John 6:1-21
Dear RTB’ers,
I have already mentioned that John’s gospel leaves me confused with respect to Jesus’ words, especially His replies to questions. But yet another way in which John has me confused is in following Jesus’ physical travels, His chronology. I already mentioned that John has a Passover on four occasions in his gospel. The Synoptics only mention one, Jesus’ last week on earth. But for today, we suddenly find Jesus back in Galilee with no transition, after having Him in Jerusalem the previous two days, all of chapter 6. The Synoptics are clearer on Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand; He is already in or near Capernaum, which is His “homebase”, and Bethsaida is not far away. [See Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17.] Small point…
When the people saw the sign that He had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” (v. 14) I posted yesterday on Moses’ quote from Deuteronomy: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to Him you shall listen. (Dt. 18:15) Here we see the crowd recognizing Jesus as that Prophet. Even as Moses (through the Lord) fed the people with manna and quail in the wilderness, so Jesus is also feeding the people in a remote location.
…they saw Jesus walking on the sea … and they were frightened. But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” (vv. 19b-20) It’s a simple statement, but full of truth: It is [Jesus]; do not be afraid. Maybe we are not privy to Jesus physically in our midst, walking on water or whatever other miracle He chooses to do, but He is here with us. He speaks words that we need to embrace, It is I; do not be afraid.
Blessings.
See also: