{"id":1838,"date":"2016-01-24T09:00:18","date_gmt":"2016-01-24T14:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danielgoepfrich.com\/?p=1838"},"modified":"2022-08-29T22:23:50","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T02:23:50","slug":"john-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/john-6\/","title":{"rendered":"John 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter six<\/strong> records the only miracle (except the resurrection itself) that appears in all four gospels \u2013 the feeding of five thousand men \u2013 yet it was only John who gave us the great follow-up teaching. The miracle itself adds no detail not found elsewhere: a multitude of probably 10,000 \u2013 20,000 people stayed with Jesus all day, being healed and listening to his message; Jesus multiplied \u201cfive barley loaves and two fish\u201d<\/em> to feed them all to satisfaction; and there were twelve full baskets of leftovers (John 6:1-15). After the meal the people attempted to make Jesus their king by force. John also recorded the follow-up miracle (John 6:16-24). Having sent the people away and the disciples back across the lake, Jesus prayed for a while, then walked across the violent sea, met the disciples, calmed the storm, and miraculously transported the boat to the other side. 1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>

It is at this point that John\u2019s record alone includes a major discourse (John 6:25-58), including his first of seven \u201cI am\u201d declarations \u2013 \u201cI am the bread of life.\u201d<\/em> Jesus\u2019 teaching was his direct response to the crowd\u2019s question when they found him: \u201cWhat must we do to accomplish the deeds God requires?\u201d<\/em> Jesus\u2019 simple response was, \u201cBelieve in the one he has sent\u201d<\/em> (John 6:28-29). Rather than responding in belief, they immediately asked for more signs (it was breakfast time, after all), which Jesus refused. Instead, as with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman, he changed the topic from physical bread to spiritual nourishment, which was available only through himself.<\/p>

Their first<\/em> negative reaction came from their own experience<\/span>; they knew his family and background (John 6:41-42). Although the previous day they had wondered if he was \u201cthe Prophet\u201d<\/em> (John 6:14), now they demonstrated they were not interested in his word from God; they just wanted to be fed. Their second<\/em> negative reaction came from their unbelief<\/span>; they could not differentiate the spiritual from the physical, so Jesus\u2019 requirement to \u201ceat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood\u201d<\/em> (John 6:53) was nonsensical and abhorrent to them. Jesus clarified that what he had said was spiritual, but they would not believe (John 6:63). In what is probably the worst verse in the entire Bible, \u201cMany of his disciples quit following him and did not accompany him any longer\u201d<\/em> (John 6:66).<\/p>

The chapter ends with Jesus challenging the twelve apostles directly on whether or not they would leave as well. Peter\u2019s response should be the believer\u2019s mantra, no matter what we face in this life: \u201cLord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life\u201d<\/em> (John 6:68).<\/p>

\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. John did not record Peter walking on the water, but neither Matthew nor Mark mentioned that the boat \u201cimmediately\u2026came to the land where they had been heading\u201d<\/em> (John 6:21), only that they got there. \u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Chapter six records the only miracle (except the resurrection itself) that appears in all four gospels \u2013 the feeding of five thousand men \u2013 yet it was only John who gave us the great follow-up teaching. The miracle itself adds no detail not found elsewhere: a multitude of probably 10,000 \u2013 20,000 people stayed with Jesus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-1838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-studies","tag-john"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"gutentor_comment":0,"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"widget-thumbnail":false,"rpwe-thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_single":false,"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Daniel Goepfrich","author_link":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/author\/dgoepfrich\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Chapter six records the only miracle (except the resurrection itself) that appears in all four gospels \u2013 the feeding of five thousand men \u2013 yet it was only John who gave us the great follow-up teaching. The miracle itself adds no detail not found elsewhere: a multitude of probably 10,000 \u2013 20,000 people stayed with Jesus…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1838\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}