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Commentaries
English
John
  
B - JESUS IS THE BREAD OF LIFE
(JOHN 6:1-71)

1. Feeding the five thousand
(John 6:1-13)
1After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.2And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased.3Jesus went up into the hills, and there sat down with his disciples.4Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.


In Jerusalem Jesus disclosed his deity on the Sabbath by way of healing, showing the chasm between God’s love and the idle thoughts of the legalists. They resolved to do away with him in hate. The Holy Spirit led Jesus northward into Galilee, where the decisive break between him and his opponents would come to a head. The northern multitudes still followed him wherever he went.
Since Christ’s rebuke of the Legalists in Jerusalem, they had plotted against him and spied on him. But his hour had not yet come. So he withdrew from the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin back to Galilee. As we read in the three earlier gospels he had performed many signs there. There was much uproar at the news of his arrival, but Jesus was not disturbed or taken in. He knew that the underhand mentality he encountered in the capital would seep into the villages, and he would be harassed there also. So he withdrew to the Golan, east of the Jordan, to be alone with his disciples. However, the crowds hungry for his words followed, wanting to experience his marvel. That year Jesus did not go back to Jerusalem for the Passover, for the hour of his death was yet to come. He celebrated the feast with the multitudes around him, a substitute for the Passover; thereby pointing to the heavenly banquet, where the Savior would join with his saints in great joy.