Fed and Nourished for Now

John 6:1–40 ESV

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the 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.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Scripture: John 6:1-40

Sermon Title: Fed and Nourished for Now (Consider switch to Eternity)

           In both services today, we will be opening up God’s word to John 6. This morning we will be looking at the first half of the chapter, which includes Jesus’ miraculous feeding of an estimated five thousand men, which with women and children most likely present as well, that number is speculated to jump well over ten thousand people. For a point of reference, five thousand is the seating capacity of the Van Noord Arena in Calvin College’s Fieldhouse. We are talking at least one of those full, and possibly an additional one or two more; all of those seats would have been filled with people who were not only present, but receiving a meal from Jesus without money or energy being spent on their part. Our focus will be considering the wants of this crowd in response to seeing Jesus, and to consider our own wants about Jesus. 

This evening, we will come back to the second half of this chapter as we continue our series on the sacraments, turning our attention to the Lord’s Supper. While there is an upper room engagement between Jesus and his disciples, one of the interesting aspects of John’s gospel is that it does not include an institution of the bread and wine as signs of his body and blood. If I do not cover a possible reason tonight, feel free to ask me at some point, and I am willing to share why that might be. While it does not have the traditional scene that we find in the synoptic gospels, it does have chapter 6, which Jesus rather bluntly tells his followers that they must eat his flesh and blood. Alongside the Catechism, we will take a look at this sacrament. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, a part of our identity as people, as created beings is that we want things. When Adam and Eve were living and working in the garden with one another and all of God’s creatures, they had choices that needed to be acted upon, and God gave them the ability to choose what they wanted. Before man and woman were tempted by the serpent to want the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, there was want. To want is not a product of sin.

If you get into theological or philosophical studies, you hear about free will. At the most basic level, true free will is that God gave our first parents the ability to want and choose good things that honored him, but he also gave them the ability to want and choose disobediently against what he intended and commanded them. Because Adam and Eve chose to sin, chose their wants over God’s wants and commands, sin placed a curse over free will; no longer do we have free will, rather our wills are corrupted in such a way that if it is up to us, we will never truly want or choose that which is good. Our wants can only always be selfish. It is only by the power of the Spirit that we can want or do anything that can be considered good. 

Theologians and pastors have wrestled with this concept throughout the entire history of the church: why did God give his people free will, why would he create them with the ability to want and act according to their wants? Knowing all things, how and why would God have created us with the ability to want things that could even lead to sin, lead away from him? The simplest and I believe most beneficial, answer to why God created humanity this way is because, as one theologian proposes, in order to truly praise, to truly want or desire God, we must also have the ability to not choose him. If we had not been given free will, God would be this egotistic deity who needed things to praise him, and so created human beings as minions forced to do what he needed to stoke his ego. That is not who our God is and not how he created us to be; he is a God who desires and should receive all glory, but he also values us and desires for us to live out the callings given to us with him and with one another in his creation. All to say, the existence of want is not due to evil; rather want can take both holy and sinful forms. 

With that in mind, let’s step back into the text. We find Jesus and his disciples going to the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. As Jesus did, regularly throughout his ministry, he is trying to get away for some time of rest, time to be with his disciples. But the crowds cannot get enough, they have seen him perform miraculous signs, and John tells us, a great crowd has come to where they are going to be. The Jesus movement is in full effect up here in the sticks far away from Jerusalem.   If we read this in harmony with the other gospels, which note this, is the only miracle besides the resurrection, recorded in all four gospels, we find that these people are not just arriving for the 5pm supper club meal, but they have actually been here for most of the day.  Jesus had looked on them with great compassion; he had willingly taught and healed among them. Being around Jesus was not something these people wanted to go away from; this crowd wants to watch and participate as long as they can. 

John brings us to dinnertime though, and Jesus will not send these people home hungry. To paraphrase his exchange with Philip, Jesus asked, “Where will we order take-out from?” Philip’s response is the equivalent of, “You can’t be serious, Teacher. It would take 8 month’s pay.” Each of you that have regular work throughout the year or are on salary can figure that out for yourself, but let’s take the average salary of a pastor in Classis Central Plains, and we are talking $32,000; Philip is in disbelief, they do not have that kind of money.”  Then Andrew chirps in about this kid who had five small loaves of bread and two small fish; “How far will they go?” Jesus, of course, makes that boy’s meal feed everyone there. 

The first thing that we want to dig into with our text is the effect Jesus’ multiplying action has on the crowd and his response. Verses 14 and 15 tell us, “After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.” Many of these people had come, according to John, because they had seen earlier miracles.  Now they have watched him for much of that day healing people, but it is this dinner that really causes them to take notice. It was no secret that something special happened with this food. It is clear Jesus had performed a miracle; he did not have large tubs of bread and fish behind a rock, and he did not order take-out. This miraculous feeding was the icing on the cake that this man was “the Prophet.” He was the one that was prophesied to come since the time of Moses; they needed to listen to him because he had commands from God. 

Jesus senses what is buzzing through this crowd, and he leaves that place. He is the Prophet, though, so why would he do that? While the crowd knew about Jesus before, it seems like this one day encounter really sealed it for them. They wanted to make this man their king; we see how fast conviction can happen. When you encounter God as the one and only Savior, some people need the Spirit to work for years and years, but for others it may just take one experience of encountering God to change a heart, to break the chains of sin, and encounter the truth of God’s grace. We, who believe and hopefully reach out to those we meet who do not know God, can disciple through teaching, mentoring, and especially through prayer on behalf of other to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Conviction can come strong and fast. 

But on the other hand maybe it is how strong and fast that conviction came, which illuminated something else for Jesus. Not only might it not have been time yet, but maybe their want to make him king showed how easily they could be swayed. The conviction this crowd had was an enthusiastic but shallow conviction; they wanted to see and experience things out of the ordinary.  This crowd got what they wanted in Jesus; he even showed them that not only could he heal one at a time, but he could multiply a single meal to feed as many as necessary and have leftovers. These people had been fed on what Jesus gave them immediately, and now they looked for more. What they consumed from Jesus, felt nourishing and prompted them to act, but would it last? Jesus had not come to fulfill their wants or agenda, and so he leaves.

Jesus had interrupted his schedule with his disciples to show compassion to these people, but it is time to move on to the next place. They crossed the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, Jesus and his disciples reuniting in the middle of the night in rough waters, and they continue on, but that crowd wanted more. They woke up the next morning, maybe thinking, “Jesus is our guy. He disappeared last night, but he will be back.” After some searching, they realized somehow Jesus was no longer with him, but they do not give up until they find him.

Jesus, the compassionate healer and miracle worker the day before, does not mince words with them. In verses 26 and 27, we read Jesus telling them, “You are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” If you have your Bibles open still, look at verse 2. According to John, the reason for the crowd following Jesus is, “because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.” Look at verse 14, the reason for wanting to make him their king came, “after the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did.” But in verse 26 Jesus confronted them saying, “You are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs.” It seems like we have conflicting things going on here. But Jesus’ rebuke and teaching is taking in to account two different levels of seeing; the second thing to grapple with in this text is the difference between observation and true sight.

When John writes that the people followed him and labeled his as the Prophet because of what they saw, we are talking about visual sight that the human can capture. These people saw what Jesus was doing in the same way that you see me speaking and moving my arms. They were good at observing his actions, even recognizing the extraordinary nature of many of the things he did. But to paraphrase Jesus’ rebuke, he said, “You just want me to feed you again, you came all this way just to get a free meal. You are looking for me for the wrong reasons. The true reason to look for me involves working and laboring for food that remains; this is the type of food that leads to eternal life which only the Son of Man can give you.”

A few moments ago we noted that the miracles had an effect on this crowd; observing Jesus caused them to act and treat him differently. However, that does not mean that they had true sight. What they were in search of was his ability to give them, to show them, to feed them with what they wanted. The people did a really good job of observing the miracles, but for them they were just attractions, Jesus was a glorified circus performer. They wanted to see him do miracles, but they were not seeing what the miracles truly evidenced; they wanted to see the show and while they saw who Jesus was supposed to be, they missed what he was offering and bringing about. His healings and his actions could be encouraging and restorative to all who he came into contact with, let’s not pass that by, but the crowds needed to have true vision, true clarity to actually see the long-awaited Messiah. He clearly had been sent from God, but he was not going to fit their mold or expectations. True sight, for them and for all who can encounter Jesus, involves not simply sight, but the even greater commitment of believing. Jesus is teaching them and us that he is not just someone to be watched or favorited or even to enjoy what tangible things he offers right now, but you have to believe in him and consume what he really offers as the bread of life.

“What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?” Jesus was full of truth as we see in the content of his messages, but he also was clearly full of grace as we see testimony of in his willingness to continue teaching these people. Jesus has turned water to wine, he has healed people who were sick and diseased and possessed and unclean throughout the region and in their own midst. He has fed them all. Still they ask for another sign! Not just any sign, but they hint that as the Israelites received bread from heaven, they would not mind something from heaven as well. Jesus, full of grace and truth, tells them in verse 35, “I am the true bread of life,” which just before that he tells them that they need true bread from heaven. “He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.  For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Those are words of life. If there is anything worth putting everything into, not just your eyes that can observe and mind that processes information, but putting all of your trust and hope in something, this is it! Jesus told these people, “Feed on me! You can see, but I want you believe. I will not turn you away.” He is not going to force people into believing in him, but he will receive those the Father gives him. They had seen him do miracles, they had eaten and been nourished by the bread that he multiplied, but would they also see him as the bread of life? Would they truly see, would they believe in the Son? 

This evening we will get to see their reply to all of this, but this morning the question for us gathered here and who might hear this message later is what are our wants of Jesus? When we read God’s word, see that a Savior was prophesied in the Old Testament and that prophesy was fulfilled in the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, what do we do with that as believers?

Do we want Jesus as a celebrity? These crowds saw what Jesus did, and it attracted them to him. Religions around the world credit Jesus as a prophet, a teacher, and a really good man. Is our following of Jesus shaped by how we would treat and expect to be treated by the nicest actor or actress, the kindest athlete or author? Is what we want out of Jesus just his flash and nothing else?

Do we want Jesus as our servant? Scripture speaks to him being both Lord and servant, but do we really want him just to serve our needs. He is the one that we can call on in any situation, and we expect him to come clean up the mess or take care of the hard parts of life so that we can have it pretty easy. Is what we want out of Jesus just his ability to take care of all our troubles with low commitment?

Do we want Jesus as our devotions? One of the easiest traps for a Christian to get into is compartmentalizing Jesus, putting him in the box that we pull out not just when we face struggle and difficulty, but also whenever we spend time in the Word and in prayer, but then he goes right back in. We want Jesus to save our lives, and purify us from sin, but we are not ready to think about what that means for how we address our work, our political views, our beliefs about helping others, or our business ethics? Is what we want out of Jesus just to fit our lives?

Or do we want Jesus not according to our want but according to his will and our need? Do we want to take the Bible where we encounter how God has revealed himself and what he calls his people to seriously? Are we a people, are you and I among those who hear these words of life, these words of Jesus offering himself to us, and know that when it comes to him it is not just want, but we need him? Christ has given us his Spirit to be a comforter and advocate, so that we can be assured that what is testified and promised here is true, when struggles come up in life we know that we have a Savior who experienced trial and temptation and torture, even unto death. When God called his people to orient every part of their being around him and his commands for them, Jesus does not abolish that, he fulfills it, and calls for his church to orient their lives around the kingdom and the values of holiness and love. If we want a Jesus who will not just meet our desires for comfort but who will completely claim us, transform us, and give all that we need to feed and nourish us in this life and in the life to come, know that this is the Jesus who we have encountered today. As he showed himself to the crowds, the leaders, and even the children in our text, he still shows himself to us today, and he offers to you the same bread of life, bread from heaven, that does not run out and is able to satisfy all your wants. Brothers and sisters, come now to see, believe, and eat from this bread. Amen.