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On their return from their mission, Jesus wanted his apostles to get some rest – which was virtually impossible with so many people coming and going. They were so busy they barely had time to eat. So he said, "Let's go out into the wilderness for a break."
He and his men then climbed into a boat and set off for an isolated area on the lakeside. But many people, watching where the boat went, ran along shore until they were able to catch up with Jesus' party. In fact, as people raced along, others saw what was happening and ran from their towns and villages toward the isolated area. The retreat chosen by Jesus was evidently somewhere on the north shore in the vicinity of Bethsaida.
The Plain of Bethsaida is a "very spacious" five-square-mile area crisscrossed by streams, along with aqueducts and irrigation canals. There are many flat hills on which it would be possible to seat large numbers of people.
The throng following on foot along the north shore would cross the Jordan by the ford at its mouth, which still is used by foot travelers. The solitary place Jesus chose was open pastureland. The fact that, as Mark and John report, there was plenty of green grass on the site further suggests some place in the Plain of Bethsaida, which has soil rich enough for good pasture. Higher up the slopes, vegetation is much more sparse.[gp1a]
When Jesus saw all these people, he felt deep concern. They are like sheep without a shepherd, was his thought. He began talking to them about God's kingdom, curing those in need as he taught.
After hours of preaching and healing, his disciples came up and said, "Rabbi, there is nothing around here and it's getting dark. We'd better send these people away so that they can obtain food from the villages." [gp1]
Concerned that some people – including quite a few children – would be so weak that they would collapse if he sent them away hungry, [gp2] Jesus replied, "That's not necessary. You feed them."
"How can we do that? Even 200 denarii wouldn't feed all these people."
Jesus asked, "How much food do you have? Find out."
After checking, they reported back: "Five loaves and two fish."
Jesus then told everyone to have a seat on the grass, but to leave aisles for his men to walk around among the crowd. So everybody sat down in groups of somewhere between 50 and 100.
Once everyone was settled, Jesus looked skyward and then blessed and broke the bread. He gave the food to his disciples, who then passed it to each group. Everyone ate his or her fill.
Afterward, there were 12 baskets filled with leftover pieces of bread.
By counting the number of groups, the disciples estimated that about 5,000 people or more had been fed.
When the people began to grasp the enormity of the miracle, they exclaimed, "This really is the Messiah who was to come!"
Realizing that the crowd was about to seize him and declare him a king, Jesus slipped away, going up the mountain alone, where he could pray without interruption. after telling his chief disciples to head to Bethsaida in the boat. (The uplands around Lake Galilee drop off sharply as the shore is approached. There would have been numerous paths leading to high, mountainous ground around the lake.)
In the fourth watch (sometime after 3 a.m.), Jesus came to them, walking on the lake. He seemed to be walking right past them as the men shrieked in terror: "It's a ghost!"
"Cheer up," said Jesus. "It is I. Don't worry."
Peter shot back: "Sir, if it is really you, let me come to you on the water."
"Come," said Jesus.
So Peter climbed out of the boat and began walking toward Jesus. But, on noticing the size of the wind-driven waves, fright seized him.
"Sir!" he shouted, "Save me!"
Jesus reached out and took hold of his disciple.
"You of small faith, what made you doubt?" Jesus said after the two had boarded the boat.
The men in the boat were astonished, and did not know what to make of it all. They had not really understood the power implied by the feeding of thousands of people. That is, they still had not grasped that Jesus was the messiah nor what the messiah was all about.
Instead of landing at Bethsaida, the boat landed at Gennesaret, on the central western shore – nowhere near Bethsaida.
As soon as they disembarked, Jesus was recognized and soon many brought their sick and disabled, carrying some on litters. Many people only wanted to touch a hem of his garment. That should be enough for healing! they thought. Everyone who managed to do so was healed.
When the people discovered that Jesus was no longer among them and knowing that his disciples had left by boat, everybody went to Capernaum, which was apparently about five or six miles away, looking for Jesus.
Once they had rounded the bend in the lake, they found him with the chief disciples on shore.
"Rabbi, when did you come here?" they asked. They knew Jesus wasn't in the boat when the disciples set off, which is why they thought he must have gone by land to Capernaum.
Jesus replied, "I really mean it when I tell you that you don't seek me on account of the power you saw demonstrated, but because you ate some bread, and got full bellies.
"Don't work for the food that perishes. Work for the food that sustains life forever. The son of man, who has been sealed by the Father, will give you this food."
They asked, "What should we do so that we may work the works of God?
Jesus replied, "This is the work of God: believe on him whom he has sent."
Some men, who weren't all that sure that they really had witnessed a miracle of mass feeding, demanded, "What sign do you show us so that we may believe you? What miracle will you perform? Quite a few of these men were disciples – students – who had been following him around.
"Our fathers ate manna in the desert. As it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat'."
Jesus answered, "I really mean it when I tell you that Moses gave you no bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
"Master," they said, "give us this bread from now on."
Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never hunger and he that believes on me will never thirst.
"But I said to you that you have seen me, but don't believe.
"All whom the Father gives me will come to me; and he who comes to me I will never cast out.
"For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
"And this is the will of the Father who sent me: That I should lose nothing of everything he has given me, but that I should raise it up on the Last Day.
"This is the will of him who sent me: That everyone who sees the son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day."
His hearers grumbled at the claim "I am the bread which came down from heaven."
"Isn't this Jesus, whose father and mother we know. How can he say he has come down from heaven?"
But Jesus responded, "Don't grumble among yourselves. No person can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him – and I will raise him up on the Last Day.
"It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall be all taught of God.' Everyone, therefore, who has heard, and has been taught by the Father, comes to me."
John notes: Not that any human has seen the Father, except he who is of God. He has seen the Father.
"I really mean it when I tell you: He who believes on me has everlasting life.
"I am the bread of life.
"Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead. But the bread I am talking about comes down from heaven so that a person may eat it and not die."
Jesus reiterated and continued,
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
That assertion stirred more grumbling. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
But Jesus insisted, "Very sincerely I tell you: unless you eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
"Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day.
"For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
"He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him.
"As the living Father has sent me, and as I live by the Father: so he who eats men shall live by me.
"This is that bread which came down from heaven. It's not like the manna your fathers ate, and are dead. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever."
Many of his followers, on hearing these claims, were put off. "This is a hard saying," they said of the idea of consuming Jesus. "Who can hear it?" Jesus, discerning what they were muttering about, said, "Does this offend you?
"What if you were to see the son of man ascend to where he was before?"
Jesus said, "It is the Spirit that energizes. The flesh is worthless. The words I speak to you, they are Spirit, and they are life."
Jesus, who knew from the beginning who believed and who did not, added, "But some of you don't believe. That is why I said to you that no one can come to you unless that were given to him by my Father."
From that time, many of his disciples turned away and walked with him no further.
NEXT PAGE:
Two wrongs don't make a right
https://secretpath191.blogspot.com/2020/11/two-wrongs-dont-make-right.html
He and his men then climbed into a boat and set off for an isolated area on the lakeside. But many people, watching where the boat went, ran along shore until they were able to catch up with Jesus' party. In fact, as people raced along, others saw what was happening and ran from their towns and villages toward the isolated area. The retreat chosen by Jesus was evidently somewhere on the north shore in the vicinity of Bethsaida.
The Plain of Bethsaida is a "very spacious" five-square-mile area crisscrossed by streams, along with aqueducts and irrigation canals. There are many flat hills on which it would be possible to seat large numbers of people.
The throng following on foot along the north shore would cross the Jordan by the ford at its mouth, which still is used by foot travelers. The solitary place Jesus chose was open pastureland. The fact that, as Mark and John report, there was plenty of green grass on the site further suggests some place in the Plain of Bethsaida, which has soil rich enough for good pasture. Higher up the slopes, vegetation is much more sparse.[gp1a]
When Jesus saw all these people, he felt deep concern. They are like sheep without a shepherd, was his thought. He began talking to them about God's kingdom, curing those in need as he taught.
After hours of preaching and healing, his disciples came up and said, "Rabbi, there is nothing around here and it's getting dark. We'd better send these people away so that they can obtain food from the villages." [gp1]
Concerned that some people – including quite a few children – would be so weak that they would collapse if he sent them away hungry, [gp2] Jesus replied, "That's not necessary. You feed them."
"How can we do that? Even 200 denarii wouldn't feed all these people."
Jesus asked, "How much food do you have? Find out."
After checking, they reported back: "Five loaves and two fish."
Jesus then told everyone to have a seat on the grass, but to leave aisles for his men to walk around among the crowd. So everybody sat down in groups of somewhere between 50 and 100.
Once everyone was settled, Jesus looked skyward and then blessed and broke the bread. He gave the food to his disciples, who then passed it to each group. Everyone ate his or her fill.
Afterward, there were 12 baskets filled with leftover pieces of bread.
By counting the number of groups, the disciples estimated that about 5,000 people or more had been fed.
We should not take for granted that most people present were at first aware that this miracle had occurred. Those nearby Jesus, in particular his closest disciples, certainly knew. But many in the crowd likely would not have discerned what had happened, assuming that some people must have brought enough food. But, as word went around that a miracle had occurred, people became very excited.
When the people began to grasp the enormity of the miracle, they exclaimed, "This really is the Messiah who was to come!"
Realizing that the crowd was about to seize him and declare him a king, Jesus slipped away, going up the mountain alone, where he could pray without interruption. after telling his chief disciples to head to Bethsaida in the boat. (The uplands around Lake Galilee drop off sharply as the shore is approached. There would have been numerous paths leading to high, mountainous ground around the lake.)
We learn from this episode that, when Jesus is with us as we serve his sheep, we need not worry about provisions. Jehovah jireh. Jehovah, via Jesus, will provide. (See Genesis 22:14.)
Though the apostles had had their needs met as they traveled during their first preaching tour, they needed to enlarge their faith. Don't worry. With God, everything is possible. (See Matthew 19:26.)
That night, Jesus saw that the boat was having a hard time, as the wind was against them and rowing was difficult.
Though the apostles had had their needs met as they traveled during their first preaching tour, they needed to enlarge their faith. Don't worry. With God, everything is possible. (See Matthew 19:26.)
In the fourth watch (sometime after 3 a.m.), Jesus came to them, walking on the lake. He seemed to be walking right past them as the men shrieked in terror: "It's a ghost!"
"Cheer up," said Jesus. "It is I. Don't worry."
Peter shot back: "Sir, if it is really you, let me come to you on the water."
"Come," said Jesus.
So Peter climbed out of the boat and began walking toward Jesus. But, on noticing the size of the wind-driven waves, fright seized him.
"Sir!" he shouted, "Save me!"
Jesus reached out and took hold of his disciple.
"You of small faith, what made you doubt?" Jesus said after the two had boarded the boat.
The men in the boat were astonished, and did not know what to make of it all. They had not really understood the power implied by the feeding of thousands of people. That is, they still had not grasped that Jesus was the messiah nor what the messiah was all about.
Instead of landing at Bethsaida, the boat landed at Gennesaret, on the central western shore – nowhere near Bethsaida.
As soon as they disembarked, Jesus was recognized and soon many brought their sick and disabled, carrying some on litters. Many people only wanted to touch a hem of his garment. That should be enough for healing! they thought. Everyone who managed to do so was healed.
We may notice here that when Jesus climbs into your boat, your destination may change. The disciples were struggling against a headwind to return to their hometown of Bethsaida. But once Jesus boarded, their trip became much easier – as they ceased fighting the wind and went somewhere else. Bethsaida was their original goal because they saw it as satisfying their needs. People always like to go to their home turf, where the creature can be comforted. But true disciples are to put self aside, and go where the spirit wind blows. We notice that there was a great deal that God wanted done in the area where they wound up.
We may also conjecture that Jesus had told his disciples, "You fellows take the boat back to Bethsaida" but that later God's Spirit spoke to Jesus and changed the plan.[gp3]
In fact, according to John, Jesus and the disciples who had set out by boat eventually wound up in Capernaum, which is only a few miles from where it is thought the feeding miracle occurred.
We may also conjecture that Jesus had told his disciples, "You fellows take the boat back to Bethsaida" but that later God's Spirit spoke to Jesus and changed the plan.[gp3]
In fact, according to John, Jesus and the disciples who had set out by boat eventually wound up in Capernaum, which is only a few miles from where it is thought the feeding miracle occurred.
When the people discovered that Jesus was no longer among them and knowing that his disciples had left by boat, everybody went to Capernaum, which was apparently about five or six miles away, looking for Jesus.
Once they had rounded the bend in the lake, they found him with the chief disciples on shore.
"Rabbi, when did you come here?" they asked. They knew Jesus wasn't in the boat when the disciples set off, which is why they thought he must have gone by land to Capernaum.
Jesus replied, "I really mean it when I tell you that you don't seek me on account of the power you saw demonstrated, but because you ate some bread, and got full bellies.
"Don't work for the food that perishes. Work for the food that sustains life forever. The son of man, who has been sealed by the Father, will give you this food."
They asked, "What should we do so that we may work the works of God?
Jesus replied, "This is the work of God: believe on him whom he has sent."
Some men, who weren't all that sure that they really had witnessed a miracle of mass feeding, demanded, "What sign do you show us so that we may believe you? What miracle will you perform? Quite a few of these men were disciples – students – who had been following him around.
"Our fathers ate manna in the desert. As it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat'."
Jesus answered, "I really mean it when I tell you that Moses gave you no bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
"Master," they said, "give us this bread from now on."
Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never hunger and he that believes on me will never thirst.
"But I said to you that you have seen me, but don't believe.
"All whom the Father gives me will come to me; and he who comes to me I will never cast out.
"For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
"And this is the will of the Father who sent me: That I should lose nothing of everything he has given me, but that I should raise it up on the Last Day.
"This is the will of him who sent me: That everyone who sees the son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day."
His hearers grumbled at the claim "I am the bread which came down from heaven."
"Isn't this Jesus, whose father and mother we know. How can he say he has come down from heaven?"
But Jesus responded, "Don't grumble among yourselves. No person can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him – and I will raise him up on the Last Day.
"It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall be all taught of God.' Everyone, therefore, who has heard, and has been taught by the Father, comes to me."
John notes: Not that any human has seen the Father, except he who is of God. He has seen the Father.
"I really mean it when I tell you: He who believes on me has everlasting life.
"I am the bread of life.
"Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead. But the bread I am talking about comes down from heaven so that a person may eat it and not die."
Jesus reiterated and continued,
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
That assertion stirred more grumbling. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
But Jesus insisted, "Very sincerely I tell you: unless you eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
"Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day.
"For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
"He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him.
"As the living Father has sent me, and as I live by the Father: so he who eats men shall live by me.
"This is that bread which came down from heaven. It's not like the manna your fathers ate, and are dead. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever."
Many of his followers, on hearing these claims, were put off. "This is a hard saying," they said of the idea of consuming Jesus. "Who can hear it?" Jesus, discerning what they were muttering about, said, "Does this offend you?
"What if you were to see the son of man ascend to where he was before?"
Jesus said, "It is the Spirit that energizes. The flesh is worthless. The words I speak to you, they are Spirit, and they are life."
Jesus, who knew from the beginning who believed and who did not, added, "But some of you don't believe. That is why I said to you that no one can come to you unless that were given to him by my Father."
From that time, many of his disciples turned away and walked with him no further.
NEXT PAGE:
Two wrongs don't make a right
https://secretpath191.blogspot.com/2020/11/two-wrongs-dont-make-right.html
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