Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Six

                                                                                                                                      Verses 22-27

The multitude saw Jesus command His disciples to depart in a boat while He walked away toward a mountain. The next day evidently the multitude expected Jesus to return from the mountain and preach to them again, but they soon discovered that Jesus was not there. They also discovered that while boats had come across the sea to where they were, no other boat had departed from where they were except the one that held Jesus' disciples. They then reasoned that somehow Jesus had followed His disciples. So some of them got into boats and went over the sea to find Jesus. When they found Jesus, they asked Him how He had gotten there.

Jesus ignored their question perhaps simply because He wanted them to wonder how He got there. Jesus sometimes taught in a way that tested people's spiritual intelligence. A person can reason in a spiritual way just as a person can reason in a material way. Jesus often tried to get people to adhere to their spiritual natures and think in spiritual ways. Jesus tried to get the rich young ruler to think in spiritual ways, but he clung to his material nature. Matthew 19:16-22. If those who sought Jesus had only allowed themselves to think in spiritual ways, they would have realized that Jesus, being a miracle worker, would be able to go anywhere He desired to go.

Jesus simply replied by preaching to them again. Jesus rebuked them because they sought for Him only because He could multiply food to feed their material natures. They ignored the fact that Jesus had worked a miracle to do that. They should have thought about why Jesus could do such miracles and not just about the food.

Jesus continued to preach to them in such a way as to try to get them to think in spiritual ways. As He did so often in His ministry, Jesus used a material object to represent a spiritual truth. Jesus told them that physical food would perish, but the spiritual food that He could give them would supply them with everlasting life. These people represented that part of the human race who would not believe in Jesus while they were still alive in the flesh, and yet, Jesus told them that He would give them everlasting life. Jesus could only have meant that a day will come when He will give them everlasting life despite their present unbelief. Jesus said that He could do that which He said because He had been "sealed" by His Father. Jesus could only have meant that He possessed the entire Holy Spirit with the power to preserve and protect all who come to Him in faith. John 3:34. Jesus told them that He was God, and He gave them an obscure prophecy that a day will come when He will give them the faith that they will need for Him to raise them from the dead to everlasting life. Revelation 5:11-14; John 5:28-29; Philippians 2:9-11; Genesis 8:20-21; Psalm 36:6. The multitude that Jesus fed represented the entire human race, and the food they ate represented the everlasting life that Jesus will eventually give to all humans, some by His grace and all others in a great worship service near the end of the world. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14.