Jesus therefore knowing that they were going to come and seize him, that they might make [him] king, departed again to the mountain himself alone.
The crowd has just eaten bread that multiplied in the Lord's hands. They decide at once that a man with such power belongs on a throne — and He walks away from the crown.
They had named Him the Prophet. But their next move showed what was behind it — they wanted divine power under their own control:
They do recognise that "this is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world." And they would gladly use the power they saw — but for their own ends, and under their own will. The Lord foresees the result: they would take Him by force and make Him King. They would force Him to lead one of those popular revolts against Roman authority which happened so often later on. Once He was committed, they thought, He could not draw back. He would give in to the will of the crowd and become the Deliverer everyone was waiting for. How strange the mind of man is when his own will twists it! They credit that will with great power. It only clouds all true sight and turns their reasoning into pitiful folly. They are going to have a prophet after their own heart, and divine power working at their command!
The Lord saw no faith in it, and He told the same crowd so later:
But their plan was a fleshly one. No faith in Him, no devotion to His person was behind it, and the Searcher of hearts had to tell them when the crowds sought Him again: "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves."
The loaves explain the crowd's zeal. An earlier word of His explains the refusal:
With these men the loaves and fishes had become too important. They wanted a steady supply, so easily obtained, and so they plotted to force kingship on this Prophet. We have just heard Him say that the testimony He receives is not from man. He also said, "I do not receive glory from people." So it is no surprise that He will not receive a kingdom from the hands of men. The glory of the greatest earthly kingdom that man can build is only tinsel before Him.
He had refused a crown once before. There is a third hand from which He will take one:
On earth, the Lord Jesus refused the kingdoms of the world from the hand of Satan. Here in John 6:15 He refused Israel's throne from the hands of men. But He will yet receive the kingdom of Israel, and all the kingdoms of the world, from the hand of His Father. They belong to the "all things" given into His hand.
Writers read the withdrawal as a picture. Refused as King, He takes up another office:
Unbelief either runs ahead of the kingdom, trying to set it up now by man's will, or drops it for the delusion of human progress. Neither has a thought of God's purpose: to establish the kingdom by Christ the second Man, when the first man is judged. Faith patiently waits for it meanwhile. So the Lord declined then, and went up on high — this time Himself alone. It was the figure of what is actually true. Owned as Prophet, He refuses to be man's king, and goes above to exercise His intercession, as He is now doing, the great Priest in the presence of God.
The scene that follows completes the picture, with the disciples left on the water below:
While He is praying on the mountain, a figure of His heavenly place of intercession (a reality, of course), they are on the sea.
The problem was not the throne. It was the state of the world He would have to reign over:
But how could He take the kingdom while sin was running wild on earth, and the world was in the state it was then, and still is in now? Impossible! So you find later in John 6 that He tells the people plainly that He Himself must die.
One writer traces the same withdrawal through the Gospels, and ends in a prayer:
See how the blessed Master always withdrew from human applause and human excitement... When they would come and take Him by force and make Him a king, He withdrew into a mountain to pray. When they wanted Him to show Himself to the world, He said, "My time has not yet come." We always find Him hiding Himself... Oh, to be well content to be a nothing and a nobody, so that Christ may be magnified!
- Refused — He would not take a crown from Satan's hand, and would not take one from the crowd here. He waits to receive the kingdom from His Father.
- Read — He saw through the excitement. No faith and no devotion to Him stood behind it — only full stomachs.
- Replaced — He declined the throne and went up alone. The Prophet on earth became the Priest on high, praying for His own.
- Required — The kingdom could not come while sin ruled the earth. The road to the throne ran through His death.
- Reproduced — His servants copy what He did with applause: withdraw, pray, and be content to be nobody so that Christ is magnified.
But when evening was come, his disciples went down to the sea,
After feeding the five thousand, Jesus refused the crown the crowd pressed on Him and went up the mountain alone. As evening fell His disciples went down to the sea without Him — so why did He send them into the dark, and what does that night picture?
One writer sees the whole sequence — feeding, refusal, mountain, sea, arrival — as a picture of God's order of working:
This chapter first showed Him as prophet, refusing to be king. He is the One who fulfilled that word, "I will satisfy her poor with bread" (Psalm 132:13-15). Then He went up alone on high, to exercise His priesthood of intercession. Meanwhile the disciples toiled alone on the sea, with the wind against them, aiming but not arriving. As soon as Jesus rejoined them — He who could walk over all the difficulties — they were at the land they were heading for.
The other Gospel writers add where the Lord sent them, and where they landed:
The disciples set out in obedience to their Master's directions (Matthew 14:22; Mark 6:45). They were to go ahead to Bethsaida, as Mark clearly states. This was a town on the west side of the lake, quite distinct from Bethsaida Julias, near where the Lord had fed the crowd… But Bethsaida on the west they never reached. They landed in the plain of Gennesaret. So write Matthew and Mark. Then John tells us they were going to Capernaum. The wind may have pushed them off course, for to Capernaum they came.
They were on the water in the dark, and He was not with them. One writer treats that as normal Christian experience, not a rare case:
The Lord is alone on the mountain. His disciples toil in the darkness, perplexed in the middle of the storm. This is so often the lot of the saints of God while Christ is absent. Storms and difficulties face them, and they cannot see the way through… Do we not often feel that the difficulties would be too much for us unless the Lord comes to our aid? But it was just when the difficulties had reached their height that Jesus came to His own.
The night on the lake pictures the whole time between His going up and His return. One writer traces it both to us now and to those at the end:
Here is the picture of the Lord's people while He Himself is on high. They are exposed to the storms which the enemy knows how to stir up, and after much toil they make little progress. So it will be also for those who follow us at the end of the age… Darkness will have already set in. But in the middle of their growing troubles Jesus will appear… Once they receive Him into the ship, He brings it to the desired haven at once.
Another puts the same picture in a single line, with the sea standing for the world itself:
The disciples, left behind, entered a ship to cross the sea stirred up by "a great wind that blew" as the darkness gathered — a true picture of Christ's people left in a dark world during His absence, opposed by the wicked, who, like the sea, cannot rest.
One writer turns the same darkness into a warning. He takes sailing away from the Lord as a picture of the heart that leaves Him:
It must always be "dark" to the soul that leaves the Lord. If His company is our heaven below, losing that company is as good as losing everything. The soul may sail away from Him in ten thousand forms of self-interest. For a time the light may last and circumstances may be kind. But before long darkness settles down, the sea rises because of a great wind, and everything goes wrong.
The night ends the same way for them all. He was out of their sight, but they were never out of His:
Meanwhile the disciples were tossed on the stormy sea through the dark watches of the night. They stand for the faithful few in Israel, tried and tested while their Lord was away. But He never for a moment lost sight of them, never took His eyes off them. And when they had come, as it were, to their wits' end, He appears to help them. He hushes the wind, calms the sea, and brings them to the haven they wanted.
- Up — He refused the crown the crowd pressed on Him. He went up the mountain alone, to intercede rather than reign.
- Down — His disciples went down to the sea. They were sent toward Bethsaida, never reached it, and came to Capernaum instead.
- Dark — Night fell before He came. Darkness and a rising wind are the standing picture of His people while He is away.
- Watched — His absence was never neglect. He never took His eyes off the boat, and He came when the trouble was worst.
- Home — The moment they took Him on board, the toil ended and the ship reached land. The same order awaits His people now and the faithful few at the end.
and having gone on board ship, they went over the sea to Capernaum. And it had already become dark, and Jesus had not come to them,
The disciples set out across the lake for Capernaum at nightfall, and Jesus stays behind on the shore. The dark and His absence hang over the scene: why did He let them go without Him, and what was He doing meanwhile?
The crowd He had just fed wanted to crown Him, and He refused. He went up the mountain alone instead. One writer sees that mountain as a picture of the work He is doing for His people now.
He had shown such mighty power that they wanted to make Him their King, and so their deliverer from hated Roman rule. The reigning time had not yet come; so, refusing to be made King, Christ withdraws "to the mountain by Himself". There, in picture, He carries out His present work as the Priest.
The darkness was not their only trouble. The wind rose, the rowing grew hard, and the one Person who could have steadied them was missing.
It turned out to be a dark and stormy night. To all appearances, the disciples were alone in the middle of the raging waves... But Jesus was not in the ship with them. There was no blessed Master to calm their troubled minds or lift their drooping hearts. "It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them." Had the night been calm and clear they would not have felt His absence in the same way. But now everything seemed against them.
This was not their first storm on this lake. One writer sets the two nights side by side.
How striking the contrast with another storm on the same lake! There the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. He was on board, but asleep, and the disciples woke Him with the selfish and unbelieving cry: Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing? He got up and rebuked the wind. He said to the sea, Peace! Be still! And both obeyed the Creator of all.
They rowed for hours and got almost nowhere. One writer measures that distance, and finds our own situation in it.
This temporary separation of the Lord from His own is a picture of our circumstances at the present time. He spent that time in prayer on the mountain top. In the same way He is on high right now, praying for us... Compare John 6:19 with Matthew 14:25: after about nine hours of rowing they seem to have covered little more than three miles.
William Kelly looks further ahead, to a darker night still to come.
So it will be also for those who follow us at the end of the age. They will experience untold trials of the sharpest kind... Darkness will have already set in; but in the middle of their increasing troubles Jesus will appear... Once they take Him into the boat, He brings it at once to the harbour they wanted.
One writer turns the dark inward. He warns that a drift away from Christ can feel harmless at first, and that the weather changes later.
"Dark" it must always be to the soul that leaves the Lord. If His company is our heaven below, the loss of that company is practically the loss of everything. The soul may sail away from Him in ten thousand forms of self-interest. For a time light may last and circumstances may favour it. But before long darkness settles down, the sea rises because of a great wind, and everything goes wrong.
The verse says "not yet", not "never". One writer turns that into help for our own hard nights.
It could be said of them, as here, "It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them" (John 6:17). Do we not often feel that unless the Lord comes to our aid the difficulties would be too much for us? But it was just when the difficulties had reached their height that Jesus came to His own... and when He comes, He solves the difficulties straight away, just as we read here: "Immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going."
- Dark by design — He refused the crown the crowd offered and went up the mountain alone. He was missing from the boat by choice.
- Dark and stormy — a calm night would have been bearable. Wind, waves and His absence together made everything seem against them.
- Dark, but watched — the mountain where He prayed shows what He does now. He prays for His people while they row against the wind.
- Dark for a while — one writer sees our own time in the scene, another a darker night at the end of the age. Both end with Jesus appearing.
- Dark until He comes — He arrived when the trouble peaked. As soon as they welcomed Him aboard, the boat reached the shore.
and the sea was agitated by a strong wind blowing.
Jesus went up the mountain alone, and that evening the disciples set off by boat for the other side. One line about the weather raises three questions: why were they out there, where was He, and what was the storm for?
One writer sets John's detail beside the other accounts of the same night:
They started out when everything was favourable, but a storm of what seemed unusual severity arose. The lake was liable to sudden squalls. The three accounts of the storm agree, though each writer gives his own account. John tells us that the sea arose because of a great wind that blew, and he adds that it was dark. Matthew and Mark dwell on the condition of the boat. With the wind against them, sailing was out of the question. They took to their oars, John tells us, but failed to get across the lake.
They were on that water because He told them to be. One writer notes what that could have stirred in them:
And yet, had not the Lord Himself made them set out that evening? They might have reflected that, in effect, it was He who had set them to this work of rowing straight into a strong gale. Such a thought could easily lead them to think poorly of Him.
Commentators see more than weather here. They read the restless sea as a picture of the world His people are left in:
The disciples were left behind. They boarded a ship to cross the sea, and "a strong wind was blowing" as the darkness gathered. This is a true picture of Christ's people left in a dark world during His absence, opposed by the wicked, who, like the sea, cannot rest. Yet Christ supports His disciples, and He comes to them in their deep distress.
He was praying above the storm; His disciples were inside it. Writers take that separation as a picture of the present time, but they differ over who the picture fits. Some apply it to believers now:
This temporary separation of the Lord from His own is a picture of our circumstances at the present time. Just as He prayed on the mountain top then, so at this moment He intercedes for us on high. The disciples found their situation deeply trying without Him. Comparing John 6:19 with Matt. 14:25, they seem to have covered little more than three miles after some nine hours of rowing. Their hard voyage is a striking picture of the Church's journey. It is stormy and full of toil the whole time her Lord is absent in heaven.
Others read it as pointing further forward, to faithful Jews in a coming time of trouble:
The Jewish remnant will face the terrible activity of Satan in the time of their trial. Then they will know the sustaining grace of the Lord as High Priest. At last the storm of persecution will rise to its height, and their case will be almost hopeless. The Lord will appear on their behalf and show a power above the power of the enemy. Jesus walking on the sea is the picture of it.
The disciples could not see Him. One writer asks whether that meant He could not see them:
Was He unmindful of their difficulties, indifferent to all their fruitless efforts? That could not be. Did He not know where they were? "He saw that they were making headway painfully," writes Mark (6:48); for the darkness was no darkness to Him.
The night showed these men the limit of their own strength. That was the point:
The Lord held back from using His power. His servants did not have the power the moment demanded. But before morning broke they had proved their own weakness, and they had proved something else too. Their Lord and Master had almighty power to make them easy conquerors despite themselves.
What the oars could not do, His arrival did:
He came to His disciples, and they received Him into the ship. They heard His word, and His word stopped the storm. There was peace at once. He took away what threatened to destroy them. More than that, you read that He brought them to their desired haven. When Jesus came to them, they found they were exactly where they wanted to go. How did all this come about? Through His power, that almighty power that resides in the person of Jesus.
- Sent — The disciples were in the gale because Christ had put them there. Obeying Him does not promise calm water.
- Absent — He was on the mountain, not in the boat. Writers read that absence as our own time: Christ intercedes on high while His people cross a restless sea.
- Exposed — Nine hours of rowing gained about three miles. Their own strength could not get them across.
- Seen — The darkness was no darkness to Him. He saw them struggling at the oars and came to them in their deep distress.
- Landed — His word ended the storm, and the ship reached the shore they wanted. The power was in the person of Jesus, not in their oars.
Having rowed then about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they see Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the ship; and they were frightened.
The disciples are alone on a dark, rough lake, and hours of rowing have taken them barely a third of the way across. Then Jesus comes to them over the water, and their reaction is fear rather than relief.
The distance in the verse is not a detail to skip. It measures how the night was going.
The distance they had to go was only about ten miles, but they had spent nine hours covering "twenty-five or thirty furlongs" — a little over three miles. We make little progress if we do not have the Lord with us.
W. T. P. Wolston (quoting the older wording; the ESV reads "about three or four miles")
Jesus had gone up the mountain alone. One writer reads that separation as a picture of where believers stand now.
This short separation of the Lord from His own is a picture of where we are now. Just as He spent that time in prayer on the mountain top, so at this moment He is on high, interceding for us. The disciples found their situation very hard without Him. Comparing John 6:19 with Matthew 14:25, they seem to have covered little more than three miles after about nine hours of rowing.
John records the scene without developing it. One writer explains why: this Gospel has one aim, and walking on the sea serves it.
I believe the reason is that John's aim is always to bring out the personal glory and greatness of Christ. "It is I" — that was enough to still every fear, for God Himself was in that "I." They see Him walking on the sea. Who but God could do that? That is the thought of the Spirit here. This is a divine Person. The act reveals the Person.
Another writer sees two rights meeting in that walk, and the power of evil under His feet.
We see Him here as a Man and yet the great "I Am," in a scene that pictures all the power of evil under His feet. He walks on the sea as His own by a double right: as God He created it, and as Man it is part of His vast domain.
He did not calm the water before He crossed it. He came to them through the storm at its height, and their response exposed how little they yet knew Him.
Could He not have held back the wind and the sea from such uproar? Yes, but He did not do so until the morally right time. Yet He walked on the sea while it raged, the Lord of glory in perfect control of every element (v. 19). The disciples needed this sign, for when they saw Him they were afraid instead of worshipping Him. They had to learn by experience that He is truly Lord of all.
Seeing Him did not steady them. One writer weighs sight against faith in God's word.
The very thing that brings the deepest comfort when it is believed becomes a cause of fear when it is only a matter of sight — even when that sight is Jesus Himself! We can trust ourselves so little, and we owe so much to God and His word.
One writer reads the whole scene forward, to a darkness still to come. In that reading their fear belongs to the picture.
Here we have a picture of the Lord's people while He Himself is on high. They are exposed to the storms the enemy knows how to stir up, and after much toil they make little progress… Darkness will have already set in. But in the middle of their growing troubles Jesus will appear. Even then they will not be free from their fears, for the glorious light will only increase them — until they hear His voice and know that He is indeed their Saviour, absent so long and now come back. Once they receive Him into the boat, He brings it at once to the harbour they longed for.
Commentators differ over who the boat pictures. One sees our own situation while the Lord is on high; another looks on to a darker time still ahead. Both keep the same frame: He is above, the storm is below, and He comes to them over it.
- Toil. Nine hours of rowing produced barely three miles of a ten-mile crossing — the measure of progress made without Him.
- Absence. He was on the mountain, interceding for them; the distance was real, and so was His care.
- Sight. Walking on the sea is something only God can do, and John records it to show who Jesus is.
- Fear. They saw Him and were frightened instead of worshipping. Sight alone can frighten; what we believe on God's word comforts.
- Haven. He crosses the storm instead of stilling it first. The moment they take Him in, the boat reaches the harbour.
But he says to them, It is I be not afraid.
Night had fallen, the wind was against them, and after hours at the oars the disciples saw a figure walking on the water. He answered their terror with a few words that carry far more than they seem.
Their fear was not vague nervousness. They thought they knew what they were seeing. The Lord's words took that idea away.
And now, after an absence of so many hours, about the fourth watch of the night — which, roughly speaking, lasted from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. — He appeared walking on the sea and drawing near to them. They were struck with alarm. They thought, as Matthew and Mark both say, that it was an apparition. "They were afraid," writes John. But the few words from Himself, "It is I; do not be afraid," dispelled what they imagined. It was gracious of Him to calm their fears in this way. And those few words must have made a lasting impression on all who heard them. After all, the three Gospel writers have preserved them.
In English it sounds like a simple "It's me." Writers say the words carry a name from Exodus.
They thought it was a ghost and cried out in fear. But His cheerful call soon calmed them: "It is I" (or "I am"), "do not be afraid." He has never failed to draw near to His own in their hours of distress and need. He is the "I am" of Exodus 3:14. All that such a name makes possible rules out the smallest questioning of unbelief.
And He says it while standing on the sea.
In His answer to the terrified disciples the Lord said, "Be of good cheer, I am." It is well known that this is the right translation of the words. We see Him as a Man, yet the great "I Am," in a scene that shows in picture all the power of evil under His feet.
They had been in a storm with Him before — and that time He was asleep in the boat. The point of "It is I" is that the two scenes hold one Person.
If, however, they have to learn Christ in a new way, they will also find that it is the same Jesus. The Jesus who as the lowly One had slept on the sea is the same Jesus who, as the mighty One, can walk upon the sea. So He can say to His disciples, "It is I; do not be afraid."
That earlier crossing throws this one into relief:
How striking the contrast with another storm on the same lake! There the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. He was on board, but asleep. The disciples woke Him with the selfish and unbelieving cry, "Master, do you not care that we are perishing?"
The disciples were exactly where He had told them to go. That changes what their fear means.
He had sent them; He allowed difficulties to come up as they did! If we meet problems on the way the Lord has sent us, we can be of good cheer. He never forgets His own. He comes to stay with them, as He came to help the disciples. But they did not recognise Him. Is that not something we experience too? The problems are so big that we do not recognise the Lord coming to help us.
Writers read the whole scene as a picture: He is on high, His people toil below, and then He comes back.
Here it is the picture of the Lord's people while He Himself is on high. They are exposed to the storms which the enemy knows how to stir up. After much toil they make little progress… Darkness will have already set in. But in the middle of their increasing troubles Jesus will appear. Even then they will not be free from their fears. The glorious light will only increase them, until they hear His voice. Then they will know that He is indeed their Saviour, long absent, now come back. Received into the ship, He causes it to reach the desired haven at once.
- Sent. The rough crossing came from His own orders, so the storm is not evidence that He has forgotten them.
- Seen. He came to them in the dark, after hours of toil had left them making little progress.
- Spoken. They misread what they saw, and His voice — not calmer weather — corrected that first.
- Named. "It is I" carries the name "I am" from Exodus 3:14; the Man on the water is the One who has all the power of evil beneath His feet.
- Landed. Once they take Him into the boat, the journey ends at once — the haven comes with Him, not before Him.
They were willing therefore to receive him into the ship; and immediately the ship was at the land to which they went.
A long night of rowing against the wind is almost over when Jesus comes to His disciples, walking on the sea. The moment they take Him aboard, the crossing is finished. The verse joins two things: their willingness to receive Him, and a voyage finished the instant He is in the boat.
Their welcome matters. One writer links it to a promise in the Psalms about a willing people in the day of the King's power.
Faced with this display of power, the disciples "willingly received Him into the ship". So we read, of the day still to come, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power" (Psalm 110:3-4). Humbled by their trials, they will receive in faith the One Who, in the day of their pride, was rejected in unbelief. When the disciples received Christ into the ship, they reached "the land to which they were going". In the same way Israel will reach their blessing under the reign of Christ.
(He uses an older translation. The ESV reads, "your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power.")
Earlier in the night He walked over the water that was defeating them. Once on board, He does to the remaining miles what He had done to the waves.
Jesus can wipe out distance just as He can control opposition. On the Lake of Tiberias He walked on the troubled waters outside. Then, when He entered the ship, it was at once at the land where they were going (John 6:18-21).
One writer sees the night as a picture on a much larger scale. In it the disciples stand for the remnant — the faithful part of Israel.
The disciples enter a ship, and, without Him, are tossed on the waves. Darkness comes on (this will happen to the remnant here on earth), and Jesus is away. Yet He rejoins them, and they receive Him joyfully. Immediately the ship is at the place to which they were going. It is a striking picture of the remnant travelling on earth while Christ is absent. When He rejoins them, their every wish is fully and at once satisfied — full blessing and rest.
The word "immediately" carries weight in this reading. Deliverance is not gradual; it arrives with Him.
And then the whole scene closed, and at once the ship was at the land where they were going. But this only happened once Jesus was in the ship. He rejoined them in the middle of the difficulties and trials they were in, walking over them.
Commentators differ over how directly this scene maps onto Christians today. Some hold that it looks past the church to a future deliverance of God's earthly people.
This episode does not refer so much to the church, or to the saints who make it up, as to the Jewish remnant in days to come. The Messiah is now absent, but exalted. When He returns to them, He will hush the storm that will be threatening to overthrow them completely. He will bring them at once into the haven of rest. The heavenly saints will be taken out of the whole scene of trial and conflict, to be with their Lord, whom they meet in the air.
Others apply the scene to believers today. It shows the Christ we most need to know now.
An earthly kingdom with plenty of food easily appeals to a worldly mind. The spiritual mind is formed by knowing Him as the Master of both wind and wave, and of the powers they represent. He revealed Himself to the disciples in this way, and their fears disappeared. When they willingly received Him into the ship, they found themselves brought at once to their destination. Think this incident over, for we very much need to know Him in this way. Today He is not dealing with an earthly kingdom. He is proving Himself supreme over hostile forces while He brings His saints through them.
His timing is part of the lesson, and it is held out to us as a promise.
But it was just when the difficulties had reached their height that Jesus came to His own. So it will be with us if we truly want the presence of the Lord. He will come to us, as He promised and as this little picture shows. When He comes, the difficulties are solved straight away. We read it here: "and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going."
- Absence. The dark night on the water pictures the time when Christ is away — hard rowing that aims at the shore but cannot reach it.
- Arrival. He comes when the difficulties are at their height. He walks over the very thing that was defeating them, and fear turns into welcome.
- Willingness. Humbled hearts receive the One they had refused before. They are a people made willing in the day of His power.
- Immediacy. The instant He is aboard, the voyage is over. Distance gives way to Him just as opposition does.
- Application. Some read the scene as the future rescue of God's earthly people. Others read it as the Christian's present need to know Him as Master of wind and wave. Either way, everything turns on having Christ Himself in the boat.