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Background: (John 16:1-24)
Jesus had travelled to the far side of the Sea of Galilee to get away with his disciples.
However, the crowds had followed.
They found Jesus on the other side of the sea, in a rural, primarily Gentile area where the crowds would not be able to get food.
When the crowds arrived, Jesus tested his disciples, asked them to feed the crowd.
They realized the impossibility of feeding so many, but then Jesus did the miracle.
Jesus used one boy’s lunch of five barley loaves and two fish to feed 5000 men, plus women and children.
When he did this, everyone had their fill, and the disciples even picked up 12 basket-fulls of bread leftover!
This was a sign!
The people saw this miracle of bread and fish and immediately wanted to make him King and break the yoke of Rome (they were subjects in the Roman Empire).
Jesus saw this, and sent his disciples to head home while he dismissed the crowd and took time for prayer.
The disciples head out in their boats, for the short 3 mile journey back across the lake to their own fishing village, Bethsaida, near Capernaum.
However, a violent storm came up, and they were struggling through the storm all nigh, until near daybreak.
It was at that time that Jesus saw them struggling, and came to them, walking on the water.
The disciples were frightened, thinking they were seeing ghost.
Jesus called out to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.”
Once the disciples received Jesus into the boat, the boat reached the shore where they were heading.
That catches us up to where we are today, and is important context for the interaction Jesus has with the crowd which we see in John 6:22-59.
Today, we are just going to focus on the opening of the conversation had with the people back in Capernaum found in verses 22-29.
Let’s read it together.
Prayer for Spirit to teach us.
Why were they looking for Jesus?
In the morning, the crowds got up and wondered where Jesus had gone.
He didn’t leave with his disciples, but he wasn’t there where they were fed.
Since the disciples headed back to Bethsaida near Capernaum, the crowds headed back there as well.
This is good, right?
They were seeking Jesus.
They were seeking Jesus when they walked all the way to Bethsaida at the beginning of this account.
John 6:1 tells us that they were seeking him because they saw the signs he performed by healing the sick, like with the royal official’s son whom he healed while the boy was a day’s journey away, by just saying the word.
They were seeking him now because they saw the sign he performed when he fed them all from five loaves and two fish… or, were they...
I imagine that since they knew Jesus did not get into the boats with the disciples, they probably assumed Jesus left to go to Capernaum on foot, like they had done to get to where Jesus fed them.
Some boats arrived, so they got into the boats and went in search of Jesus, thinking they would beat him to Capernaum.
I mean if Jesus left on foot, taking the long road around the lake, and they took the boats across the lake, surely they would beat him there, right?
Thus the question, “When did you get here?”
They could not believe he beat them!
At this point, Jesus could have answered their question and told them when he got to Capernaum.
But Jesus didn’t tell them about the walking on the water, and then miraculously appearing at the destination.
He didn’t relate to them yet another sign.
Instead he said this, which we find in verse 26.
They were looking for Jesus because they were fed.
Why didn’t Jesus tell them how he miraculously got there?
Why didn’t he answer their question?
He did not relate to them how he walked on the water, because they did not need another miracle, another sign.
They already had a sign when he fed them from the five loaves and two fish!
The saw the sign.
But they were not looking for him because they saw the sign.
As Jesus said, they were not looking for him because they saw the sign, but because they were fed.
They saw the sign, but they didn’t see it.
They saw how he fed them, but they missed the point.
Wait… what does that mean?
They were fed.
Wasn’t that the point of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fish?
Well, to understand this, we need to understand what a sign is.
John uses this word more than the other gospel writers.
A sign is a miracle with a message.
Or, a sign makes a point.
A sign is given to make a spiritually significant point, not just to give a miraculous result.
In other words, Jesus did not just feed them in the wilderness from 5 barley loaves and two fish so that they would not go hungry.
He did it so they would get a point.
This is nothing new.
God does the miraculous throughout the Bible to make a point.
So, whenever we encounter a sign, something miraculous that God does, we should ask:
What was the Point?
As an example, we saw a few weeks ago when we were looking in the earlier part of the chapter that centuries before this, God gave their ancestors manna in the wilderness.
He did not only give it then to keep them from being hungry; He gave it to them to make a point.
Remember Deuteronomy 8?
He did it to know their hearts
He did it so they would know that they need more than bread to live.
They need the word of God.
He gave them manna so they would learn that what they have comes from Him, and they need to honor Him.
To sum this up:
God gave manna so they would get the Point:
They have hearts that wander from the Lord
They need to listen to and trust God (just like they need food)
They need to honor God
Now, against that backdrop, Jesus gave them a sign.
Jesus fed them in the wilderness.
So, we need to ask the question:
What was the Point?
Against this background, Jesus performs a similar miracle, feeding them miraculously in the wilderness.
He did it as a sign.
What was the point of the sign?
We will see as we move into the following verses in John 6 that the point was very similar to what happened with their ancestors.
Just like the manna was to show them that they needed God and His word, so too, Jesus feeding them was to make the point that they needed Him.
The point of the sign was that they needed Jesus for eternal life!
But isn’t that something a little vague for them to pick up on when he feeds them?
How were they supposed to get that from Him feeding them?
Well, Deuteronomy 8 was a passage they should have known.
It spells out the same point, doesn’t it?
Yes, it does.
That should have been enough for them to get the point.
However, there is more!
The prophets often spoke of the Messiah coming, and how there would be prosperity and feasting.
Passages like Isaiah 61 and Isaiah 62, and Psalm 22 speak about the prosperity which will come with the Messiah.
Feasting was a part of showing the prosperity.
However, the feasting and prosperity was not the point.
Feasting and prosperity were the by-products of the main point of the Messiah.
The coming of the Messiah would bring righteousness and a relationship with God.
Being righteous and in a relationship with God is true prosperity.
Let’s look at an example together.
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