After these things Jesus went away beyond the sea of Galilee, [or] of Tiberias,
Chapter 6 opens with a simple travel note. Yet the move matters. Jesus leaves Jerusalem and crosses to the far side of a lake that carries two names. Why does John give no reason for the crossing, and why does he attach a Roman emperor's name to Israel's own lake?
John gives no reason for the journey. One writer lists the reasons the other Gospel accounts supply, and finds none of them here.
The scene changes completely from Jerusalem. We see the Lord in Galilee, at the part of the lake that takes its name from the city of Tiberias, and also from the province along its western side. A great crowd follow Him because of the signs He worked on the sick... We find none of the reasons given in Matthew, Mark and Luke. There is no beheading of John the Baptist, no return of the apostles from their mission, no need of rest after the work of teaching and other labours. Jesus fills the picture: all is in His hand. It is He Who takes the initiative.
The second name is not decoration. It tells us when John wrote, and who knew the lake by it.
The events in this chapter happened at the Sea of Galilee, the sea of Tiberias. John alone uses this name, evidence that he wrote after Jerusalem fell. By this name the lake had become known to the nations outside Israel.
The same name also says something painful about the state of the nation He came to.
But the sea of Galilee is also called Tiberias, after the Roman Emperor. The name is a reminder of Israel's humbling captivity and subjection to Rome. Great crowds follow Him, but not because they are concerned about His words. Curiosity about His miracles seems to be the motive.
The other Gospels supply a crowded background to this crossing.
Herod had now put John the Baptist to death... The Twelve, too, had returned from their mission, as both Mark and Luke tell us. To give them a little rest, for they could not even find time to eat, the Lord had said, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while"... John passes over all this without notice. He keeps only the bare fact that the Lord and His disciples went to the other side of the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. But now we are to read of a sign, as he calls it — mentioned by all the Gospel writers, and the only miracle that all of them record.
The crossing is also a change of subject. Both chapters speak of life, but they present the Lord under different titles.
Chapter 5 presents Christ as the Son of God giving life to whom He will. Chapter 6 presents Christ as the Son of Man giving life to those who receive Him, and the Sustainer of the life that He gives.
Read with the chapters before it, this one meets a different kind of need.
The great theme of the chapter is Christ for the satisfaction of the hearts of His people... In chapter 4 Christ delivers from the power of sin; in chapter 5 He delivers from the bondage of law; and in chapter 6 He delivers from want.
Once on the far shore, three roles unfold in order — and the middle one He refuses.
First, Jesus blesses the people, in keeping with the promise of what Jehovah would do, given to them in Psalm 132, for He was Jehovah. On this, the people acknowledge Him to be "that Prophet," and want to make Him their King by force. But He refuses this now — He could not take the crown in that worldly way. Jesus leaves them, and goes up by Himself into a mountain. This pictured His position as Priest on high.
- Crossing. The Lord leaves Jerusalem and takes His place in Galilee. John gives no outward reason. In this Gospel Jesus Himself takes the initiative and fills the picture.
- Two names. The lake is Israel's Sea of Galilee and Rome's Sea of Tiberias. The second name was the one the nations outside Israel knew, and a reminder of Israel's subjection to Rome.
- Crowds. They follow because of the miracles He worked on the sick, not because they care for His words. Their interest is in the power, not the Person.
- Contrast. In chapter 5 the Son of God gives life to whom He will. From here the Son of Man gives life to those who receive Him, and sustains it.
- Consequence. The sign on the far shore is the one miracle all four Gospel writers record. The people own Him as the Prophet and try to crown Him by force. He refuses, and goes up the mountain alone.
and a great crowd followed him, because they saw the signs which he wrought upon the sick.
John 6 opens far from Jerusalem, at the lake in Galilee, with a crowd walking behind Jesus. They came because of what they had watched Him do for sick people. That raises the question the rest of the chapter presses: why do people follow Him?
John gives no reason for the journey across the water. One writer notes what this account leaves out, and what stands in its place:
The scene changes completely from Jerusalem. We see the Lord in Galilee, and in that part of the lake named after the city of Tiberias, as well as after the province on its western side. A great crowd follows Him because of the signs He worked on the sick... We find none of the motives mentioned in the other Gospel accounts. There is no beheading of John the Baptist, no return of the apostles from their mission, no need of rest after hard work in teaching. Jesus fills the picture: everything is in His hand.
The lake's second name carries its own history. The crowd's motive is thin:
The sea of Galilee is also called Tiberias, named after the Roman Emperor. That name is a reminder of Israel's humbling captivity and subjection to Rome. Great crowds follow Him, but not because they care about His words. Curiosity about His miracles seems to be the motive (v. 2).
The verse names what the crowd saw: works done on sick bodies. It does not say what they made of the One who did them.
A multitude followed Him. This was a kind of link between the Lord's service and the Jewish nation as a whole. Yet they were not necessarily Jews in the strict sense, though there were Jews among them. They followed Him, we may notice, because of the signs done on the sick. But they still did not, as before, really receive Jesus as the One come down from heaven, or the Sent One of God.
One writer pictures who was walking in that crowd:
The crowd was a large one and a mixed one, for there were sick people among them. Had we been present, we might have seen on many a face the marks of bodily suffering. Had we been able to lift the veil and read the heart, we would have noticed some who were burdened in spirit for their sick. They were anxiously hoping that the Lord's healing power would reach them.
This crowd follows Him, so the word "follow" needs testing. Later in the same chapter, the Lord tells them why they really came:
But there may be a merely formal following of Christ while the heart is cold and remains unacquainted with His person. In the sixth chapter of John we find a crowd of people following the Lord Jesus merely on selfish grounds. He has to tell them so: "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves." It was not for what He was that they were seeking Him, but for mere earthly advantage.
The crowd's arrival sets up the one miracle recorded in all four Gospels. It is not an end in itself; it opens a subject.
Our Gospel now gives us the great miracle — or rather sign — common to all four. As always here, it introduces the discourse that follows: Christ, incarnate and in death, the food of eternal life for those who believe on His name.
Another writer maps the shape of the whole chapter:
The first part of the chapter (John 6:1-21) records two incidents. They picture the great theme of the Lord's discourse in the rest of it. In the first scene, Christ acts as a King providing bread from His royal bounty to sustain natural life. In the second scene, Christ appears in picture as Priest on high. He supports His own and sustains their spiritual life as they pass through a world where everything is against them.
- Scene — The chapter moves from Jerusalem to the lake in Galilee. John leaves out every background reason the other Gospels give, so Jesus alone fills the picture.
- Sign — The crowd saw signs worked on the sick. The feeding that follows is the one miracle all four Gospels record, and it opens the discourse on Christ as the food of eternal life.
- Crowd — This was a large, mixed company. Sick people walked in it, and others hoped His healing power would reach their own sick.
- Motive — Seeing the works is not the same as receiving the Worker. They followed the signs without receiving Him as the One sent from heaven.
- Test — Following can be outward only, while the heart stays cold. Christ told such a crowd that they sought Him for the loaves, not for what He is.
And Jesus went up into the mountain, and there sat with his disciples
Crowds are chasing Jesus because of the healings they have seen, and soon He will feed thousands of them. First, though, He climbs a mountain and sits down with His disciples — why?
The Lord has left Jerusalem behind, and the setting shifts to the lake in Galilee. One writer notes who is directing events here — not the disciples, and not the crowd.
The whole scene has changed from Jerusalem. We see the Lord in Galilee, by the part of the lake named after the city of Tiberias. It is named after the province on its western side too. A great crowd follows Him because of the signs He worked on the sick. The Lord withdraws to the high land, where He sits with His disciples, the Passover being then at hand. None of the reasons given in the other Gospel accounts appear here. We do not read of the beheading of John the Baptist, or of the apostles' return from their mission, or of the need for rest after their work. Jesus fills the picture: everything is in His hand. It is He who takes the initiative. … It pleased the Holy Spirit to give us Christ Himself alone as master of the situation, as always in this Gospel.
The crowd was following, but following is not the same as receiving Him. One writer ties His going up the mountain to that gap.
They followed Him, we may notice, because of the signs done on the sick. But they did not really receive Jesus as the One come down from heaven, or as the Sent One of God. Jesus therefore went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples.
The mountain is more than a location. One writer draws a lesson from the height itself.
Though He goes up into a mountain to be with His disciples apart, the crowds still follow Him there. The higher level here teaches us that grace comes from above: it is heavenly in character.
That He sat with them matters. His public work had a private side. What happened in it was not small.
The Lord Jesus had many and varied services for God among His chosen people. In the middle of them He kept times of retirement for Himself, when public activity stopped. Those times gave opportunity for private communion with His Father (Matthew 14:23; Mark 1:35; Luke 9:18; John 6:15). They also gave time with His friends and followers. On those second occasions the Heavenly Teacher shared especially sweet and choice communications with His own intimate circle. He had chosen them Himself "out of the world." … The Lord had matters for the eyes and ears of His own which were not for the crowd.
The place He chose had nothing in it. That bare hillside sets up an impossible need, a test for His own, and a lesson that lasts beyond that day.
We find a great crowd on a barren mountain in need of food. As far as human power went, it was impossible to meet this need. But the Lord is present and He will meet the need. Before doing so, however, He uses the difficulty to test the faith of His own disciples. Do they have faith to use the Lord's resources when, on their side, all hope is gone? God allows difficulties among His people that no one can overcome, and He does it to test us. We are told that He Himself knew what He would do. Those words assure us that no difficulty will ever arise, in our own path or among God's people, that He cannot solve.
- Followed — the crowd came for the signs He worked on the sick. They did not receive Him as the One sent from heaven.
- Withdrew — none of the other Gospels' reasons appear here. Jesus takes the initiative, and everything is in His hand.
- Above — the higher level teaches that grace comes from above. It is heavenly in character.
- Seated — sitting with the disciples marks a time apart. His own circle heard what the crowd never heard.
- Supplied — the mountain is barren and no human power can feed the crowd. The Lord tests His disciples, then meets the need Himself.
but the passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.
John breaks off the story of the crowds and the coming miracle to tell us the time of year. Passover was almost here. That short note carries real weight. It explains what the chapter will teach, and it shows what the nation had become.
Notice who owns the feast. The Old Testament law that set these days up used different words.
In John's gospel the feasts are always called "the feasts of the Jews" (John 2:13; John 6:4; John 7:2; John 11:55). In Leviticus 23 God calls them "the feasts of the LORD." That change of wording means something. The feasts had become mere forms. They were no longer times when loyal hearts gathered at God's centre, moved by a sense of His goodness. That sense had faded away, and the feasts had sunk into empty ritual. There was no longer anything in them for God.
The label cuts deep for one reason. The One the feast pointed to was there in person while they got ready for it.
It was all false, hollow and unreal — as much is unreal in the Christian world today. The One who was the sum and substance of everything was there: Jesus Himself, the Son of God, the reality behind all these pictures. In Him they were to find fulfilment. Yet He was unknown, unrecognised, unwanted, unwelcomed — worse still, He was hated. The Jews kept the feasts that pointed to Him while they worked for His death. So He goes outside.
John ties the miracle to the Passover season. The reason lies in the teaching that follows it.
John notes how near the Passover was, as he does again and again in this Gospel. Here there was also a reason for it. The teaching that follows, and the miracle He worked, both rest on eating and drinking as the sign of communion.
Chapter 5 had the Jewish way of healing. Chapter 6 comes to the Jewish Passover.
In chapter 5 we have the Jewish way of healing. Here comes the Jewish Passover, and His own sacrifice takes its place. He shows Himself to be the LORD of Psalm 132, who says, "I will satisfy her poor with bread." He does exactly that here. They own Him as a prophet, and then they are about to take Him by force and make Him a king.
So the bread given that day was more than kindness to hungry people. One writer traces it back to its source.
The note that the Passover was near also surely hints at this: the blessings of grace come from what the Passover speaks of — the matchless sacrifice of Christ. Yet to the Jews it had become nothing more than their own feast.
Verse 4 and verse 53 belong together. The chapter shows Christ under two pictures at once.
In this passage from John's Gospel we have Christ above all as the Manna (verses 32-33, 48-50, and so on). We also have a reference to Him as the Passover Lamb (compare verse 4 with verse 53, and so on).
Chapters 5, 6 and 7 also follow Israel's own history in order: rescue, then desert food, then the land.
In chapter 5 you find them, so to speak, in Egypt, in slavery. In chapter 6 they are in the wilderness, with the manna among them. In chapter 7 they are in Canaan, keeping the feast of tabernacles… In chapter 6 Jesus points them back to the wilderness. Did they not have manna there? They did. He says, "I am the bread of life." I am the true manna. You must eat Me — you must have Me.
The verse exposes Israel, but that is not the end of the story. He kept teaching the very people who had emptied the feast of meaning.
A new scene opens here. It was the Passover. But Israel had treated God's mercy lightly, the very mercy that season celebrated. They still had to learn the lesson of Egypt and the wilderness. After they had provoked Him so often, the Lord in patient love would teach them even now.
- Ownership. Leviticus calls it a feast of the LORD. John calls it a feast of the Jews. The form survived, but nothing in it was left for God.
- Rejection. The Lamb the feast pictured stood among them, unwanted and hated. So He took His place outside the whole system.
- Substitution. His own sacrifice takes the place of the Jewish Passover, and the bread He gave that day flows from it.
- Nourishment. John sets the date beside the teaching. Christ is both the Passover Lamb and the true manna. Feed on Him; do not just admire Him.
- Patience. The feast had shrunk to an empty form. Even so, He went on teaching in patient love the people who made light of its mercy.
Jesus then, lifting up his eyes and seeing that a great crowd is coming to him, says to Philip, Whence shall we buy loaves that these may eat?
A hungry crowd follows Jesus in Galilee, and the disciples have no way to feed them. He opens with a question to one man. The next verse tells us He already had the answer.
One writer notes what John leaves out here, and who fills the picture instead.
The scene shifts completely away from Jerusalem. We see the Lord in Galilee... A great crowd follows Him because of the signs He worked on the sick. None of the reasons given in the other Gospel accounts appear here. There is no mention of the beheading of John the Baptist, no mention of the apostles' return from their mission, and no mention of the need for rest after teaching. Jesus fills the picture: all is in His hand. It is He who takes the initiative.
One writer asks what it was in that sight that moved Him.
What was it that moved Jesus when He lifted up His eyes and saw a great crowd coming to Him? Was it satisfaction with His success? Was that what filled the heart of the "good Shepherd," who had come to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel? No. It was their need that made His heart yearn over them. First came their outward need, and He met that with five loaves and two fish. But what was this outward need compared with the spiritual need of those five thousand precious souls! Sadly, they themselves had very little sense of it, if any at all.
Some have argued that when Jesus asked a question, He asked because He did not know. One writer uses this passage to answer the claim.
We are told that when our Lord "asked for information, it was because He wanted it"... John 6:5-6 destroys this unworthy conclusion completely and plainly. There the Lord said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" And we read, "He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do."... It needs no study of Socrates to know that someone may ask a question for the sake of the person he asks.
Each Gospel writer begins this story at a different point. One commentator reads that difference as a clue to how John presents Jesus.
In Matthew He had been busy healing the sick, a feature which marked Him out as the Christ, the Messiah of Israel. From Mark we learn that He had been teaching, for he brings Him before his readers as the Teacher, or Prophet... John was there himself, as one of the twelve apostles. Yet he leaves out all mention of what the Lord had been doing before the evening of that day drew in. He opens the account of the sign with the Lord's question to Philip... Presenting Him to his readers as a Divine Person, he notices His foreknowledge and His power.
The word "where" was the heart of the question. Philip never answered it — he changed the subject to money.
The Lord raises the question with Philip as to where to buy bread for the need of the crowd. It is a question to exercise not only Philip, but everyone. Where is there enough grace to meet the crying need of all mankind? But Philip fails the test: his faith did not simply rest on the greatness of his Lord, as it should have. He does not even consider "where" to buy, but only sees the poverty of their finances in this matter.
Andrew fared no better. The Lord waited for his answer before acting.
Still, He waits for the hopeless words of Andrew, who came from the same town as Philip. He would teach everyone now what His gracious power loves to do with the little and the despised, even for the greatest need... And where was Peter? Where was John, the disciple He loved? Nowhere in faith.
The question tested Philip. The reason behind it steadies every reader since.
Difficulties are allowed to arise among the people of God that no man can solve. They come to test us... But we are told that "He Himself knew what He would do." Those words are our assurance. No difficulty will ever arise in our own paths, or among the people of God, that He cannot solve. In the last and difficult days, teachers and leaders may fail us. But there is One to whom we can turn on the darkest day and in the face of the greatest difficulty. We can be certain that He knows what to do.
- He sees first. He lifts His eyes and takes the initiative. The whole scene is in His hand.
- He is moved by need. Not His own success, but their need — outward need first, and deeper still, spiritual.
- He asks to test. He asked for Philip's sake, not for information. Writers use this verse to answer the claim that Christ asked because He did not know.
- The test exposes us. Philip counted cash instead of counting on his Lord. Andrew, Peter and John were no better.
- He already knew. The foreknowledge that made the question a test makes it a comfort. No difficulty can arise that He has not already answered.
But this he said trying him, for he knew what he was going to do.
The Lord asks Philip where to buy bread for a huge crowd on a bare hillside. John tells us at once why: the question was a test. Jesus was not asking for advice.
No one there could meet the need. Before meeting it Himself, the Lord used it on His own disciples.
A great crowd stands on a barren mountain, in need of food. Human power could not possibly meet that need. But the Lord is there, and He will meet it. Before He does, He uses the difficulty to test the faith of His own disciples. Do they have faith to use the Lord's resources when, on their side, all hope is gone?
Other servants of God have to ask Him what to do. Here stands One who already knows, and who has the power to act.
Jesus Himself "knew what He would do." In such an emergency, the most you could say of other servants of God is this: they did not know what to do, so they looked to God for direction and got it. But here was One who knew what to do, and knew He had the power to do it. Before Andrew spoke of the boy with his small loaves and fish, He already knew about them. To hold such knowledge, and such power, that you know with absolute certainty what you will do — that belongs to God alone.
Some argue that when the Lord asked a question, He must have wanted information He lacked. This verse answers that.
Some say that when our Lord "asked for information, it was because He wanted it"… Turn to John 6:5-6, and that unworthy conclusion is completely and plainly destroyed… You do not need to study Socrates to know that a question can be asked for the sake of the person questioned.
The way John opens this miracle matches the Christ he presents.
John's gospel presents the Lord as a divine Person, the Word of God, and the Father's only Son. John himself was there all through the day, yet he says nothing about the Lord healing and teaching. He opens the story of the miracle with the Lord's question to Philip… John draws attention to the Lord's foreknowledge and His power. That fits perfectly with the way he presents Christ as the Eternal Son of the Father.
Philip did the arithmetic. Andrew pointed to a boy with five loaves and two fish. Neither of them looked to Christ.
John, however, is careful of His glory. He tells us at once that the question came from no uncertainty in the Lord's own mind. It was to test Philip: He knew what He was going to do. Still, He waits for the hopeless words of Andrew, who came from Philip's town… Andrew was Simon Peter's brother, and he saw the Messiah even before Peter did. Yet he could think of a little boy with five barley loaves and two fish, not of Jesus. And where was Peter? Where John, the disciple that He loved? Nowhere in faith.
Their failure was the point. The question taught the twelve disciples two things at once.
When emergencies arose, He sometimes asked them what to do. Not that He needed advice from anyone. He questioned them to teach them two things: first, how useless they were in themselves in matters like this, and second, how vast the resources were that their Master had at hand.
God still deals with His people this way.
God lets difficulties arise among His people that no one can overcome, to test us… But we are told that "He himself knew what He would do." Those words assure us that no difficulty will ever arise in our own path, or among the people of God, that He cannot solve. In the last and hardest days, teachers and leaders may fail us. But there is One we can turn to on the darkest day, in the greatest difficulty, sure that He knows what to do.
Often the answer arrives only as we obey.
He often tells us to take a step that involves real trial. In the very act of taking it, we not only see the reason for it, but also get strength to go on.
- He tests. The question to Philip was not a call for help. It was a test of faith, set up by a need no one there could meet.
- He knows. Jesus had no uncertainty. To know exactly what He will do, and to hold the power to do it, belongs to God alone.
- He is not ignorant. He asks a question for the sake of the person questioned, never because He lacks the answer.
- We fail. Philip counted money and Andrew counted loaves; neither counted on the One standing in front of them.
- He supplies. The test taught the twelve disciples their own helplessness and their Master's resources. So no difficulty can arise that He does not already know how to solve.
Philip answered him, Loaves for two hundred denarii are not sufficient for them, that each may have some little [portion].
The Lord has just asked Philip where they could buy bread for a hungry crowd. Philip answers with a price rather than with a look at the One asking. His reply is honest arithmetic — and that is the problem.
The Lord was not asking Philip for advice. He was testing him, and Philip answered by pricing the meal instead of weighing the Person in front of him.
The Lord raises the question with Philip as to where to buy bread for the need of the crowd. It is a question that tests not only Philip, but everyone. Where is there enough grace to meet the crying need of all mankind? But Philip fails the test: his faith did not simply depend on the greatness of his Lord, as it should have. He does not even consider "where" to buy, but only sees how little money they have (v. 7).
The failure was not in his maths. It was in what never crossed his mind.
Philip's reply proves that he thought such a thing impossible. "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not enough for them, that every one may take a little," he said. He had no thought of the power of his Master.
The figure is not random. It represents a serious amount of money — and still falls short.
As a test of faith, He asked Philip where they could find bread to feed so many. Philip replied that two hundred denarii — about eight months' wages for a labourer — would only be enough to give each one a little.
There is a second difficulty buried in the reply. Even that sum was beyond them, and there was nowhere to spend it anyway.
The question brought out Philip's sense that feeding them was impossible. "Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little" (7) — much less enough for a satisfying meal for everyone. And where in that deserted place could they buy so much bread? It is also unlikely that the apostles had that much money to spend. They often depended on others to supply their bodily needs (Luke 8:1-3).
It is worth noticing which disciple gave this answer. Philip was the careful, accurate one — and accuracy was not enough.
Does it not teach us for the hundredth time how little human accuracy and careful thought can do here? Such matters must be discerned spiritually. For we have evidence that Philip was exact and observant as a man, and perhaps we might add, as a believer. He was the one who so clearly described the marks of the Messiah to Nathanael. He was the one who was sure that two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for the hungry crowd. He was the one who urged Nathanael to come and see for himself the wonderful Person he had met.
Nor was Philip alone in this. Look at the whole group of disciples, and faith is missing across the board.
The Gospel writer is careful of His glory. He tells us at once that the question came from no uncertainty in Jesus' own mind. He asked it to test Philip: He knew what He was going to do... Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saw the Messiah even before his brother did. Yet he could think of a little boy with five barley loaves and two fishes, not of Jesus. And where was Peter? Where was John, the disciple whom He loved? Nowhere in faith.
Philip's best plan still ends in a scrap each. Compare that with how the chapter actually ends.
Philip can only think of the power of money to meet the case; though he has to admit that his plan would only provide the crowd with "a little". How different the Lord, who, when He acts, gives "as much as they would".
Philip's best plan ends with a scrap for each person. The Lord's way runs the other direction.
Philip's way would have been to provide enough bread for the meal, so that each might take "a little". The Lord's way was to provide far more than enough, so that everyone might have "as much as they wanted". We must not think the extra came from the Lord over-estimating the need. He increased the small supply by His almighty power, and He knew exactly how hungry the crowd was, because He knows all things.
Philip's miscalculation is preserved because the same test comes to every believer.
God allows difficulties to arise among His people that no human power can overcome. They come in order to test us... But we are told, "He himself knew what He would do." Those words assure us of this: no difficulty will ever arise in our own path, or among the people of God, that He cannot solve.
- Tested. The Lord's question was a probe of Philip's faith, not a search for advice — He already knew what He would do.
- Counted. Philip answered by counting money — eight months' wages for a labourer. They did not have it, and there was nowhere to spend it.
- Exposed. The most observant and precise disciple failed here. Human accuracy is no substitute for spiritual discernment.
- Measured. Philip's plan ended in "a little" for each person. The Lord's giving ended in "as much as they wanted" — and the surplus was no over-estimate.
- Repeated. The same test comes to us — difficulties beyond our power arise so we learn to turn to the One who always knows what to do.