “I’m the living bread.

One who comes to me ought not hunger.

One who trusts in me ought not thirst.

36But I tell you² that you² also saw me—

and you² don’t trust me.”

Jesus himself, right there in verse 36, says so. They saw him. This crowd was right there when he and his kids fed 5,000-plus people. They know what he did; they know what he can do. But they don’t trust him enough to follow him any further. They only wanted bread. Same as any selfish, materialistic Christian who only follows Jesus for prosperity, political might, a mansion in heaven, social acceptance, to feel spiritual, to feel justified, or any of the other ulterior motives which cause people to embrace Christianity—but not Jesus.

Seek living bread!

John 6.26-29.

Jesus doesn’t tell a lot of parables in John. Some Christians claim he doesn’t tell any, but that’s not accurate. He doesn’t tell full parabolic stories; he uses one-liners. He talks to Nicodemus about wind; Jn 3.8 tells the Judeans about sheep in a pen, their shepherd, and thieves; Jn 10.1-6 talks about a grain of wheat that bears fruit when it dies. Jn 12.24 He uses metaphors and analogies throughout his lessons in John. In speaking about the bread of life, he constantly says “bread,” but you know he doesn’t literally mean bread. Or at least you should know this. Those with ears to hear, and all that.

The crowd of Galileans came to Jesus seeking literal bread. A few days ago, he fed ’em bread, and they were hoping for more. Lots, so they could regularly be full. An abundance of it; so they were seeking a wealth of this material. Do I have to spell it out any more? Fine: Material wealth. That’s all they wanted.

And a lot of Christians are the very same way. How many of us are hoping to make it to heaven so we can have a crown filled with jewels, and a mansion on one of the streets of gold?

Jesus instead wants us to have living bread. Which—spoilers—is Jesus himself. Jn 6.35

John 6.26-27 KWL

25In reply Jesus tells the crowd, “Amen amen!

I promise you² you² seek me,

not because you see miracles,

but because you² eat of the bread²

and are filled.

27Don’t work for perishable food,

but food which lasts for eternal life,

which the Son of Man will give to you²,

for Father God will seal this man.”

28So the crowd tell Jesus,

“What could we do,

that we could do God’s works?”

29In reply Jesus tells them, “This is God’s work.

So you should trust in that man he sends.”

Again, “that man he sends” is Jesus himself. Seek him. Not material wealth.

Jesus’s line “Don’t work for perishable food” is a similar idea to what he told the Samaritan about living water. Which likewise isn’t perishable, ’cause those who drink it will never thirst again. Jn 4.13-14 He’s offering us something eternal, and wants us to stop settling for the temporary and fleeting. Food and drink are really good examples of this. Here today, eaten tomorrow; and if not eaten it spoils. And of course you remember in the Sermon on the Mount when he teaches about treasures in heaven: Stop putting your trust in the perishable.

Since the imperishable “bread” Jesus speaks of in this chapter is himself, obviously he’s talking about our eternal relationship with him. “Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jn 3.16 KJV

And of course this confused the Galileans completely, because they were fixated on literal bread. This bread metaphor still confuses Christians; just look at all the Catholic and Lutheran ideas about how literally communion bread represents Jesus, deduced from John 6—and this chapter isn’t even about holy communion! But y’know, those with ears to hear.

The not-so-living bread.

John 6.25-26.

The Galileans had come to the conclusion—maybe not in the right way, and certainly not with all the correct ideas, but nevertheless the correct conclusion—that Jesus is the Prophet-Like-Moses. As a result they were chasing him all over the lake. After all, Jesus had fed ’em bread, just like Moses fed the Hebrews manna. So he’s obviously the Prophet. And he’s gonna work with Messiah to overthrow the Romans, and all sorts of other End Times rubbish which Pharisees had been teaching them. But, y’know, free bread!

Anyway, they returned to Jesus’s home base of Capharnaum, and here he is! So… now what’s he gonna do? Hm? Hm?

John 6.25 KWL

Finding Jesus on the far side of the lake,

the crowd say, “Rabbi, when did you² get here?”

In John, Jesus doesn’t bother to answer their question. He does that sometimes. I suspect it’s because he knows their real question. It’s not the one they say out loud; it’s not the one they hypocritically try to pass off as real concern or real devotion. It’s the self-interested, self-seeking, selfish desires they have deep at the core of ’em. And lest you bash the ancient Israelis for doing this, we Christians all too often do the very same thing. Jesus sees right through us too.

So whenever Jesus’s answers look like non-sequiturs, they’re not really. Jesus responds to what people are thinking, not what they’re saying. Yep, he can read your mail. Any prophet can, and he’s the Prophet, remember?

John 6.26 KWL

In reply Jesus tells the crowd, “Amen amen!

I promise you² you² seek me,

not because you see miracles,

but because you² eat of the bread²

and are filled.”

In other words, they’re not coming to him because he’s the Prophet, and hears God, and can tell ’em what God wants them to hear. They’re not coming to him because of the miracles which indicate this is a guy to heed. They’re coming to him because he fed them. He gave ’em bread. Free bread! Unlimited free bread!

I mean, getting bread back then took work. You had to plant grain, wait a few months, harvest whatever grew, dry it, crush it to powder, mix this flour with water and add it to your starter, wait a day for the yeast to infest it, bake it on your clay oven, and then you could eat it. Jesus skipped every single one of these steps, and there was so much bread they had baskets of leftovers. Well, they want miracle bread. Do it again!

Okay, but… y’know, the guy hears God. (Infallibly hears God, unlike so many wannabe prophets nowadays.) Wouldn’t you wanna hear from God? Wouldn’t you like to have a deeper relationship with him? Wanna grow closer to your Father who loves you?

Nah; just the bread please.

It’s just like the “prosperity gospel.” They want all the treasures of heaven, but don’t want the Father. Don’t want God’s kingdom. They expect to go to heaven when they die, but never intend to make themselves suitable inhabitants for it; they figure that’ll somehow be magically done for them. They expect to love God then, rejoice to see their Father then, but don’t care to seek his face now. They just want material things and pleasant feelings now.

This was nothing new to Jesus. The Hebrews of Moses’s day were just the same way. The Israelis of David and Solomon’s day—same deal. Christians today—same same. People wanna feel justified and sanctified and “spiritual,” without actually obeying the Holy Spirit. ’Twas ever thus.

And Jesus has so much better for us in mind.

Tracking Jesus to Capharnaum.

John 6.22-24.

Previously in John 6, Jesus and his students feed 5,000 people, then Jesus dismisses the crowd and they cross the lake. The other gospels describe Jesus curing people in Khinnerót, but John skips that and has them simply find Jesus in his new hometown of Capharnaum.

John 6.22-24 KWL

22In the morning,

the crowd who stayed on that side of the lake

saw the other boat isn’t there—

the one boat Jesus entered with his students—

but only his students went away.

23But boats came from Tiberias

near the place where they ate bread,

when the Lord gave thanks.

24So when the crowd see Jesus isn’t there,

nor his students,

they enter the boats

and go to Capharnaum,

seeking Jesus.

25Finding Jesus on the far side of the lake,

the crowd say, “Rabbi, when did you¹ get here?”

Jesus’s response is to start teaching them about the bread of life. Which I’ll get to.

As I said in my piece on the 5,000 trying to crown Jesus, the people they fed had recognized Jesus is the “Prophet Like Moses” who, according to Pharisees, was gonna show up in the End Times, and help point the way to Messiah. This is why they were so very, very eager to follow Jesus: They were entirely sure the End was near, and Jesus was gonna help bring it about.

Yeah, they got lots wrong. Turns out the Prophet is Messiah. Pharisees weren’t as knowledgeable about the End Times as they’d have you think. Lots of today’s prognosticators are much the same way.

Jesus cures people in Khinnerót.

Mark 6.53-55, Matthew 14.34-36, John 6.22-24.

Sometimes I gotta remind people the authors of the gospels weren’t writing biographies of Jesus; they weren’t writing histories, though there’s plenty of historical stuff in there. They were writing gospels, a whole different genre of literature. They were declaring the kingdom of God, with Jesus as its king—and showing us why Jesus is its king, ’cause he merits it through what he taught and did.

So the gospels aren’t written in chronological order—though they will record Jesus’s birth or baptism first, and death and resurrection last. That’s why they won’t always line up. The synoptics often will because Matthew and Luke largely follow Mark’s order, but John often does its own thing.

This is why, after Jesus and Peter walk on water, the gospels go in different directions.

• Mark heads south to Khinnerót (KJV “Gennesaret”), a town about 8km from Capharnaum.
• Matthew goes along with Mark.
• John goes to Capharnaum.

Readers get their choice as to how to interpret this divergence. Some skeptics claim this is a flat-out contradiction: Jesus was either in Khinnerót or Capharnaum, and you don’t get to say, “Well, Capharnaum is close to Khinnerót”—nope; Jesus is either in one place or t’other, not both. Others point out this doesn’t need to be a contradiction—maybe Jesus landed in Khinnerót, then walked the 8 klicks to Capharnaum, and by the time people found him in John he was home.

Well anyway, let’s get to the gospels.

John 6.22-24 KWL

22In the morning,

the crowd who stayed on that side of the lake

saw the other boat isn’t there—

the one boat Jesus entered with his students—

but only his students went away.

23But boats came from Tiberias

near the place where they ate bread,

when the Lord gave thanks.

24So when the crowd see Jesus isn’t there,

nor his students,

they enter the boats

and go to Capharnaum,

seeking Jesus.

Meanwhile what’s Jesus been up to while the crowd is seeking him? This:

Mark 6.53-55 KWL

53Crossing over to the land,

they come to Khinnerót and moor.

54As they’re coming out of the boat,

Jesus is immediately recognized.

55People run round that whole region,

and begin to bring, on their beds,

those who have anything wrong with them

to wherever they hear Jesus is.

56Wherever Jesus enters,

into villages, cities, or countryside,

they’re laying the sick in the marketplaces,

and encouraging Jesus

that they might touch the tassel of his cloak—

and as many as touch him are cured.

Jesus and Peter walk on water.

Mark 6.46-52, Matthew 14.23-33, John 6.16-21.

After Jesus had his students feed 5,000-plus listeners, while he was handling the crowd who wanted to king him, he sent the kids to the far side of Lake Tiberias (i.e. “the Sea of Galilee,” though it’s not as big as a sea. The Great Lakes are way bigger.) So as Jesus left the crowd to go pray, the students rowed their way south. Wasn’t easy, ’cause the weather didn’t cooperate.

Mark 6.46-47 KWL

46 Saying goodbye,

Jesus goes off to a hill to pray.

47Later, the boat is in the middle of the lake,

and Jesus is alone on land.

Matthew 14.23-24 KWL

23Saying goodbye to the crowds,

Jesus goes up a hill by himself to pray.

Later he is alone there.

24The boat is already many stadia away from land,

tortured by the waves,

for the wind is against it.

John 6.16-18 KWL

16When it becomes later,

Jesus’s students go down to the lake,

17get into a boat,

and go to the far side of the lake, to Capharnaum.

It became dark,

and Jesus hasn’t yet come to them.

18The lake’s wind increased,

blowing greatly.

The title of this piece shoulda tipped you off what comes next: Jesus will walk to them on the surface of Lake Tiberias. You’ve heard the story before. Heck, everybody’s heard it before; walking on water is one of the most famous stunts Jesus ever pulled.

But not everybody knows it in context. Don’t know what happened before it; don’t know its consequences. In fact it didn’t really have any. It should have had a massive impact on the students—it’s meant after all to teach them the Holy Spirit makes the impossible doable. But like Mark points out at the end of the story, these kids were mighty dense.

The Five Thousand try to crown Jesus.

John 6.14-15.

Right after Jesus and his students feed the 5,000 in the Galilee, this happens:

John 6.14-15 KWL

14So the people,

seeing the sign Jesus does,

are saying this:

“Truly, this is the Prophet

who comes into the world!”

15So Jesus,

knowing they are about to come and seize him

so that they might make him king,

goes back again into a mountain,

alone by himself.

The synoptic gospels also tell this story, but Mark and Matthew end it thisaway:

Mark 6.45 KJV

And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.

Matthew 14.22 KJV

And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

Mark and Matthew don’t say why Jesus ordered his students to “straightway” (Greek εὐθέως/efthéos, “quickly”) get into the boat, but John certainly fills in that blank: The crowds believed the miracle of feeding an entire town’s worth of people with one boy’s lunch Jn 6.9 was a σημεῖον/simíon, a sign from God. In their bible, the last time somebody miraculously fed a massive crowd with bread was when Moses ben Amram led the newly-freed Hebrews into the wilderness, and the LORD fed ’em manna. And didn’t Moses say this?—

Deuteronomy 18.15-19 KJV

15The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 16according to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 17And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. 18I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

The LORD goes on, describing a fake prophet in case anybody tries to pull a fast one on the Hebrews, Dt 18.20-22 and Christians really oughta memorize that passage, because many a fake prophet has successfully pulled some fast ones on us.

But even though people recognize (and are meant to recognize) the LORD is describing any prophet who steps up and says, “The LORD told me something,” Pharisees claimed this passage is also an End Times prophecy. At some point before the End, there’s gonna be a Prophet-Like-Moses who, just like Moses, is gonna rescue Israel from their enemies, take ’em back into the wilderness, and feed ’em manna.

Is Jesus this Prophet-Like-Moses? Yes he is. Simon Peter said so. Ac 3.20-26

Now, is he gonna do what Pharisees believed he’d do? Some of it. Definitely not all. Fr’instance he is gonna rescue Israel from its enemies… but he’s not taking Israel into the wilderness to feed ’em manna; there’s no need for that. Unless “feed them manna” is a metaphor for “teach them the word of God”—but again, there’s no need to take ’em into the wilderness for that.

In any event that’s the quandary Jesus now found himself in. Yes he’s the Prophet; no, he’s not gonna do that.

The Feeding Five Thousand story, in 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯.

John 6.8-13.

The way preachers tell this story, some boy volunteered his lunch, and Jesus multiplied it. I certainly hope the boy volunteered his lunch, because the text actually doesn’t say he did! The word for boy, παιδάριον/pedárion, is also slang for “slave,” and it’s entirely possible this was a slave’s lunch—and back then, people regularly forgot their manners with slaves, so it’s entirely possible one of Jesus’s students saw the lunch, said “Gimme that lunch!” and brought it to Jesus.

And yeah, we’d expect Jesus to respond to such behavior, “What is wrong with you? ‘Thou shalt not steal.’ We were just talking about that command last Tuesday. Go sit over there and think about what you’ve done. Son, I apologize for my student. Can I borrow your lunch? I promise I’ll give back even more.” But okay, let’s presume Jesus’s students knew better than to do any such thing.

The reason I translated ἄρτους/ártus, “breads,” as “pitas” is because that’s quite likely what they were: Flatbread. Smaller than naan or bagels, bigger than dinner rolls, but of course flat, ’cause of the way they were cooked on the side of a clay oven. Five was a small lunch—a child’s lunch, which is why it’s probably correct to say it came from a child instead of a slave. Made of barley instead of wheat; barley was cheaper, so this was likely a poor person’s lunch.

The synoptic gospels call the fish ἰχθύας/ikhthýas, “fishes,” which they were; but John identifies them as ὀψάρια/opsária, dried and salted fish, which you’d spread on the pitas if you didn’t only wanna eat bread. I translated them “anchovies,” which isn’t a precise translation, but it’s close enough. “Kippers” works too. You’ll notice in John, Jesus made the fish optional—if you wanted your pitas without fish, it’s fine. Even back then, not everybody liked anchovies!

Custom was for students to stand when the rabbi was talking. Now Jesus had them lie down, ’cause that’s how people ate in his culture.

John 6.8-13 KWL

8Simon Peter’s brother Andrew,

one of Jesus’s students, told him,

9“A boy is here who has five barley pitas and two anchovies,

but these things amount to what, for so many?”

10Jesus says, “Make the people recline.”

There’s a lot of grass on the ground, so the men recline.

Their number is like 5,000.

11So, taking the pitas and giving thanks to God,

Jesus distributes them to those reclining.

Likewise from the kippers—

as much as they want.

12Once they’re full, Jesus tells his students,

“Gather the overabundant scraps,

lest any of them perishes.”

13So they gather and fill 12 two-gallon baskets

with scraps of the five barley pitas

which exceeded what was eaten.

Getting ready to feed 5,000.

John 6.1-7.

John didn’t write his gospel in chapters. Took a few centuries before some enterprising Christian divided the bible into chapters; took a bit longer before it was divided further into verses. But when John was divided into chapters, the editor largely did it right: In a lot of ’em, Jesus does a miracle, and there’s fallout as people argue over what this miracle means, and what it means about Jesus; and Jesus of course has to correct some of their wrong ideas. And today, popular Christian culture still pitches their theories about what these miracles and Jesus’s teachings mean, and the Holy Spirit of course has to correct some of our wrong ideas. Assuming we listen to him any.

So John 6 begins with the Feeding Five Thousand Story. All four gospels tell this story, ’cause it’s important: It reminds us God’s kingdom has unlimited resources. I’ll begin with the first part of the story.

John 6.1-7 KWL

1After these things, Jesus goes across the Galilean sea, Tiberias.

2A great crowd is following Jesus,

because they’re watching the signs

which he’s doing among the sick.

3Jesus goes up a hill with his students.

4It’s getting near the Judean feast of Passover.

5Jesus is lifting up his eyes,

seeing this great crowd come to him.

He tells Philip, “Where might we buy bread

so these people might eat?”

6Jesus is saying this test Philip,

for he already knew what he’s about to do.

7Philip is answering Jesus,

“The bread of 200 denarii isn’t enough for them!

—so each one might receive a little.”

The Galilean sea.

The 166km² freshwater lake in northern Israel—which we wouldn’t call a “sea,” but the ancient Galileans proudly did—was originally called כִּנְּרוֹת/Khinnerót, “harps,” although in modern Hebrew it means “violins.” Supposedly the name is because it’s harp-shaped. Meh; kinda. Considering that place names in the bible were regularly the result of something happening there, instead of what something kinda looked like, my bet is something involving multiple harps happened there—a contest, a festival, a popular harp-manufacturer; whatever. The origin is lost to history, of course.

Anyway, by Jesus’s day, Herod Antipas had renamed it Τιβεριάς/Tiveriás, “Tiberias,” after the city he’d founded on its southern bank, which he named to suck up to the Roman emperor, Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus. There’s no evidence Herod suppressed the original name—Luke still calls it “the lake of Genessaret,” Lk 5.1 ’cause Γεννησαρέτ/Ghennisarét is how Greek-speakers mangled the name Khinnerót. But Tiberias is how people outside Israel came to know it, which is why John used that name thrice.

We don’t know where the feeding took place. Some Christians have speculated it happened at Tiberias—that this is why the word Τιβεριάδος/Tiveriádos is in verse 1—but no; John was just using the proper name of the Galilean sea. We only know it didn’t happen at Bethsaida, ’cause Jesus goes there later.

Anyway. Crowds heard about Jesus curing people, so they wanted to check him out for themselves. And he did cure some of them. Mt 14.14, Lk 9.11 Then he climbs a hill, not to get away from them (although there is some of that), but so he can be seen, and maybe heard. The other gospels say he took advantage of the situation and taught ’em all day long. Mk 6.34-36 Maybe the Sermon on the Mount again; maybe something else. We don’t know.

Demanding a sign from Jesus, and getting the Jonah sign.

Mark 8.10-13 • Matthew 12.38-42, 16.1-4.

I grew up among cessationists, folks who think God has multiple dispensations, and think he turned off the miracles in the dispensation we’re in. Which is a hard view to maintain, ’cause God still totally does miracles. But they try; they insist their anti-supernatural doctrines are more important than God’s revelation. They know better than he does—although they’d never ever phrase it that way.

So whenever they wanted to defend their worldview, they’d pull up this passage, and spin it to mean Jesus rejected and rebuked miracles. Even though he did miracles. Even though he deliberately did miracles as signs to foster belief. Even though God did ’em all the time to foster belief. It was the entire point of the first miracles Moses ever did!

Exodus 4.1-9 KWL

1 In reply Moses said, “Look, the Hebrews won’t believe me, won’t hear my voice:

They’ll say, ‘The LORD didn’t appear to you.’

2 The LORD told Moses, “What’s this in your hand?” Moses said, “A stick.” 3 The LORD said, “Throw it to the ground.”

Moses threw it to the ground. Now it was a snake!—and Moses fled from its face.

4 The LORD told Moses, “Reach your hand out and grab its tail.”

Moses reached his hand out, grabbed it—and in his hand it was a stick.

5 “In order to believe the LORD God of their ancestors appeared to you—

Abraham’s God, Isaac’s God, Jacob’s God.”

6 The LORD told Moses again, “Please put your hand to your chest.”

Moses put his hand to his chest, then held it out: Look, his hand was leprous, white like snow.

7 The LORD said, “Return your hand to your chest.”

Moses returned his hand to his chest, then held it out: Look, the flesh was restored.

8 “If it happens they don’t trust you, don’t hear the voice of the first sign,

the Hebrews will trust the voice of the last sign.

9 If it happens they don’t trust these two signs, don’t hear your voice: Take water from the Nile.

Pour it into something dry, and the water which you took from the Nile will be blood in the dry vessel.”

God’s okay with giving us signs. Okay with people asking for signs. Jg 6.36-40 What he’s never okay with, is hypocrisy—is people who ask for a sign, but have no intention of believing or recognizing it. He sees no point in providing signs for such people. They’re not worth it.

Cessationists fall straight into this category. Doesn’t matter if you perform a miracle right in front of them. They’ll just do as certain Pharisees did, and claim Satan empowered it to deceive them. (Apparently in this dispensation, God can’t do miracles, but Satan can. Wait, which of them is Almighty again?) Jesus warned those Pharisees they were blaspheming the Holy Spirit, but good luck warning cessationists they’re committing the same sin: They’re vaccinated themselves against that accusation by redefining “blasphemy” so they’re not really committing it. Then they keep right on committing it. I’d really hate to be them on Judgment Day; I’m pretty sure they’re gonna try to psyche themselves into thinking the entire experience of getting judged by Jesus is also a devilish trick.

Anyway here’s the passage they pull out of context: When certain Pharisees in Dalmanutha requested a sign from Jesus, and Jesus, who knew no sign would work on them, blew ’em off.

Mark 8.10-13 KWL 10 Quickly getting into the boat with his students, Jesus went to the border of Dalmanuthá. 11 Pharisees came and began to debate Jesus, requesting a heavenly sign from him, testing him. 12 Groaning deeply in his spirit, Jesus said, “Why does this generation ask for signs? Amen, I tell you if anyone gives this generation a sign…” 13 Getting into the boat again, Jesus left the Pharisees and went to the far side.

Matthew 16.1-4 KWL 1 Approaching Pharisees and Sadducees asked Jesus for a heavenly sign to show them. 2 In reply Jesus told them, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It’s red; clear sky.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘Storms today, for the sky is red and gloomy.’ So you know to interpret the face of the sky—and can’t interpret the signs of the day? 4 An evil, adulterous generation pursues signs—and a sign won’t be given them other than Jonah’s sign.” Leaving them, Jesus went away.

The Textus Receptus adds ὑποκριταί/ypokrité, “hypocrites,” to Matthew 16.3. Which is fair; it’s precisely what the problem was. These folks had every intention of watching Jesus do a sign, or point to an existing sign… only so they could debunk and dismiss it. They didn’t want proof. They wanted to set him up to fail.

If we ever approach God with the same lousy attitude, of course it deserves condemnation, and we shouldn’t expect God to take such requests seriously, ’cause he won’t. But cessationists treat all requests for a heavenly sign as if they deserve condemnation. ’Cause to their minds, they do: God turned off the miracles, so how dare we ask him to switch ’em back on for our selfish, petty reasons? And so forth.

Basically cessationists are preaching out of their unbelief. But enough about them today.

Trying to get away from it all… and failing.

Mark 6.30-34, Matthew 14.12-14, Luke 9.10-11, John 6.1-4.

The bit where Jesus sent out his students to proclaim God’s kingdom and cure the sick, and where Jesus had them feed an audience of 5,000, were placed right next to one another in two of the synoptic gospels. Namely Mark and Luke.

Mark 6.30-31 KWL 30 Jesus’s students were gathered together to see him, and reported everything to him—whatever they did, whatever they taught. 31 Jesus told them, “Come, by yourselves, to a place in the wilds. Stop for a little bit.” For many people were coming and going, and they hadn’t time to even eat.

Luke 9.10 KWL Returning, the apostles detailed for Jesus all they did. Taking them, he withdrew with them to a town called Beit Sayid.

The reason they’re right next to one another? Because Jesus was training his students to be his apostles and minister on his behalf. With that came how to minister. And when he sends us to minister apostle-style, feeding the 5,000 is one of the ways in which he wants us to do so: Feed the hungry!

There are those Christians who figure our only job is to tell people about the kingdom—not demonstrate the kingdom by doing good deeds in Jesus’s name. Tell, not show. It’s a warped mindset, but I grew up among people of this mindset: They don’t actually love their neighbors, and this is how they weasel out of doing anything for ’em, contrary to Jesus’s teachings. Yeah, they need to get saved.

But after you’ve spent a bit of time intensively ministering to people, you do need to take a break. Get your Sabbath rest. Too many ministers work all week long: Saturday night services, Sunday morning services, and then it’s back to the usual workday ministries. They take no days off, then burn out. Jesus is the LORD who commanded Israel to take a break every week; he understands the value of rest. Don’t work yourself to death, even if your works are good works. Take a day!

Christians don’t always catch how Jesus sending his kids on a mission, is immediately followed by feeding 5,000. Because most of us aren’t in the habit of sitting down to read gospels all the way through. We break ’em up into daily readings, separate the stories from one another, read them without the previous story fresh in our minds, and don’t catch any of the context. Then people like me point out these fairly obvious facts, and Christians go, “Wow, I never realized that.” Yeah, well, stop reading it the way you’ve been reading it. You’re missing more than you realize.

Mini-rant aside: So, three gospels emphasize how Jesus took his students away for a brief rest. Problem is, they couldn’t catch a break. The crowds found out where Jesus had gone and went to see him. They had sick people and wanted ’em cured. Or they heard rumors Jesus might be Messiah, and wanted to see for themselves, and had a few days free ’cause they were getting ready to go to Jerusalem for Passover (no that’s not speculation; it’s bible Jn 6.4), so they took a detour to check him out.

So much for rest time.