VI.
[(1) JESUS IS LIFE (continued).
(b)
His Incarnation is life for mankind (John 6).
(α)
Food given to sustain the hungry (John 6:1-15).
(β)
His body not subject to natural laws (John 6:16-21).
(γ)
The multitude follow Him (John 6:22-25).
(δ)
Teaching of Jesus (John 6:26-58):
The work of God (John 6:26-29);
The Bread of Life (John 6:30-50);
The true food (flesh) and the true drink (blood) (John 6:51-58).
(ε)
The effect of the teaching — on the one hand defection, on the other a fuller confession of faith (John 6:59-71).]
The feeding of the Five Thousand is the one miracle related in every Gospel. See Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17, and Notes at these places, for the position in the narrative and the common incidents. Here it will be enough to mark the details peculiar to St. John.
The fact that this miracle of the Galilean ministry finds a place also in the record of the Judæan ministry, is to be explained by the discourse which follows. Here, as elsewhere, the principle which has guided the writer’s choice is that the sign is a teaching by work (comp. Note on John 2:11), and that those signs produce the fullest faith and life (John 20:31) which led up to the fullest teaching by word. We shall find, too (John 6:41), that the discourse is addressed to Jews of Jerusalem among others, so that the chapter, though belonging locally to Galilee, is really within the sphere of St. John’s narrative.