Bible Study - January 2003

The feeding of the 5,000 possesses a special interest, being the only miracle performed during the Lord’s ministry which is recorded in all four gospels. In this present study, we take note that the event itself and what followed, provided our Lord with the audience in Capernaum to whom he spoke about the bread of life.

In Capernaum
Many had sought him because of the remarkable experience of being fed so miraculously in a wilderness place. Furthermore, they were baffled to find him in Capernaum.[1] They first wanted light upon this mystery: “Rabbi, when camest thou hither?” (John 6:25 RV all references).

The Lord did not enlighten them but responded with what we may well regard as a rebuke: “Verily, verily, [notice the solemnity of these words] I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw signs, but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled.” The provision in the wilderness had not been meagre: they had eaten their fill.

We should observe this significant fact: the Lord makes no mention of the fish which had also been provided in the wilderness. With characteristic foresight, he is already directing their attention to the bread. As his words of rebuff indicate, his hearers were more interested in satisfying the needs of the body than in seeing the deeper meaning of the remarkable miracle they had witnessed. The Lord counsels them to strive for another form of food, that which can lead to eternal life.

He, Jesus, the Son of man, can provide them with this, for the Father, even God, has placed His seal upon him (v. 27). Here the Lord calls attention to the two aspects of his person: he is the Son of man, thus stressing his humanity[2]. But he refers also to the Father, his Father, thus indicating his heavenly origin. It is the Father who has sealed him, thus providing the highest form of endorsement. The verse is pregnant with spiritual truth. The lofty claim would be an empty boast if God indeed had not endowed His Son with such authority and powers.

Bread that gives life
To some extent, the Lord’s hearers take up his invitation to engage in the works which please God: “What must we do, that we may work the works of God?” (John 6:28). The response is simple: believe on him whom God hath sent (v. 29).

We may well be intended here to see a contrast between the works of the law and the faith which, at all times, should inform our behaviour. This is essentially faith in the one whom God has sent. It is this which communicates such importance to our attitude toward the Lord Jesus.

Every shade of meaning in the words is significant. Here John uses the Greek verb apostello. The corresponding noun, apostolos, is readily identifiable as “apostle,” “one sent.” The Lord was “one sent by God.” In Hebrews 3:1, the term “apostle” is applied to the Lord Jesus: “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus.” There is considerable emphasis in John’s gospel on the fundamental concept: the Son did not come on his own initiative, but in response to the Father’s will (cf. Heb. 10:9)[3].

Requirement of faith
We ask the question: Why does the Lord precede the proclamation of the great truths he will present to the Jews with the declaration his hearers must satisfy the requirement of believing on him as the one whom God has sent? The answer will become increasingly apparent: the truths he proclaims will be incomprehensible to any who do not share Peter’s faith.

Indeed, many will be offended by what is recorded in this sixth chapter (cf. v. 66). But at the end, although at times he must have been baffled by some of “the hard sayings” he heard, Peter affirms, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and know that thou are the holy one of God” (vv. 68-69). This must be the conviction we share, even if, at time of perplexity, we do not understand, if we maintain our faith in our Lord, enlightenment will eventually come.

They wanted a sign
In the case of the Lord’s Jewish hearers, when they are challenged to have faith in him, they require a sign: “What then doest thou for a sign, that we may see and believe thee? What workest thou?” (v. 30). There is something perverse about the request: they had already been witnesses of the remarkable feeding of the 5,000, and they themselves had been fed. But it is characteristic of unbelief that it is never satisfied[4].

His interrogators then go on to mention the giving of the manna in the wilderness and speak of it as “bread out of heaven.” We now come to the consideration of an all-important point. This RV rendering is a literal, and correct, translation of the Greek original and should be carefully noted. While the conversation between Jesus and the Jews must have taken place in Aramaic, it is reported in Greek. The very expression the Jews use could have been taken from the Septuagint Greek version of Exodus 16:4, when the manna was first given: “And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread upon you out of heaven.”[5]

Bread out of heaven
We need to take note of this fact, for the expression will recur with impressive frequency in the exchanges between the Jews and Jesus. Furthermore, it is the key to understanding what has been termed above, “the heavenly origin” of our Lord. We shall discover, too, that it occurs in other places and the examination of those, in due course, will help us.

We should not miss the fact that it is the Jews themselves who first refer to “the bread out of heaven,” indicating that what had happened in feeding the multitude had reminded them of the provision of manna. Moreover, as we have seen, Jesus had directed their attention to the bread. It is this theme which the Lord now proceeds to develop.

He begins by reminding them: the manna was not given by Moses but by his own Father. Then he goes from the past to the present: “But my Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven” and “the true bread gives life to the world” (vv. 32-33). We have thus left the giving of the manna and attention is being focused on what is happening in their own experience. The origin of this life-giving bread is clear: it comes down out of heaven.

A contrast, a vital one, is being established with the manna. Jesus is now speaking about “the true bread.” The contrast is not between the true and the false, but between the shadow and the substance. The manna was but a prefiguring of the true and incorruptible bread which the Lord can provide. As the woman at the well, in response to the Lord’s claim, asked for the water of life (see John 4:15), so now the Jews ask for the life-giving bread mentioned by the Lord.

It is at this juncture that the Lord utters one of his great “I am” sayings. “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (v. 35). So saying, he goes beyond the scene at the well in John 4 and thus claims he can satisfy the two basic needs of mankind: water and bread. This is truly a stupendous claim.

Seeing to faith
But he goes on to rebuke the Jews: they have seen him, but this has not awakened their faith in him (v. 36). There is first the literal sense of seeing: they have had abundant exposure in this respect. We think again of the remarkable miracle enacted in the wilderness. But there had been much more. From the start of the ministry the Lord had performed remarkable miracles of healing and his fame had rapidly spread beyond the confines of Jewry to Syria (see, for example, Matt. 4:23-24).

In the fourth gospel, however, seeing has a deeper meaning, one that is a challenge to all ages. We think of what the Lord said to the apostles: “Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth me no more; but ye behold me; because I live, ye shall live also” (14:19). So we pause, and ask ourselves: how clear is our vision of the Lord, and what influence does it exercise upon us, each and every day?

This is the condition which must be satisfied if we are to be reckoned truly among the Lord’s disciples: “All which the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (6:37). In a deeply moving prayer, the Lord thanked his Father for the men He had given him out of the world (John 17:6,9). While manifestly these words initially embraced the apostles, they can apply to ourselves: “Neither for thee only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word” (v. 20). Once we come to the Lord, confessing our need, we are secure in his love: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28).

This is the sublime assurance the Lord gives to all his followers, and no one accepted the assurance more fervently than the Apostle: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Rom. 8:35).

[1] Those who had left the Lord on the east side of Galilee now found him on the west side. How had he got there, not by boat apparently? This was indeed true for he had crossed by walking on the waters of the lake (John 6:16-22).
[2] While this is not the place to examine in detail all the theological meanings of the expression “Son of man,” we need to remember that it was a Messianic title; see, notably Matt. 26:63-64 (cf. Dan. 7:13-14).
[3] There are two Greek verbs for “send,” apostellō and pempō. The first occurs extensively in the Gospel of John of the Father sending the Son, (e.g. 3:17; 5:37). The same applies to the second: (see 4:34; 5:23,24, etc.). Both verbs indicate God’s initiative.
[4] This was not the only occasion when, despite all the evidences of the Lord’s authority already given, the scribes and Pharisees asked for a further sign (see Matt. 12:38; Mk. 8:11; Lk. 11:16).
[5] In the Greek, “out of heaven” is ek tou ouranou; ek (eks in front of a vowel) here means “out of.”