Last week we said that Jesus’ popularity was going to diminish quite a bit in northern Israel due to the events in chapter six.  Some of the crowd left him after he refused to be their king and departed and went up on a mountain.  Nonetheless, some of the crowd still tried to find him; though they seem to be in a bad mood at this point.  Jesus would get rid of almost all of them as well by the end of this chapter, alienating himself from all but his most devoted followers.

Jesus condemns the people seeking him as soon as they find him.  He accuses them of being interested only in receiving a free lunch, not in having eternal life in him.  Their inability to understand spiritual things is made evident by their first question, “What must we do?”  They were unable to understand that eternal life is a gift (John 6:27), not something men earn by doing good things.

Jesus says that feasting on the “bread of life” that he gives is nothing less than delighting oneself in him.  He is the one that satisfies spiritual hunger.  He will surely satisfy the hunger of those whom the Father has given to him.  These people will never slip out of his hand, and he will surely save them and resurrect them from the dead.  Their gaze will always be fixed on him.

The Jews grumble all the more, because Jesus claims to have come from heaven.  Jesus redirects them from their grumbling to the truth of God he is giving to them.  Their desire to “do” things to merit God’s favor is entirely wrong.  Salvation can only come from God, as a gift, since the Father draws men to Jesus.  People do not come by their own volition.  Furthermore, he is the only pathway to get to the Father.  It is only by belief in him and his crucifixion in the “flesh” that people may have eternal life.

Jesus’ words about his “flesh” cause the Jews to grumble all the more.  Jesus keeps going, telling the crowd that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood if they are to have eternal life.  That is to say, his body will soon be nailed to a cross and he will shed his blood on behalf of sinners.  Just as bread is fundamental to physical life, so is Jesus’ death fundamental to spiritual life. Those who depend on the “bread of life” that he offers will never die.

These two miracles are recorded by John to be signs pointing to Jesus’ greatness.  We know that Jesus is the Lord of All, since he is able to provide for his people and control all of nature.

Throughout the Bible, food is often regarded as a blessing from God.  For example, Solomon says, “I commend joy, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful” (Eccl 8:15).  Whenever we eat, we should be reminded that he provided all of our needs, even those that many would take for granted, like the gift of food.

So, when we look at this familiar story about Jesus feeding the five-thousand, we should remember that he is the one that blesses in abundance.  He has previously changed water into wine, now he changes a few bits of food into enough to feed a multitude.  He does both of these miracles to announce that the great expected king has arrived, the Messiah has come.

This is a high point in Jesus’ ministry.  The crowds (most of whom are more interested in a free lunch than anything else) believe that he is the great prophet (Deut 18:15).  Fueled by nationalistic fervor, they are prepared to carry him on their shoulders to Jerusalem and pronounce him to be their king in defiance of their Roman overlords.  Jesus rejects this earthly kingdom.  Ironically, the crowds are prepared to make him king, yet on their own terms, and they fail to inherit the kingdom he offers to them.

The second miracle displays Jesus’ control over nature.  He may have rejected the earthly kingdom that the Jews offered to him, but he was and still is the king of the whole universe controlling even the wind and the sea.  Though the storm was raging and the darkness setting in on the disciples in their little boat, Jesus came walking across the water and calmed the sea, transporting them safely to the shore.

Through these two miracles, we should realize that Jesus is able to provide for all of our needs.  There is nothing that he is unable to provide, there is no problem he is not able to solve.  He is our provider and our protector through all of life’s troubles, and he will bless us in abundance both in this life and in the life to come.

John’s purpose in this passage of scripture is to convince us that Jesus is the Son of God, is himself God, and therefore equal to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in power and glory.  Jesus is fully and completely God. We should believe that Jesus must be God, since he does the things that only God can do, he judges men as only God can judge, and reliable witnesses reveal to us that he is God.

Jesus infuriated the Jewish leaders by saying “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (John 5:17).  One the one hand, Jesus makes a distinction between himself and God the Father.  One is the Father, the other the Son.  On the other hand, it is also true that they are both God.  God the Father ceased his work of creating on the sixth day, but this does not mean that he ceased working altogether.  He always works by sustaining the universe by his power.  Without him the entire universe would cease to be (Acts 17:28).  God the Son shares in this work, for if the Son quit working everything would disappear.  This makes him equal with God the Father.  Indeed, Jesus cannot act in independence from God the Father.  He can only do the things he sees his Father doing, and whatever the Father does the Son does also.  Jesus is saying, in effect, “Whenever you see God do anything, I am also doing it.”

Jesus had already said enough to make the Jews mad with him, but he goes much farther.  He claims to be the perfect and righteous judge of all mankind.  The Old Testament taught that God is the one that raises people from the dead and gives them live (Deut 32:29; 1 Sam 2:6; 2 Kings 5:7) and the one who judges their sins (Gen 18:25; Judges 11:27; 1 Sam 2:10; Psalm 67:4).  Jesus claims to be the judge and the one who gives spiritual life.  He is the one who will raise their bodies from the dead as well. Eternal life is given only to those who trust in him, not to those who reject his deity like the Jewish leaders who were standing before him.

Finally, Jesus tells the Jewish leaders that God has sent them reliable witnesses concerning him.  In Jewish courts, there always had to be two or three witnesses concerning any matter (Deut 19:15).  Thus Jesus invites the Jewish leaders to an imaginary courtroom in which several witnesses testify to his deity.  God the Father has testified by sending John the Baptist and by giving men the Old Testament, which speaks of Christ.  John the Baptist also testified about Jesus’ deity, calling people to believe in Jesus.  Jesus’ own works testify to his deity, since he displays the power of God as he works miracles.  Scripture testifies to him, by pointing people to him.  Last, Moses testified to him, and if the Jews had really known anything at all about Moses, they would have accepted him as the Messiah.

October 5, 2008

The Jewish leaders did not get mad at the lame man because he was carrying his mat, nor did they get mad at Jesus for healing the man.  They got mad because of when the man was carrying the mat and when Jesus healed the man.  These things occurred on the Sabbath, and broke the laws that the Jewish leaders had established to make sure that people did not work on the Sabbath.  In Jesus’ day (and our day as well) many people were confused about what they should do on the Sabbath.

The story of the Sabbath begins in Genesis 2:1-3, where God provides a model for us as he rests on the seventh day.  He blessed this day and set it apart from the other days.  When man rests on the seventh day, he does so remembering that God rested and will one day provide us with eternal rest in him.  During our time on earth, our lives are not be characterized by endless toil, but our lives are to stop periodically so that we can consider the goal of our lives, to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

Of course, the most important passage of scripture concerning the Sabbath can be found in Exodus 20:7-11.  Here, the Israelites are to “remember” the Sabbath which God established during creation (vs. 11), and they are to make the observance of Sabbath a defining characteristic of themselves as God’s people.  Likewise, we as God’s people should make Sabbath observance a defining characteristic of our lives.

So why do we worship on the first day of the week (Sunday) rather than the seventh day of the week (Saturday)?  The answer comes by understanding the radical implications of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Jesus was raised from the dead on the first day of the week, rather than the last day.  He rose from the dead, and all who are united with him will also rise from the dead.  In light of the resurrection, it is appropriate that the people of God worship on Sunday.  We do not labor for six days and hope for a time of rest in the future, but rather we begin our weeks embracing the eternal rest that has already come in Christ.  Through the death and resurrection of Christ, we already have eternal life now.  It is appropriate that we worship on Sundays, rejoicing in Christ’s victory over death.  His resurrection reminds us of that we have eternal life even now, and that one day our bodies will rise from the grave just like his.

So what are we to do on the Lord’s Day, since we are not spending the day working?  To be sure, we should engage in a celebration of worship together and fellowship together with other believers (Heb 10:25).  Jesus healed people on the Sabbath, and so we should also follow his example by doing acts of kindness and mercy.  And, of course, it is a day in which we should rest, enjoying God.