João 6

1 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, or Tiberias.*From the parallel accounts it appears that He embarked at Capernaum. (Matthew informs us that He had just heard of the Baptizer’s ignominious death and wanted to get away—perhaps to grieve and assimilate the news.) From John 6:23 we learn that the destination was near Tiberias. Capernaum and Tiberias are both on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, but there is a large bay between them; so they went over 6-8 miles of water. 2 And a huge crowd was following Him because they had seen His signs that He kept performing on the sick.*The crowd was not about to let Jesus get away. Mark makes clear that they ran along the shore—the faster runners stayed even with the boat and were waiting on the shore when the boat put in. The others were spread out behind for several miles (like in a marathon) and kept arriving. Any late starters would see the stragglers and could easily follow the action. Apparently He immediately started to heal the sick and went on to teach (Matthew 14:14, Mark 6:34). But just where was it? John says it was near Tiberias, but Luke 9:10 says it was "a deserted place belonging to a town called Bethsaida". [Less than 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have "into a town called Bethsaida" (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.), which makes Luke contradict himself (verse 12 says it was a deserted place) as well as the parallel accounts.] I assume that the place was indeed near Tiberias but did indeed belong to Bethsaida—either it had been deeded to the town somehow or the family that owned it was based in Bethsaida. Any near neighbors could not use it, so it was basically untouched—a great place for a picnic. 3 So Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down there with His disciples.*Comparing the other accounts, I take it that they had already spent quite a bit of time on the beach, and the afternoon was wearing away. Since verse 6 says He knew what He was going to do, I assume it was a deliberate move to get the crowd up where there was grass so they could sit down in relative comfort. 4 (Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.)*I frankly do not see what connection this information has with the story, but it does give us a time frame.

Food for 15,000*Why 15,000? Well, Matthew 14:21 says plainly that there were about 5,000 men besides women and children. In any crowd what is there usually most of? Since the context was not one of war (where there would be mostly men) I imagine there were at least 15,000 people there (like mothers with sick children).

5 Then, raising His eyes and observing that a huge crowd was coming toward Him, Jesus says to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread so that these folks may eat?"*According to the other three accounts, the disciples had already suggested to Jesus that He send the people away to the surrounding towns to buy food. But let’s stop and think. How many bread stores would a village have, and how much bread would a store still have on hand at 5 p.m.? If they could have gone to every store within a radius of 30 miles, I doubt that they would have found even 10,000 loaves available. The Lord’s question shows that their suggestion was really a cop-out. 6 Now He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He was about to do. 7 Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread*How much bread can you buy with the wages for 200 days of manual labor? Probably an awful lot of it. But the crowd was so huge that Philip figured that even that much would not do it. [If a day’s wage would buy 50 small loaves, for instance, that would make 10,000 loaves—more people than bread.] would not be enough for them, so that each of them could receive a little." 8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, says to Him, 9 "There is a little boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two small fish, but what are they for so many?"*I think it must be understood that the boy handed them over willingly, so he participated in the miracle. We also must give to God willingly, and when we do we participate in the results.

10 Then Jesus said, "Make the people recline." Now there was plenty of grass in the place; so the men reclined, about five thousand in number. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and having given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples*Perhaps 3% of the Greek manuscripts, of inferior quality, omit the reference to the disciples here and have Jesus distributing directly to the crowd (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.), making John contradict the other three Gospels. to those who were reclining; so too with the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 So when they were full He says to His disciples, "Collect the leftover fragments so that nothing be wasted."*Notice the care that nothing be wasted. A common human reaction would be, ‘easy come, easy go’—since Jesus can make more any time He wants, why worry. But no, the Lord does not look at it that way. 13 So they collected and filled twelve baskets*They were large baskets, probably borrowed from the fishing boats (see verse 23 below). The disciples probably had help with the collecting; and in any case, they did not keep that food. with fragments from the five barley loaves that were left over from those who had eaten.

14 Now then, having seen the miraculous sign that Jesus performed the men said, "This One really is the Prophet who is to come into the world."