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John 6 is a slightly strange chapter. It starts by saying that Jesus crossed to the far side of the Sea of Galilee and a large crowd of people followed Him because they had seen the signs He had performed by healing the sick. It finishes with that crowd walking away from Him and Jesus asking the twelve disciples if they want to leave Him too. What had happened in the middle that caused His followers to abandon Him? That is a little bit strange too. But let’s start at the beginning.
Jesus attracted huge crowds. He fed many thousands with five loaves and two fishes. (In fact, that is in this chapter.) He preached from a boat to avoid the crush of the crowd. He was being jostled by the crowd when the bleeding woman touched his cloak. We are told at various points that great crowds followed Him. There were times when He tried to get away from the crowds but they followed Him anyway. Mark 3:7-8 says that, when He was in Galilee, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon, when they heard all that he was doing.
Look on a map. They travelled about 200km from Jerusalem (i.e. from Dunedin to Invercargill). Idumea was even further south. Tyre and Sidon are in modern-day Lebanon in the north. They came from modern-day Jordan in the east. People were travelling from all over a vast region to see and hear Jesus.
Why? John 6 says, “because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick”. Mark 3 says they came when they heard all he was doing. Jesus was a sensation and people wanted to see it. Reports were spreading for hundreds of kilometres. What was it that attracted people?
· Miracles – healings, deliverances, provision of food, raising the dead, walking on water, calming storms… Would you have taken your family, say, to Christchurch to see this man?
· His words – wonderful stories, profound, authoritative teaching…
o Mark 12:37: the large crowd listened to Him with delight.
· His love – compassion, warmth, welcome, acceptance…
o Inclusion of women, children, slaves, lepers, the vulnerable and the rejects of society…
o Friend of sinners; offered forgiveness and peace with God.
This was an amazing spectacle. People saw miracles; people were healed; they were entertained; they discovered love and acceptance. Of course, it was attractive. And it was all free. Jesus expected very little from those crowds. There were no demands on them. Jesus just served them.
Except that, periodically, Jesus challenged those crowds. And often, when challenged, they dissipated.
In John 6, what happened? What turned the crowd away? Jesus miraculously fed them with five small loaves and two small fish. They concluded that he was the Prophet who was to come into the world and decided to make Him their king. Jesus then left them and went up a mountain. The disciples started back across the lake but got caught in a storm. Jesus came to them walking on the water and immediately they found themselves back in Capernaum. None of that would have offended the crowd, surely.
The next morning the crowds realized Jesus had not gone with the disciples but was no longer there so they searched for Him and found Him. Jesus said to them that they had looked for Him because He had given them free food. They should have been interested in the food that gives eternal life. OK, now this is a bit of a challenge. Were they only interested in free food and the spectacular things they were seeing?
They asked what God requires. Jesus said, “the work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent” (6:29). It is not about the free food and the spectacle; it is about believing in Jesus. They were focusing on the wrong things. The miracles were not just miracles. They were signs pointing to who Jesus is. They were entertained by the miracles without seeing their significance. Remarkably, they then asked for a sign – something like the manna in the desert! “Prove that you are who you say you are!” What? They had just been miraculously fed. Was that not a sign? Was that not exactly like the manna miracle? They knew that Jesus had somehow got from the far side of the lake to Capernaum without a boat. Was that not a sign? They saw but they did not see. What God wants is belief in Jesus.
Picking up that reference to the manna in the desert, Jesus said that He is the bread of life. Those who ate the manna eventually died. Those who come to Him and believe in Him will never hunger or thirst and never die. Why were they wanting bread that give temporary relief but rejecting the bread that gives eternal life?
The crowd started to grumble. Who does He think he is? They wanted this life-giving bread. That sounds great, but they were now cynical about Jesus.
Jesus reiterated, ‘I am the bread of life”. Those who eat the bread of life will have eternal life.
Those who eat the bread of life. Those who eat Jesus! This is a bit gross, isn’t it? Jesus specifically talked about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. It sounds like cannibalism. No wonder people said, “This is hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
Did Jesus mean that we must literally eat Him? No, He is using the image of bread. What do you do with bread? You eat it but he explained, that means believing in Him. It is about relying completely on Him for spiritual life just as we are dependent on physical food, for physical life.
They wanted the free food and the entertainment. They did not want to believe in Jesus and commit themselves to Him and yet that is what is necessary. The passage says that many of His “disciples” turned back and no longer followed Him. Hmmm, disciples in one sense but not really.
Let us not be so-called disciples who simply enjoy the benefits. They were interested in the gifts but not the giver. Are we just receiving or have we committed ourselves to follow Jesus despite the cost?
But, let’s ask some other questions.
1. Why did Jesus attract large crowds? What was the point of crowds of self-interested consumers unwilling to believe in Him and follow Him?
2. Why did He then turn them away? This is not the only time in scripture. Look at Luke 9 and Luke 14. They start with large crowds and Jesus challenges them in no uncertain terms. Why did he deliberately turn people away?
3. Should we do the same?
We could say that Jesus ministered to large crowds because He loved people. When He saw people in need, He had compassion. That is true but Jesus had a much bigger agenda than that. This passage shows that Jesus was actually looking for people who would believe in Him and follow Him not just people who liked the free food and the spectacle. He wanted people to find eternal life, not just physical life.
People sometimes say we should love people with no other agenda. I do not agree. As Christians, we must always have a bigger agenda. We must always be concerned for people salvation.
John 6:40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life and I will raise them up at the last day.
Jesus’ challenge reveals the few who will respond. Where are those people who will believe in Jesus? They are somewhere in those crowds. The challenge reveals them. The crowds could keep attending if they wanted to. Jesus would continue ministering to them. But He needed to find the few who really believed and would follow Him and be trained by Him so that they too could become part of His mission. Crowds are basically selfish – just interested in the free food and the spectacle. It is all about them and what they can get. Crowds do not sacrifice but a few individuals will.
Jesus ministered to the crowds a) because people were in need and b) because somewhere in those crowds were the people who would believe. The challenge filtered out those people. In this instance, when He asked the twelve if they also wanted to leave, Simon Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Do you understand the strategy? Jesus attracted huge crowds. He did not use gimmicks. He revealed the Kingdom of God. The miracles revealed the presence of God. He taught about the Kingdom of God. He revealed the compassion and mercy of God and welcomed people into His Kingdom. It was all about the Kingdom of God and it was the Kingdom that people found so attractive. Healing, deliverance, provision, forgiveness, reconciliation, compassion, mercy, teaching with authority… Those things are attractive.
And then the challenge was to believe in, and submit to, the King.
Should we do the same? Yes, we are followers of Jesus. He has modelled how to do this and we follow Him. We should serve widely and selflessly, like Jesus. We can reveal the Kingdom of God so that people experience God and His goodness. And then, periodically, we must also challenge people, or encourage people, to put their faith in Jesus and serve Him. Some will; some won’t. That was Jesus’ experience too.
Let’s not worry about the second step until we are doing the first step. The first step is to serve – like Jesus did. Just serve. Just give generously asking for nothing in return. We are to serve individually and as a church.
The church in Acts 2 was stunningly attractive. Acts 3:47 says that they enjoyed the favour of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
When we love people and respect people and care for people, is that attractive? Yes, people are lonely. If we show compassion and warmth and welcome. If we show that we are friends of sinners… People believe that Christians will judge them. What if we don’t? What if we love them and serve them? If we model community like the Acts 2 church. If people see that we are forgiving and serving and sharing, would that be attractive? If we served people sacrificially and meet real needs in this community. If the church is seen as first there to help when someone is in need, will that be attractive? Can we tell great stories and have great conversations, like Jesus? Could there be miracles? If people were being healed; if prayers were being answered, do you think people in Dunedin and Invercargill and Queenstown would hear about it and travel to Owaka to see it?
The first step in Jesus’ strategy was to serve. How can you give and give and give, just like Jesus gave selflessly to those crowds? How can the church be seen as the most gracious, generous, selfless group in the community?
That is where it starts but it is not where it ends. Jesus also challenged them, looking for those few who would believe. When we reveal God to people, we will then have the opportunity to say, “You have experienced the presence of God; God has answered your prayers. Will you trust Him and follow Him?” But the first step is serving. Bring God to people then bring people to God.