EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES
The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is recorded by all the Evangelists (see Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17). It is an entirely different miracle from that of feeding the four thousand (Matthew 15:32-39; Mark 8:1-9).
John 6:1. After these things does not express immediate sequence (see John 5:1). Jesus went, went away (ἀπῆλθεν), or withdrew, went out, over (πέρας). The Sea of Galilee, of Tiberias.—Only once again is this lake called the Sea of Tiberias in the New Testament (see John 21:1). So the Sea of Galilee was afterwards principally called from the town of Tiberias, built by Herod the tetrarch, and named after the Emperor Tiberias. Probably the building of the town was not completed at the time of the ministry of our Lord; and besides, the new name would require some time before it superseded the old name. This name is that borne to-day by the small but growing modern town with its earthquake-shattered walls: Tubarîyeh.
John 6:2. The miracles.—Rather the signs (τὰ σημεῖα).
John 6:3. Into the mountain.—The hilly, sloping side of the eastern tableland as it falls toward the lake. The place was near to Bethsaida Julias, which lay near the north-east corner of the lake, where the Jordan enters it (Luke 9:10).
John 6:4. The passover was near.—I.e. the time was drawing on when it would be observed, and doubtless many of those who were in the crowds following the Saviour at this time were leisurely making their way to Jerusalem “to keep the feast.” The mention of “much grass” (John 6:10), and that the grass was “green” (Mark 6:39), gives a vivid picture of Galilee in March and April, when the whole land is carpeted with grass, amid which the wild flowers spring in rich profusion.
John 6:5. A great company came (πεζοί, afoot, Matthew 14:13).—I.e. round the north end of the lake. There is a ford near Bethsaida; and probably there was then a bridge where now stands the Jisr Benât Yacûb (Bridge of the Daughters of Jacob).
John 6:6. Prove him, i.e. to test or try him. Philip (John 1:44; John 14:8).
John 6:7. Two hundred pennyworth.—I.e. two hundred denarii, which, calculating their value at about 8½d., would amount to about £7 in our money. The bread was probably somewhat like the ordinary flat barley cakes, of which five or six may now be bought in Syria for a piastre (about 2¼d.).
John 6:8. Andrew and Philip (John 1:44; John 12:22).
John 6:9. Two small fishes.—Or simply two fishes (ὀψάρια). As the word is used also in John 21:9-10; John 21:13, it may simply be a local Galilean word for a fish. But it may mean fish specially prepared to eat with bread as a relish (see Westcott and Watkins).
John 6:10. Make the men (ἀνθρώπους).—Including women and children (Matthew 14:21), as distinguished from ἄνδρες, men only, at the end of the verse. Grass (Psalms 23:2).—See John 6:4.
John 6:11. To the disciples, and the disciples.—These words are omitted in the great MSS. א, B, L. They are considered by Tregelles, Tischendorf, etc., to be a gloss from Matthew 14:19.
John 6:12. Gather, etc.—It is from John we learn that this was done at the command of Jesus.
John 6:13. Twelve baskets (κοφίνους).—As there were twelve, they most likely belonged to the disciples; probably they were used as we use our modern travelling bags. These baskets are to be distinguished from the σπύριδες used in the miracle of feeding the four thousand. The latter were much larger.
John 6:14. That prophet.—i.e. Messiah.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— John 6:1-15
The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand.—The miracle which we are now to consider briefly is one of those that show Christ’s power in the realm of nature. Like His miracles generally, it is beneficent and not destructive.[3] This, and the miracle of walking on the sea, are recorded by all the Evangelists. This miracle is distinguished sharply by several special circumstances from that of the feeding of four thousand (Matthew 15:29-39; Mark 8:1-10). The Evangelists vary slightly—although they do not contradict each other—in their accounts of the circumstances which preceded it. They supplement each other. St. John places it between the feast mentioned at the beginning of chap. 5 (probably Purim) and the succeeding passover. St. Mark gives the fullest account of the causes which led the Saviour to cross to the east side of the Sea of Galilee. The forerunner had just been beheaded by Herod; and his disciples had gone and told Jesus (Matthew 14:12). About the same time the twelve had returned from their mission of preaching and healing, on which Jesus had sent them out “by two and two.” The disciples doubtless needed rest after their labours, and time for converse, which they could not find in Christ’s “own country”; “for there were many coming and going,” etc. (Mark 6:31). John’s disciples also perhaps needed to be withdrawn for a time from these scenes of busy life. So our Lord and His more immediate followers—including, it may be, John’s disciples—sailed from the then busy western side of the Sea of Galilee to the comparatively lonely eastern shore, hoping for a time to be free from the thronging crowds. In vain. The multitudes, learning His destination, followed by land—by the road (πεζῇ). There were many sick and infirm among them, for they knew of His wondrous power (Matthew 14:14). So that the “desert place” was soon crowded where Jesus was. Nor did He turn those poor people away. He received them, spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and healed many (Luke 9:11). As the day wore on toward evening, and the westering sun began to descend behind the Galilean hills, tinting Hermon with rosy light, and the evening calm settled softly on the peaceful inland lake, the multitude lingered on, captivated by the winning accents of eternal love—witnessing with wondering gratitude the proofs of Christ’s healing power. The claims of physical nature were well-nigh forgotten; and when the day was far spent, the multitudes had not only no food with them sufficient to meet their wants, but they were far from any place where it could be procured. According to our Gospel it was Jesus Himself who first mooted the idea of feeding them. Probably He spoke to Philip early in the afternoon, and let the question simmer in the disciple’s mind, to prove, try his faith. It was also a trial of the faith of the rest of the twelve, for no doubt Philip consulted with them; and the conclusion they came to was shown by their coming as day was closing to request Him to send the multitude away. Did Philip’s weak faith tend to infect the others, and was he specially singled out for trial that his faith might be strengthened? (John 14:8-14). It seems strange that the disciples, who had witnessed already so many of the Redeemer’s mighty works, should begin to compute the sum of money (about £7 in our money) needed to procure even the simplest provision for so great a crowd. At His word, however, the disciples found out what provision there was among the company. “A lad was present who had five barley loaves,” etc. (John 6:9), but what, truly, were they “among so many”? At the command of the Saviour, however, the people were seated in order on the green grass—green and luscious at that season; and after giving thanks He distributed through the disciples this small provision, which multiplied miraculously in His hands. In the end all were satisfied—shown by the fact that at Christ’s command the fragments remaining were gathered into the disciples’ travelling hand-baskets (κόφινοι). And the people departed, firm in the conviction that He was “that prophet,” etc. (John 6:14).
[3] Even the two which seem of an opposite tendency—the destruction of the herd of swine and the withering away of the barren fig tree—have their beneficent side, i.e. the removal of what was evil and useless.
I. This miracle we may call an act of creative might.—The time when it was wrought was near the passover; and at that period the valleys and hillsides would be clad with sprouting corn. In parts of the Jordan valley itself the fields might even be assuming harvest tints. The corn, however, was not yet ready to be used as food. And Jesus, by His creative might (John 1:3-4), out of the small provision from the hands of the lad, made such increase that the multitude did eat and were satisfied. It was a rapid and instantaneous way of producing that which is prepared by gradual processes for man’s use, by Him with whom “one day is as a thousand years.” The same wonder in different form transpires periodically before our eyes: only we have become so familiar with it that we fail to recognise it as a perpetual proof of God’s creative power. Consider the amount of food required daily for a whole nation, or even for a large city. Thousands on thousands are employed daily in catering for this food supply. The food stuffs are gathered from every region of the globe almost. Whence do these stores come? Who ultimately provides them? Who feeds the teeming millions of men and other living creatures in the world? It is the providence of Him on whom we all depend—who opens His liberal hand and supplies the wants of “every living thing.” We are surrounded on every side by proofs and evidences of His creative might. If we would but open the eyes of our understandings, and look deeply enough into the nature of things, we should see at each seed-time and harvest a perpetual wonder, and realise that we are surrounded on every side by what has well been called “the natural supernatural.” When we consider these things sufficiently, such a wonderful work as this we are considering is just what we might expect from Him who is revealed at the beginning of this Gospel as the creative Word.
II. The miracle further teaches us a lesson of trust in the divine care—and in our Redeemer, that He will, as He can, supply every necessary gift to us. Human life is a hard training-school for some. But “sweet are the uses” of such a severe training if borne aright. Men born to affluence may be and often are tempted to forget to whom they owe the daily provided gifts scattered in profusion around them; whilst those who pray with the sense of need to a divine Father, “Give us each day our daily bread,” are kept in a wholesome sense of their dependence on Him “who is above all, and through all, and in all,” and with a confident feeling that their trust is not misplaced or vain. The crowds of passover pilgrims who turned aside to listen to Christ’s words of heavenly wisdom in the desert place by the Galilean lake realised, for the time at least, in their experience the fulfilment of the promise: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.” And so all Christ’s disciples may in the same trusting spirit go about their Father’s business, assured that every needed gift will be given them; that the creative might (and providential love and care) which supplies the wants of every living thing—which fed the “five thousand men, beside women and children” (Matthew 14:14), at Bethsaida Julias—is unresting and unfailing still. The poorest and most tried if faithful will find it ever the same.
III. The lesson of this miracle of Jesus—the spiritual lesson—was not learned by all who witnessed it.—Many of the people continued to follow the Saviour in expectation of repetitions of this wonderful work. They sought for the meat which perisheth,—not for the spiritual bread which endureth, for the heavenly manna of which if a man eat he shall never hunger. So let this miracle be to Christ’s people not merely a fact in the story of our Lord’s life on earth—not merely another link in the chain of evidence of His divinity. Let it become a parable of divine truth, leading men to see Christ as the source of all true spiritual nourishment, the Heavenly Manna and the Bread of Life. Then, when He has been sought and found thus spiritually, it should teach a lesson of restful dependence on God, the source of all life, and on Christ, who, out of His infinite fulness, will freely give His people all things.
Harvest Festival Homily.—The passage read, which shows Jesus with wonder-working power feeding the starving multitudes, proving His disciples, and strengthening their faith, will furnish us useful lessons, and thus raise the harvest festival, beyond its relation to creation merely, to the higher region of a spiritual Christian festival. The harvest festival becomes then a Christian festival when Christ leads us therein—
1. To stronger faith;
2. To ministering love;
3. To the confession of thankfulness;
4. To faithfulness in little things. Teach us, O God, giver of every good and perfect gift, to sow in childlike trust, so that we may reap with praise and thanksgiving. Amen.
I. The harvest festival becomes a Christian festival when it leads to stronger faith.—Many people followed Jesus because they saw the signs He wrought on the sick. The thought that He was Emmanuel flashed through their minds. It remained doubtful, however, whether the miracles wrought for the sick were realised as signs for the strengthening of faith, or whether these would lead to material misconceptions. It was enough for Jesus, who lifted up His eyes and saw many people coming to Him, that, touched with sincere compassion, He should permit the sun of His benevolence to arise upon good and evil, as He said, “Whence shall we buy bread?” etc. (John 6:5). And John, our narrator, shows himself not merely to have been an eye and ear witness, describing the scene minutely, the grass, etc., but also bosom friend and beloved disciple of Him who came from the bosom of the Father. This he shows in that he was entrusted with the design of the testing question, as he writes, “And this He said,” etc. (John 6:6). Whoever comes into Jesus’ presence, on him Jesus lifts His eyes in blessing. Whoever begins to believe must be content to submit to testing questions which put weak faith to shame and banish unbelief. The premeditated divine work appears so much more glorious in view of Philip’s estimate that two hundred pennyworth of bread would not suffice, and after Andrew had brought the information about the five loaves, etc. These statements only confirmed the difficulty—did not remove it. Whence shall we buy bread? Is not this question repeated year by year, with every spring which may find the winter sowing safe, but may also find it ruined by frost; with every summer, which may see the fields ripening, but perhaps also desolated by thunderstorms or hail; with every autumn, which may see the grain harvested, but which at the last moment may bring disappointment? Each season furnishes us new examples of our dependence on the almighty, living God who balances the clouds, etc. (Job 37; Job 38, etc.); who put the fourth petition (Matthew 6:11) into man’s mouth and promises to grant it. Nature does it, so the modern heathens tell us, who imagine they have deposed the eternal Lawgiver and replaced Him by the laws of nature. If the curtain is drawn up the stage is seen to be empty. Fools say in their hearts, “No God.” But God’s children say every seedtime and harvest, “Abba, Father.” Here in the gospel narrative stands He who said, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work,” who knew what He would do, to whom no supplicating family (chap. 11), no surrounding multitude ever came in vain; whom no need ever nonplussed, but who also maintained as the fundamental law of His religion, “Seek ye first,” etc. (Matthew 6:33); who gives not alone daily bread, but also has made ready His eternal word, and seeks through the gifts to lead men back and up to the eternal Giver. A large number of the five thousand however … thought of the Lord merely as a Master or Steward, and would have taken Him and made Him a king. “O Lord, do not Thine eyes look upon faithfulness?” (Jeremiah 5:3). Thy giving and Thy withholding … Thy anticipating and delaying—in oppression and deliverance, in all things, He seeks to prove, to purify, to strengthen faith. Yonder, by Tiberias, Jesus knew what He would do. He has ever thoughts of peace toward men. He slumbers not, etc. Believest thou this?… Is your faith strengthened in times of trial? Then
“Thou stand’st not alone, over thee is thy Lord, who will keep and uphold thee:
Thou stand’st not alone, for around thee are ministering angels.”
II. The harvest festival becomes a Christian feast when Christ prompts us thereby to render loving help to others. The Lord took His disciples as fellow-labourers and helpers in His benevolent purpose.… The Lord gives His help mediately. As He wrought this wonder by increasing the food at hand, by multiplying the offered provision, so He employs men to aid their fellows—the disciples to help the brethren. He makes them ready to help, breaks and shames the natural selfishness and slothfulness of the flesh. In His farewell discourse He said, “The poor ye have always with you”; and again, “What ye have done unto the least,” etc. (see also James 2:15-16; 2 Thessalonians 3:10; 1 Timothy 5:8). In the case of those lost in vain traditions, in whom benevolent action sickens, withers, and dies, He turns the evasive question, “Who then is my neighbor?” into the question of conscience, “Who was neighbour to him who fell among thieves?” It is true the Lord makes a distinction between the gifts of ability and opportunity for well-doing (parable of ten pounds). And no state-monger, or people’s tribune, will ever charm away that distinction. But the love inspired by God, the consciousness of responsibility for our own knowledge and action, the true feeling for a brother’s well-being, can make low the mountains and exalt the valleys, bind up the wounded and support the weak.… We must be like stewards waiting the coming of our Lord.… Compare modern communism with the early apostolic Church. In the one there is levelling down by force; in the other equal participation and communication in the ministry of love. In the one case the robber command, Give what is thine; in the other the fraternal word, Take what is mine.… When, therefore, will the harvest festival become truly Christian? When it calls to a Zaccheus, Render back your desecrated Sunday, the wages detained and curtailed, etc. When it summons an Andrew and Philip to give of what they receive to the needy, for the upbringing of the orphan, the care of the aged, the sheltering of the sick, institutions for rescue, the education of future servants of the Word, etc.
III. We read that Christ took the loaves and gave thanks. A profession of thankfulness should not be wanting in a Christian harvest thanksgiving festival. Christ, the only begotten, etc., in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, on whom the Spirit descended (John 1:32), who at Cana changed the water into wine, here broke the bread with giving of thanks.… Notice (John 6:23) the feeding of the five thousand is connected with this giving of thanks. The day was coming when He would hold another and a greater feast. On that night in which He was betrayed He would say, “Take, eat,” etc. But before He took bread, the communion of His body, and raised the cup, the communion of His blood, He would give thanks, so that His sacrament could be called a Eucharist. And is the hymn
“Now thank we all our God!”
to be sung only once a year at harvest thanksgivings? The Fathers were not ashamed of a grace before meat; rather would they have been ashamed at the omission of it!… If any seek to insinuate, as is often done, that faith and science stand irreconcilably opposed to each other, and that the telegraph, the electric light, and the locomotive have gained the day, it may be freely conceded that science and invention show the conquest of the material by the spiritual, and only the unthinking would inveigh against or overlook those proofs of the nobility of the mind of man. But the religio-moral problems still remain—the themes of the regeneration of the sinful human heart, and the glory of redemption. Or can any one escape from an evil conscience by rushing away on iron tires? Or will the religio-moral misery of the time be alleviated because the electric light shines on it? Or is comfort at the loss of some loved one brought by the fact that the news of it was spread by the telegraph?… Thrice fools are they who do not acknowledge and praise God as a God from whom all we possess comes: body and soul, knowledge and power, law and gospel, grace here and hope for hereafter! From the thankless hand the good gift passes away; to an unthankful eye the world is gloomy. He is men’s light. With the upright God will show Himself upright, etc. (2 Samuel 22:26-27). He who possesses with thankfulness, to him will be given, etc. (Psalms 103).
IV. Faithfulness in little things is a lesson of a true harvest-thanksgiving. Love, thanksgiving, faithfulness in little. He commanded the disciples to gather the fragments, and they gathered, etc.… It is faithfulness in little things which, when the multitude are satisfied, commands, Gather the fragments. To Him, to whom the feeding of the five thousand was not too much, the gathering of the fragments was not too little. To despise what is little, to neglect what is small, not to care for the pence, is often the beginning of ruin to many a household.… Paul, who could aver, I know both how to be abased, etc. (Philippians 4:12), was so true to his principle that he wove the command of love and duty into one when he wrote, “Owe no man anything, but to love one another,” etc. (Romans 13:8). To possess little and yet to boast great things, to borrow and squander, to promise and not perform; at one time not to permit children to acquire learning, at another sinfully to overtask youthful powers untimeously,—by a few such strokes may be described the miserable domestic life of many a family. Franklin thus sums up his household and people’s domestic economy: The fear of God, Industry, Thrift! There only remains to be added the fourfold exhortation to self-examination. Whence is faithfulness in little things to be learned if not through a conscience quickened by Christ? Whence a tender conscience if not through the communion of a thankful heart with the thrice-holy God? Whence an enlarged heart if not through a daily struggle with selfishness? and whence faith if not through the word of God and prayer? (Psalms 119:32; Psalms 119:36).—Abridged from Dr. Rudolf Kögel.
John 6:11-13. Christian temperance.—The Saviour of the world, in nourishing the multitudes, teaches us that Christian temperance which we should observe in eating.
I. Jesus Christ teaches us in the nourishment of the body to avoid what is faulty and harmful.—
1. Avoid a too great attention to the solace and maintenance of the body. Jesus led the people into a desert place where there was little that promised material satisfaction, where the main attraction was spiritual. Very different it is with too many, who, as St. Paul says, make their belly their god (Philippians 3:19).
2. Avoid excess.—Nature is content with what is necessary. Jesus Christ never thought of the bodily wants of those people until it was absolutely necessary to do so. Men go far beyond this often. Indeed, as it is said in Scripture, men make themselves like the beasts that perish. The beasts, however, have this advantage, that they are satisfied with what is sufficient for them.
3. Avoid luxury.—Jesus Christ nourished the people with bread only. “God,” says Abbé Rupert, “gave the Israelites in the desert most exquisite food. The people asked, and He brought quails, etc. (Psalms 105:40). But it was not so much a gift of His liberality as a chastisement to punish them for murmuring.” There is nothing more dangerous and pernicious than luxury. It gives power to the forces of our carnal nature to revolt and cast off the yoke of Christ.
II. Jesus Christ teaches us how the nourishment of the body may be sanctified, and shows us how we may attain to this. How? By asking a blessing on the food, and by giving thanks; by His adorable presence, and by works of love.
1. He gave thanks to His Father. We should follow His example. It is from God we receive what is for our nourishment. This, among other practices, distinguished the early Christians from the heathen. And surely it is a strange thing that we should receive and enjoy the gifts of God without thinking on Him or giving Him thanks!
2. It was in the presence of Jesus Christ that the people received the nourishment which He provided and distributed. God is everywhere present, seeing all things; but it might be said that He is often more especially present in places and at junctures where we might be in danger of forgetting ourselves, as in our entertainments. But it is just here that we should not lose sight of Him. The heathen even were accustomed sometimes to bring their idols to their feasts, etc., under the idea that those false gods would teach them moderation. But because we too often forget our God, omnipresent though He is, what happens often? Judge from the example of Belshazzar. If God does not visit us so openly His secret judgments are not less awful and terrible.
3. Jesus Christ commanded that what remained over should be gathered up to serve for any who might afterward come. Thus the rich should aid the poor from their abundance. St. Louis fed a number daily from his table. There is much wasted in the mansions of the rich that might succour the poor. Yet many are allowed to perish, whilst the forgetful expose themselves to the fate of the rich man of the parable. Let us learn to free ourselves from the slavery of the body.—Bourdaloue.
The true bread of life.—Jesus went forward to die; the Lamb of God beareth away the sins of the world. But the redemption of Christ can avail for thee, and thy heart rejoice (Isaiah 66:10), only in the reception of the true Bread of Life, i.e. when the Lord and Saviour Himself has been received by thee through faith, and in the Word and ordinances wherein He is offered to thee. We consider in regard to this Bread of Life—
I. The need thereof.—
1. The people followed Jesus; but for the most part because of the signs and wonders He performed. Even as they needed bread, so their heart was empty of real trust in the gospel.
2. Our natural man is carnally minded and seeks “good times”; this may perhaps be agreeable to the fleshly nature, but even thus only in appearance; at all events, the spiritual man languishes, faith becomes ever weaker, the life ever more alienated from God; and in all the superfluity which the outward man enjoys the inner man starves, and forfeits temporal and eternal salvation, or runs the risk of doing so. Man “cannot live by bread alone,” but needs the Word which proceeds out of the mouth of God for the nourishment of his soul.
II. The preparation thereto.—
1. Jesus saw the need of the people; He let it be seen that without His setting to work there was no help possible (John 6:5-9). He brought home to Philip the littleness of his faith; He made use of the slender provision—had the people arranged in orderly fashion, took the bread, and gave thanks.
2. Jesus brings home to our consciousness our inability, and the weakness of our faith, so that we may turn to Him for help. He holds out to us the ordinary means of grace, the Word and ordinances, because He will even link to these the powers of grace, which are necessary to us in every contingency. He directs us to prayer, through which the means at hand are blessed and their employment assured.
III. The reception thereof.—
1. Every individual in the multitude received, none was omitted. Every one who had eaten was satisfied, and there remained much over.
2. Old and young, rich and poor, whoever comes to Jesus hungering for grace, receives through the Word and ordinances nourishing and healthful food, and that in richest measure. There remains from the blessing of the Sabbath, e.g., something over for the work-day. From this Bread all gain comfort and strength, which will serve us not alone in special contingencies, but will hold out through life.
IV. The blessing therein.—
1. The multitudes, in consequence of this miraculous feeding of the five thousand, acknowledged Jesus to be the promised Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15); they desired to make Jesus a king—in earthly fashion to be sure.
2. The Word and ordinances reveal Jesus to us as our all-sufficient Saviour; for thereby are we filled with comfort and strength, established in the knowledge that Jesus is the promised Prophet, High Priest, and King, and thus mighty enough to free us from the awful misery of sin and death. We are then mightily drawn to choose Christ as King to reign in our hearts, to let Him rule there, and so to walk in newness of life.—J. L. Sommer.
How the Lord Jesus proves Himself to be our true helper.—He shows Himself to be our true helper:—
I. In His desire to help.—
1. He sees not alone the material, but also the spiritual wants of the people.
2. He has compassion on the multitudes ere they complain to Him of their needs.
3. He comes to the resolution to feed the people, not only materially but spiritually (John 6:6).
II. In His power to help.—
1. He finds means to which He can link the miracle.
2. What He takes in His hand is multiplied, and attains His purpose.
3. When He gives not only have all who receive enough, but there remains much over.
III. In His wisdom in giving help.—
1. He caused the people to arrange themselves in order so that none might be passed over.
2. He points in the course of His succouring them to prayer, whereby the spiritual blessing is added to the material.
3. He thwarts carnal ideas, which are connected with material blessing merely, and directs men to His spiritual kingdom.—Idem.
HOMILETIC NOTES
John 6:1-3. This incident, while showing forth Christ’s glory, marks the crisis of His ministry in Galilee.—These incidents in the Galilean ministry are recorded for two principal reasons:
1. As manifesting forth the glory of the Saviour; and
2. As marking the culminating point—the crisis of the ministry of our Lord in Galilee. Three causes contributed to that extension of our Lord’s ministry in Galilee, of which this forms a part: the twelve who had been sent out two and two had returned (Luke 9:10); Jesus had heard of the death of John, and also that Herod the tetrarch was declaring, on hearing of the works of the Lord, that Jesus was John come again; and furthermore our Lord needed rest from labour (Habakkuk 3:15; Mark 6:31).
John 6:3. Jesus went up into a mountain, etc.—The Lord of glory incarnate suffered the sinless infirmities of humanity.
1. His body needed rest and refreshing as ours do; and when labours had been excessive He felt the need of rest and retirement.
2. His heart needed cheering and comfort through communion with His faithful disciples, and away from the feeble, unbelieving multitude; and
3. His spirit must needs be refreshed by uninterrupted communion with His Father.
John 6:5. Jesus saw a great company come unto Him, etc.—The reason why so many followed our Lord was, no doubt, for the most part because of the fame of His miracles; but in part also because those who had hitherto followed John were now most likely attracted to Jesus.—J. J. Weigel.
John 6:5. Grace needed for hard times, material and spiritual.—Want and poverty are grievous, and a rich measure of spiritual power is needed to sustain both, and that men may not fall into temptation and sin in consequence of them.—Idem.
John 6:5. Hard times.—Yes, truly, but thy sins are also burdensome. Lay thy poverty and thy sin in the balance, and see which weighs most heavily.—Idem.
John 6:7. Gold and courage.—If we have gold then we have courage enough; but if we lack gold our faith is apt to fail. Thus Philip’s reckoning is not founded on faith. “With gold, men are bold”; for gold men can purchase all things. “Gold sped, courage fled,” for men do not expect to get something for nothing.—Idem.
John 6:9. God’s store is never empty.—It is easy enough to utter the prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” when it lies before us—when we have enough and to spare. The test of faith is to continue the prayer when the cruse of oil runs low, and the barrel of meal has been emptied. But even then the true disciple will remember the promise: “Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added” (Matthew 6:33).
John 6:11. The spiritual reception of material gifts.—
1. A Christian should first show his care for the soul in prayer, and then for the body by taking fit nourishment.
2. A table sanctified by prayer and thanks is never void; like a spring it is ever full.
3. The Lord gives nourishment to His people according to His own will, not according to theirs.—Weigel.
John 6:15. Earthly crowns are unstable.—The world gives its crowns as rewards. To-day it sets them on men’s heads, to-morrow it removes them. Enduring crowns are only to be found in heaven (2 Timothy 4:8).
The blessing of solitude.—Solitude is beautiful and grand only when it is chosen as a quiet resting-place, in which we can hold converse with God.—St. Gregory.
ILLUSTRATIONS
John 6:11. Christ’s care for all forms of human want.—What are the lessons of the “sign”? It teaches Christ’s care for all forms of human want. It reveals His continuous working as sustainer of physical life. In the miracle, some of the links ordinarily present in the chain which binds physical results to the divine will were absent; but their absence or presence does not affect the reality of the connection between the staple from which it hangs and the last visible effect. The cause of all physical phenomena is the will of God, and that will works in and through Jesus Christ, in whom is life, and without whom nothing created subsists. He is Sustainer as well as Creator. He holds the stars in His hand, and He opens His hand, with the print of the nail in it, and satisfies the desires of every living thing. But the great lesson of the miracle is that which our Lord Himself drew from it, in the following discourse on the bread of life.… The result of the miracle is next presented in two ways—the abundance left over, and the people’s excitement. As to the former, note that the “broken pieces” are not the crumbs that littered the grass after the feast was over, but the pieces broken for distribution. John alone records that Christ commanded the gathering. He thereby taught economy in the use and storing of His gifts, and bade the disciples recognise that dependence on His miraculous power does not absolve from the exercise of ordinary prudence. But if we regard the whole incident in that symbolic aspect in which He Himself presents it in the subsequent discourse, this abundant overplus and the care taken of it are fruitful of instruction. Men, women, and children all found enough in the bread from His hands. The world scoffs at the barley-bread which Jesus gives, which seems coarse to palates spoiled by the world’s confectionery; but it gives life to the eaters. If any man wants dainties that will tickle his diseased or fastidious appetite, he will have to go elsewhere for them; but if he wants bread to stay his hunger, let him go to Jesus, who is “human nature’s daily food.” But not only was there enough for each, but the twelve baskets were filled—one carried by each apostle probably—with the food that had been prepared and was not needed. “The gift doth stretch itself as ’tis received.” Other goods and possessions perish with using, but this increases with use. The more one eats the more there is for him to eat. All the world may live on it for ever, and there will be more at the end than at the beginning. In Christ’s gift of the bread of life there is always a certain unappropriated overplus, a quality of infinity of resource, which surpasses our present power of reception, and encourages us to hope for larger possession when our faith is enlarged. That unrealised possible attainment is not to be left unheeded, but to be gathered up in the baskets of our growing faith, our more ardent desire and more lowly obedience, that it may be food for to-morrow, when we are able to make it our own. The unwon treasures of His grace should stimulate endless hope, aspiration, and effort. To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. That hope is folly, and worse, if cherished in regard to any life but a Christian life. Not to cherish it in regard to the Christian life is to fall beneath our privileges, and to lose the unused abundance prepared for us by the Master of the feast.—Dr. A. Maclaren.