Daily Scripture Reading John 6:3-27
One of the fundamental realities of life is we need to earn a living. We need food, clothing, and shelter. We need money to buy those things; therefore, earning money is a constant requirement.
Furthermore, we are constantly bombarded with entertainment. It is easy to spend hours watching movies, playing games, enjoying sports, or listening to music. Meeting our needs and indulging in entertainment takes up a huge chunk of our time.
As much as the necessities of life are a requirement, Jesus told the 1st century Jews to pursue something that is just as important, if not more important, than physical food. His recommendation is a good suggestion for us also, especially in light of the prevalence of entertainment in our society.
Jesus had been in Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. He had some unpleasant interactions with the Jewish leaders. Then He went back to Galilee. A large crowd was following Him because of the healings He was performing.
John 6:3 Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He was sitting down with His disciples.
John 6:4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.
The fifth chapter of John tells us about events that happened in Jerusalem while Jesus was in Jerusalem for a feast. The first two verses of chapter 6 tell us Jesus went to Galilee. Now we see in verse 4 that the Passover was near. There would have been several months between the feast mentioned in chapter 5 and the Passover mentioned in chapter 6.
John 6:5 Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, “Where should we buy bread, so that these people may eat?”
John 6:6 And this He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was going to do.
Notice the word “test”. Jesus knew where He was going to get the food. He simply wanted to see what Philip would say.
John 6:7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.”
John 6:8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him,
John 6:9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?”
John 6:10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
John 6:11 Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish, as much as they wanted.
John 6:12 And when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing will be lost.”
John 6:13 So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
In verses 7 and 9 we saw Philip and Andrew were worried about being able to give sufficient food to everyone. When they collected twelve baskets of leftovers, they had proof that everyone had been adequately fed.
John 6:14 Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had done, they were saying, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
Note the reference to “the Prophet”. Deuteronomy 18 tells us God promised to raise up a prophet like Moses. Therefore, 1st century Jews were expecting the Prophet. When they saw the miracles of Jesus, they concluded Jesus was the Prophet.
John 6:15 ¶ So Jesus, knowing that they were going to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.
The Jews wanted to be free from Roman control. When Jesus performed His miracles, He not only proved He was God, He also proved He had the power to overthrow Rome.
John 6:16 ¶ Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea,
John 6:17 and after getting into a boat, they began to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
At this point the text has not told us where Jesus and His disciples were, other than they were someplace that required a boat ride to get to Capernaum.
John 6:18 And the sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.
John 6:19 Then, when they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened.
John 6:20 But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”
John 6:21 So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
John 6:22 ¶ On the next day, the crowd which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone.
The crowd did not see Jesus get into the boat with the disciples; therefore, they believed Jesus was still in the area where He had fed the 5,000 men.
John 6:23 Other small boats came from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
Tiberias was on the southwest side of the sea. Boats from Tiberias arrived at the place where Jesus had fed the 5,000 men.
John 6:24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus.
The crowd finally figured out that Jesus was no longer in that place.
John 6:25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?”
The crowd knew they did not see Jesus get in the boat with the disciples, so they wanted to know how Jesus got to Capernaum.
John 6:26 ¶ Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.
Jesus did not answer their question. Instead, He addressed their real motives. They were not seeking Jesus because they knew Jesus was God. They were seeking Him because they wanted more free food.
There are some people who espouse the belief that people should not assign motives. That belief assumes people are always honest about their motives. In verse 26 we see that Jesus assigned motives because He knew the people were not being honest about why they were seeking Him. Perhaps the people were not even being honest with themselves about why they were there.
It is a good idea to be slow to assign motives. However, people are good at deceiving themselves; therefore, we should not have a blanket belief that we should never assign motives. Sometimes, we need to confront people over why they are doing what they are doing. That may require us to verbalize their true motive for them and to them.
John 6:27 Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, set His seal.”
The food which perishes is physical food. The food which endures is spiritual food. The crowd was there because they wanted more food. Jesus warned them to pursue spiritual food, not physical food.
Even today, it is easy for people to get so focused on earning a living, pursuing a career, and paying bills, that our spiritual life gets crowded out. At least physical food is a necessity. A huge problem today is people allocate so much time and energy to entertainment that they have no time left for spiritual development.
Just as Jesus told the 1st century Jews to pursue eternal food, so too we should pursue spiritual food. Our spiritual development should be just as important as physical sustenance. We should spend much more time pursuing God than we spend indulging in entertainment.
What do you need to do to keep the necessities of life from crowding out your spiritual development?
How do you need to adjust your time management so that you heed Jesus’ command to work for the food which endures to eternal life, instead of wasting your life consuming entertainment?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”