October 18: John 6

October 18, John 6

John continued…

Today there is again some overlap of a few stories, so I will write them out and articulate any difference if there are… Hope you are having a good day!

John 6

• Jesus feeds the 5,000. We read variations of this yesterday from the Gospels and John offers us a little more detail. Like I said yesterday, we must be careful because if you have been a Christ follower for any time, you may have heard this story and I don't want you to just read it and continue on. Think about this whole story… Jesus is trying to withdraw and be away from everybody as he had just heard about his good friend John's death. But the crowds would not leave him alone. God is always at work… So, when Jesus saw the people that needed him, he had compassion on them and taught them. When it became nightfall, the disciples wanted to send all the people away, as they didn't have enough food to feed them all. What was Jesus's response? Feed them. Truth is, they only had five loaves of bread and two fish - hardly enough to feed thousands of people. Jesus instructed the disciples to bring him the meager amount food and get the people sitting in groups. Jesus asked God to bless the food & then He broke the bread and literally it multiplied before their eyes. So much so, that he was able to feed what they believe to be upwards of 10,000 people. They had 12 baskets of food left over, significant because there are 12 tribes of Israel! Just think about how amazing this would've been… When the people saw the sign that Jesus had done, “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” The Jews were desperate for good leadership and this was not how Jesus was going to go about saving people…
• Jesus Walks on Water. After this, Jesus had his disciples take off because He wanted to be alone. He went to go pray. It was evening time and he was alone but the disciples boat was getting beat pretty hard by the weather. So, Jesus went out and walked on water towards his disciples! Seriously, think about it. He literally walked on water towards his disciples were in the middle of the lake!!! They were scared and Jesus comforted them. “Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.”  Isn't that interesting? Jesus is amazing…
• Jesus Christ is the bread of life… The crowds just followed Jesus and they inquired about what it would take to do the works of God. Jesus replied “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”  That would be Jesus of course. Ironically, the people want a sign that He is God (they just were fed by Him miraculously!). They said that God fed the Jews with manna from heaven as a sign - well, Jesus is the Manna sent from heaven as a sign. “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Believe that. Jesus explains that anyone who believes in Him will have eternal life and that the Father God has given Christ the authority and power to do the will of God, which is that everyone who looks to Jesus and believes in Him will be saved and raised up on the last day.  Some won't believe. Some will. But to be accepted by Jesus is simply to believe in Him. The religious leaders couldn't stand Jesus. Side note - Jesus is not referring to cannibalism here when He talks about eating His body and drinking his blood - this is metaphoric for a sacrament that will be coming up, communion. Come to the Him and be saved, never thirsty and hungering only for Him. 
• Words of Eternal Life… The disciples were struggling too with all of the hard stuff Jesus was talking about. Some were offended and some of the disciples following Jesus left Him over these words. The 12 remained with Him. Peter confesses that there is nobody else to follow who has the words of eternal life. Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him and we get some insights into that throughout the life of Jesus… “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”

To sum it all up: 

• What is God’s will? “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
• Follow God. Not because of the miracles but because you have an opportunity to love Jesus and serve Him. Put yourself 2nd today. Serve others as Christ served and see how it goes for you…