Everybody likes Jesus... until things get weird.
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Previous DIG DEEPER posts on John
John 6 Summary
Two things stand out in Jesus' actions in this opening passage in which He feeds the 5,000.
First, the crowd is back. They've heard of the miracle man, and when they hear He's nearby, they flock out, hoping to see a miracle for themselves. Yet Jesus doesn't take advantage of this popularity, rather He goes in the opposite direction, up on a mountainside to pray (v3).
Second, Jesus is given a massive opportunity to consolidate His power with a large group of people who want to make Him king (v15). Instead, Jesus resists this temptation, knowing that God's will was for Him to die a cursed death, so that He could rise to new life and usher in a much larger kingdom! So once again, Jesus withdraws from the crowd into solitude.
John doesn't make a big deal about the walking on water miracle, and certainly the crowd doesn't know anything about it, so when after what must have been a comical scene of going back and forth across the lake to find the reclusive rabbi, they finally catch up with Him.
But then things get a little weird for the Jews when they here Jesus make the claim that I AM the bread of life... that has come down from heaven... and all that believe in me shall have eternal life (v35 & 40). Things get even weirder for them when Jesus expands the metaphor.
Not only is Jesus the bread of life, but He goes on to say that the key to eternal life is eating His flesh and drinking His blood.
We have the benefit of having Paul's epistles which explain this concept that we've been made one with Christ, in a real and substantial way as if we really had eaten and drank of His flesh and blood, but put yourself in the shoes of these early Jews. Jesus' words here sound really strange. This gives you a little sense of what it's like for an unbeliever to hear some of the Christian doctrines and customs for the first time that we just assume everyone understands.
Dig Deeper
You will have all sorts of things vying for your attention today. Make sure to follow Jesus' example and find lots of opportunities to retreat from the busyness to spend time in prayer.
AAA Prayer :
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the giver of the bread of life (v32)
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that God grants you the ability to do His work - that is believing with your whole being in the one He sent (v29)
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
