Commentary on John 6:1-15

Each gospel gives a different account or perspective on who Jesus was and what His ministry was like.  Appropriately, this text from John 6 gives this particular author’s depiction of the only miracle recorded in all four gospels.  From a historical critical standpoint, this agreement validates the authenticity of the event described, and also suggests the importance of the event to the overall ministry of Jesus.  Certainly communal meals play a vital role in the ministry and message of the New Testament.  Consequently this text should be of the utmost importance to the reader.

The text is significant for two reasons.  To begin, it shows the power and authority possessed by Jesus of Nazareth.  Only one who possessed the power of God Almighty would be capable of producing so much out of so little.  In fact, the miracle is so unbelievable that it serves as the tipping point for the launch of Jesus’ political campaign by those present.  Having already witnessed the healing miracles of Jesus, one would assume that this crowd would have expected the miraculous.  Still, Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves and fish affirms once and for all that He is the real deal. 

            In addition to bearing witness to the power and authority of Jesus, this miracle tells us something very important about our Savior.  At no point does anyone from the crowd ask Jesus to feed them.  One would think that the crowd would have had the foresight to pack a lunch.  While there is certainly some resonance between this miracle and the miraculous feeding of the Israelites in the wilderness, one doesn’t sense the same urgency, as the people aren’t going to starve if this miracle doesn’t take place.  And yet Jesus perceives a need.  Perhaps the crowd really did need to be feed, or maybe they needed to witness this miracle in order to comprehend the “Bread of Life” discourse that is to follow.  At any rate, Jesus perceives the need of His people and meets it before any of them can even ask.

            Everything is fine and dandy until the crowd takes things into their own hands.  Having witnessed the power and authority of Jesus, the crowd determines that they want Jesus to be their king.  I am sure of a presidential candidate pulled something like this off we would all do the same thing.  The crowd attempts to force Jesus to be their king, and at this juncture Jesus departs. 

            Jesus’ departure suggests that the Savior works on His own terms (or God’s terms).  How often we want Jesus to act on our own behalf and try to manipulate our faith to our own ends.  Yet this text doesn’t allow us such a luxury.  Often time people believe that if they just have faith then Jesus will do whatever it is that they want.  But the lesson from this text is the exact opposite.  Jesus meets our needs, even if we ourselves do not perceive them.  At the same time, Jesus will not be manipulated to do the will of His followers.  So it is that the Christian is responsible for his proximity to Jesus, while Jesus is responsible for the well being of the Christian.  Let Jesus be Jesus and He will give us all that we need.