Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 6:14
Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
14. Then those men ] Rather, The men therefore.
the miracle that Jesus did ] Better, the sign that He did. The name Jesus has been inserted here, as elsewhere, because this once was the beginning of a lesson read in church. The same thing has been done in our own Prayer Book in the Gospels for Quinquagesima and the 3rd Sunday in Lent: in the Gospel for S. John’s Day the names of both Jesus and Peter have been inserted; and in those for the 5th S. in Lent and 2nd S. after Easter the words ‘Jesus said’ have been inserted. In all cases a desire for clearness has caused the insertion. Comp. Joh 8:21.
that prophet that should come ] Literally, the Prophet that cometh: the Prophet of Deu 18:15 (see on Joh 1:21). But perhaps the Greek participle here only represents the Hebrew participle, which is properly present, but is often used where a future participle would be used in Latin or Greek. S. John alone tells us the effect of the miracle on those who witnessed it: comp. Joh 2:11; Joh 2:23. These two verses (14, 15) supply “a decisive proof that the narrative in the fourth Gospel is not constructed out of that of the Synoptists, and we might almost add a decisive proof of the historical character of the Gospel itself The Synoptists have nothing of this Yet how exactly it corresponds with the current Messianic expectations! Our Lord had performed a miracle; and at once He is hailed as the Messiah. But it is as the Jewish, not the Christian Messiah. The multitude would take Him by force and make Him king. At last they have found the leader who will lead them victoriously against the Romans and ‘restore the kingdom to Israel.’ And just because He refused to do this we are told a few verses lower down that many of His disciples ‘went back, and walked no more with Him,’ and for the same cause, a year later, they crucified Him. It is this contrast between the popular Messianic belief and the sublimated form of it, as maintained and represented by Christ, that is the clue to all the fluctuations and oscillations to which the belief in Him was subject. This is why He was confessed one day and denied the next It is almost superfluous to point out how impossible it would have been for a writer wholly ab extra to throw himself into the midst of these hopes and feelings, and to reproduce them, not as if they were something new that he had learned, but as part of an atmosphere that he had himself once breathed. There is no stronger proof both of the genuineness and of the authenticity of the fourth Gospel than the way in which it reflects the current Messianic idea.” S. pp. 123, 124.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
That Prophet … – The Messiah. The power to work the miracle, and the benevolence manifested in it, showed that he was the long-expected Messiah.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 6:14-21
Then those men when they had seen the miracle
The sequel to the miracle
I.
THE EFFECT OF THE MIRACLE ON THE MIND OF THE MULTITUDE. They, like all Jews of the time, were expecting the Prophet like unto Moses. The Divine commission of Moses was authenticated by the miraculous manna; what then could this miracle mean but that He who worked it was the antitype of Moses. And then Moses had been king as well as prophet. Who could be better qualified for leader and commander of the people than Jesus: Time and place were both favourable for raising the standard of rebellion, and five thousand resolute hearts formed no mean nucleus of an army which would soon include every Jewish patriot. Measures, therefore, were taken to compel Christ to yield to their wishes.
1. In this incident we have an example of zeal without knowledge. Christ was indeed a King, but had they apprehended in what sense nothing would have been further from their wishes.
2. Zeal without knowledge must at all times be most injurious to the true interests of the cause of Christ.
II. THE PROCEDURE OF CHRIST (Joh 6:15).
1. He withdrew.
(1) To frustrate their purpose.
(2) To show that His kingdom was not of this world.
(3) To ascend a higher throne, not by popular election, but by the cross.
2. He withdrew to pray, thus indicating the nature of the glory He sought. He had much to plead for on behalf of the multitude on whom the miracle had been lost, and in behalf of His disciples who had more than half taken the infection. Lessons:
(1) Those who misuse Christ and His blessings must not wonder if they are deprived of His presence.
(2) Spiritual safety is closely connected with retirement from dangerous associations. Christ not only withdrew Himself but sent the disciples away Mat 14:22; Mar 6:45).
III. THE DANGER OF THE DISCIPLES (verses 17, 18).
1. Those who seek and find their delight in Christs presence know the bitterness of His absence. How often are Christs disciples tossed with tempests and constrained to hard and apparently fruitless service!
2. The Master is ever at hand when the storm is fiercest and where the labour is hardest.
IV. THE ADVENT OF CHRIST.
1. Aroused their fears.
2. Elicited their prayers.
3. Secured their safety.
4. Brought them safely to shore. (A. Beith, D. D.)
Three views of Christ
I. AMID THE MOUNTAINS (Joh 6:15).
1. A couch of repose after the physical exhaustion of the day.
2. A temple of prayer (Mat 14:23; Mar 6:46).
(1) For Himself that Be might resist the temptation He had just escaped as in the wilderness (Mat 4:8-10), and that He might be supplied with strength for the coming miracle.
(2) For the people who were as sheep without a shepherd.
(3) For the disciples gone on their perilous voyage.
3. A tower of observation of His disciples as now He watches us from heaven.
II. UPON THE SEA (Joh 6:19-20).
1. The mysterious apparition.
(1) What it was. Christ really walking on, not swimming in, the sea, not walking on the shore. There is no difficulty here to those who believe the previous miracle.
(2) Why it came. To proclaim Christ Lord as the Controller of nature, as the bread had proclaimed Him its Creator.
(3) When it appeared. Between three and six oclock in the morning when the rowers were at their wits end. So Christ interposes when our need is greatest (Amo 5:1).
(4) How it was regarded. With fear, as Christs unusual appearances often are.
2. The familiar voice.
(1) What it said (Joh 6:20). A note of assurance (Isa 43:2; Isa 54:11).
(2) How it acted. It dispelled their alarms.
III. IN THE BOAT (Joh 6:21).
1. The wind was hushed (Mat 14:32). To lull the souls hurricanes when Christ steps within (Joh 14:27).
2. The disciples were amazed (Mar 6:51), and led to worship Mat 14:33). Christs supremacy over nature unmistakably betokened His Divinity.
3. The voyage was completed.
Learn:
1. The dependence Jesus ever felt on prayer.
2. The notice Christ continues to take of His people.
3. The ability Christ possesses to help in the time of need.
4. The glory Christ shall yet bring to His people and to this material world.
5. The object of all Christs manifestations to lead men to recognize His Divinity. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
This is of a truth that Prophet
The distinguishing characteristics of Christ as a Teacher
I. THOSE WHICH CANNOT BE IMITATED.
1. His originality.
2. His miraculousness.
3. His authority.
II. THOSE WHICH MUST NOT BE IMITATED.
1. His positiveness.
2. His self-assurance.
3. His self-representation.
III. THOSE WHICH SHOULD BE IMITATED.
1. His naturalness.
2. His simplicity.
3. His variety.
4. His suggestiveness.
5. His definiteness.
6. His catholicity.
7. His spirituality.
8. His tenderness.
9. His faithfulness.
10. His consistency.
11. His devoutness. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
The misinterpretation of the Divine sign by the perverseness of the carnal mind
They draw from the sign a correct conclusion (a true doctrine) and a false application (a bad moral). So with orthodox faith a false (ecclesiastical or secular) morality is often associated. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)
This is of a truth the prophet
1. They beheld in Jesus the fulfilment of prophecies fondly remembered, of hopes long deferred. The Law-giver who was to be a second Moses; the Deliverer who was to be a more mighty conqueror than Joshua; a King more glorious than David, wiser than Solomon, was come at last.
2. They who said so were not men learned in the Scriptures, like the Jewish scribes and rulers; book-learning, even of the highest sort, is apt to make those who have it slow in forming their judgments, backward and cold in declaring them. Nor were they men of the city, who might have gained some knowledge at second hand from those who had searched the Scriptures. But they were a crowd of rude, simple folk, come together from the hill country of Galilee, where old traditions had been handed down from age to age by word of mouth. With an instinct more true, more strong, than the opinions of the learned, they perceived that the bread which they received in such abundance could only have been supplied by God Himself, and that in Him who fed them thus God was revealed as clearly as when He spake by the profits to their forefathers.
3. Confessions of this kind, all the more impressive from their being artless and involuntary, are often to be met with in the four Gospels, and are just such as we might expect men would make on seeing of a sudden the supernatural power and wisdom of Christ (see Joh 1:49; Luk 5:8; Mar 15:39).
4. It is not to be supposed that the like effects should be wrought in us, who have heard and read a hundred times the record of these things. Miracles the most amazing, discourses the most persuasive, the heartrending tales of sufferings inconceivable, sound in our ears as old familiar truths; and familiarity too often leads to neglect, even though it may by no means breed contempt. They who live in sight of a beautiful landscape lose in some degree the perception of its loveliness. They would like to view it with fresh eyes; as the strangers do who come to visit them.
There is stealing over us a spirit of indifference, which for any saving purpose is as dangerous as the spirit of downright unbelief.
5. God does not suffer us to remain without a warning in this deadly stupor. Not by miracles, not by the visitation of angels, but in the course of His providence, by what we call the accidents of life, He arouses us and makes us see the Saviour as plainly revealed to our inward vision as He was to those men sitting on the grass and eating the bread which He gave them in the wilderness.
6. And what sort of things are they which bring us to see in His beauty and majesty that Saviour who hitherto has had no form or comeliness in our sight, so that we have even hid our faces from Him? Have we been led to look with abhorrence on one of our darling sins and yearn for the purity which once we had, and which we cannot of ourselves recover? And has a ray of comfort from Him been shed upon us, kindling a new hope in our breasts, making us embrace as a living truth what had become to us a dead form of words, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners? Or has the heavenly ray reached you by another path? It is in love that thou art chastened, that the weight of thy affliction, which is but for a little moment, may gain thee the exceeding and eternal weight of glory. I have been the Man of sorrows, and now am at Gods right hand. I know thy afflictions, and even the glory here am touched with a feeling of them. But such is Gods law, equal for all; only through tribulation canst thou enter the kingdom here above. Have such consolations given a new turn to your thoughts, and thrown some light on the deep mystery of your life? If so, you might well exclaim, This is of a truth the Prophet that cometh–that Herald of life and joy, so greatly needed by the sons and daughters of affliction, so longed for by me, sorrow-stricken, sick at heart as I am! This is He, the Desire of all nations! And if, in any of these ways, the good impression has been made upon you, take care to keep it by giving good heed to it, and especially by often calling to mind the circumstances under which you first received it. Otherwise it will soon wear out like the stagnant pool of Bethesda, troubled for an instant by the angels wing. (W. W. G. HumphryG. Humphry, B. D.)
When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and make Him a King
Christ not a King by force
1. Some men have greatness thrust upon them. From all such Christ separates Himself, knowing that what is done by compulsion may by compulsion be undone. So He would not have a kingdom forced upon Him, nor would He be forced on a kingdom. Wonderful words are written on His royal banner: Put up thy sword, My kingdom is not of this world.
2. This is the second time that He declined a crown. It is not every man who has two such chances. Everything depends on how you get hold of your kingdom. If you have offered false worship for it, it will rot in your grip; if you have been forced on reluctant hearts, they will east you off in the spring tide of returning power.
3. There is something in this Man more than in any other man. The more His character is studied, the more independent we shall be of theological evidences. The grand claim of Christ to supremacy goes right up to the centre and necessity of things.
I. NOTHING HAS TO BE DONE IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BY VIOLENCE, by mere force. Did not Christ come to be a King? Yes. What matter then the way of becoming one? Everything. A man must prove his title to his seat, or he may be unseated.
1. It is not right to do right in a wrong way. It is right that you should come to church: it would be wrong to force you to come. The end does not sanctify the means.
2. Force is powerless in all high matters.
(1) You can force a man to kneel, to repeat devotional words while you stand over him sword in hand; but he defies you to make him pray.
(2) You can force a man to pay his debts, but you cannot make him honest. Honesty cannot be created by force, nor dishonesty be punished by it.
(3) You can compel a nation to build a church, but you cannot compel it to be religious. The very attempt to force a man to be religious destroys the temper which alone makes religion possible.
I. While all this is true on the human side, the real point to be considered is that JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF WOULD NEVER REIGN BY MERE FORCE. If you could force men to Christ, you could never force Christ to men. It is the Infinite that declines. Jesus reigns by the distinct consent of the human mind. If any man will open to Me, I will come in. Come unto Me all ye, etc.
III. If He will not be a King by force, BY WHAT MEANS WILL HE BECOME KING? 1, Preach Me, is one of His injunctions. Show My doctrine, purpose, spirit, throughout the world. That is a roundabout way, but the swing of the Divine astronomy is in it. It is not the thought of a common man.
2. Live Me: Let your light so shine, etc.; I have given you an example; Follow Me.
3. Lift Me up. If I be lifted up, etc.
(1) On the Cross of Atonement.
(2) By us when we love His law, submit to His bidding, reproduce His temper, receive with unquestioning heart all the gospel of His love.
IV. Now for the philosophical explanation of all this. WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US. This Man lays hold of our entire love, and thereby secures an everlasting reign. The man who proceeded to capture human nature as this Man proceeded is presumably a true king. No adventurer could have acted as Jesus Christ.
1. Little child, Jesus would not have you forced to be good. He says, I am knocking at the door of your heart; let Me in.
2. He makes no proposition about going out.
3. The Church, like the Master, should not rule by force, but by love. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Secret prayer
Secret prayer feeds the soul as secret morsels feed the body; therefore it is said to be the banquet of grace, where the soul may solace itself with God, as Esther did with Ahasuerus at the banquet of wine, and have whatsoever heart can wish or need require. While the disciples were perilling and well-nigh perishing, Christ was praying for them; so He is still for us at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (J. Trapp.)
Jesus on the mountain above the political designs of men
He alone.
I. He alone THE FREE ONE who is more a King than any prince on earth.
II. He alone THE CLEAR-SIGHTED ONE, who sees above all craftiness of policy.
III. He alone THE SILENT BUT DECISIVE DISPOSER OF ALL THINGS. (Lange.)
The kingship of Christ
Like Joseph our Lord suffered for the sin He so carefully avoided. The charge of claiming to be King was brought up against Him at His trial. Yet while shunning the bauble of an earthly sceptre, He was King of kings, and will for ever wear many crowns. To make Him King was of the Father, not of poor mortals. How low their ideas of Messiahs kingdom! What had loaves and fishes multiplied to do with Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever? (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
And when even was now come His disciples went down unto the sea and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum
A night upon the deep
I. OF DISAPPOINTED HOPE.
II. OF UNSUCCESSFUL EFFORT.
III. OF DEEPENING ALARM.
IV. OF DIVINE MANIFESTATION.
V. OF SUPERNATURAL DELIVERANCE. (T. Whitelaw, D,D.)
Jesus absent in darkness
It is sometimes worth while to try to meet the mournful and worried state of mind in tile churches, when the good are longing, and perhaps waiting, for a revival of religion to come.
I. THE PICTURE. In the course of description of the scene on Lake Genesaret, it will not be difficult to suggest these points:
1. The close and rather humiliating connection between wistful souls and weary bodies.
2. The disheartening result of a rapid transition from exhilarating crowds to unromantic and lonely labour.
3. The feeling of desertion when, perhaps, Jesus is praying for us all the time.
4. Desolate frames of feeling give no release from diligent duty. Our question now is, What did those disciples do?
II. THE LESSON.
1. They kept on rowing. That is, they did precisely what they would have done if Jesus had arrived.
2. They headed the boat for Capernaum. That was what He bade them do Mat 14:22).
3. They bailed out the water if any rushed into the boat. All the worldliness in the worlds sea cannot sink Christs Church, if only the waves are kept on the outside of it.
4. They strained their eyes in every direction for the least sign of Christs coming.
5. They cheered each other. (C. S. Robinson.)
The absent Christ
It is always dark until Jesus comes to us, or until we go to Jesus. This is the case with
I. THE AWAKENED SINNER who, in contact with Jesus, passes from darkness into light.
II. THE DESPONDING CHRISTIAN (Psa 43:1-5; Psa 51:1-19; Psa 130:1-8.).
III. THE AFFLICTED CHRISTIAN.
IV. THE BEREAVED. If Thou hadst been here our brother had not died. But when He comes He is the Resurrection and the Life. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Christians in darkness when Christ is not near
I. CHRISTS THOUGHTS ABOUT HIS DISCIPLES.
1. He leaves men for a time in fear and danger.
(1) After the fall the whole world was thus left till Christ came in the flesh.
(2) After the Incarnation He remained thirty years in obscurity. He remained far distant from Bethany till Lazarus was dead. He fingered on the mountain while His disciples were struggling with the storm.
(3) At this day His people wonder at His absence, and exclaim, Thou art a God that hidest Thyself.
2. His delay is no proof of His neglect. His delights were with the children of men before His abode was among them. When absent from Lazarus His heart was full of a brothers love. Here His purpose was to allow their extremity to become His opportunity. So when He left the world it was that the Comforter might come. And now it is only love that detains Him within the veil.
3. Never, and nowhere, do they who wait on the Lord wait in vain. To weary watchers the time seemed long but the coming was sure. Faithful is He that promised. He that keepeth Israel shall not slumber.
II. THE DISCIPLES THOUGHTS ABOUT CHRIST.
1. It was a matter of the heart. In knowledge they were children; and like children, too, in single-eyed, confiding love. Afterwards they became more enlightened. But their first love was not weaker than their last.
2. Observe how this child-like love operates in time of trial.
(1) The waters were permitted to swell and frighten the children, although their Elder Brother held those waters in the hollow of His hand. But these true men would neither be bold in the absence of their Lord, nor faint in fear when He was at their side.
(2) The storm and darkness made their hearts quiver, and all the more surely did these hearts turn and point toward the mountain-top when Jesus, the Daysman, stood laying His hand upon God.
(3) But these dangers though great were material and temporal; whereas the dangers which induce us to seek a Saviour are our own sin, and the wages that it wins. But these burdens will make you doubly welcome.
(4) The example of these Galileans is shown here as in a glass, that every mourner may thereby be encouraged to long for the presence of the Lord Psa 50:15).
(5) Love to Christ in a human heart, kindled by Christs love to man and laying hold of the love that lighted it, is the one thing needed. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
Christ, though absent, has not deserted us
Jesus was absent all the while. He leaveth them, as it were, in the suburbs of hell. Howbeit as the eagle when she flieth highest of all from the nest doth ever cast a jealous eye upon her young, so doth this heavenly eagle. (J. Trapp.)
Night with Jesus
1. It was night, The disciples were alone, which made it double night.
2. It was night at sea. To be without Jesus in the day and on land was sad, but this was sadder.
3. It was a night of toil: rowing four miles in the teeth of the wind; and Christs absence made their labour doubly hard.
4. It was a night of danger. The storm had broken loose and there was no Jesus. Let us look at these works in their more general aspect in relation to the Saint and to the Church.
I. NIGHT.
1. The sinners history is one long starless night.
2. The saint has his night, too, of sorrow, bereavement, and pain.
3. The Church, too, has her night–poverty, persecution, desertion. There shall be no night there, but there is night now.
II. NIGHT WITHOUT JESUS.
1. The sinners night is altogether without Him.
2. The saint has night when Jesus seems distant. Without Him altogether we cannot be–Lo, I am with you always. But there are times when He is not realized; and the issue of these is to bring Him nearer.
III. NIGHT WITH JESUS. With Him the darkness is as the light. For having Him we have
1. Companionship.
2. Protection.
3. Safety.
4. Comfort.
5. Strength.
6. Assurance of the coming day.
IV. DAY WITH JESUS. He does not say, Let Me go, for the day breaketh. And if His presence has made the night pleasant, what will not that presence make the coming day! (H. Bonar, D. D.)
They see Jesus walking on the sea
Does He not always walk upon it? Is not His majestic tread on the Galilean waters typical
I. OF HIS MARCH ALONG THE AGES? No figure seems more literal than that by which we speak of the waves, the current, the sea of time. How constantly is the lapse of years, obliterating races, memorials, great names, the dykes set up by arms, laws, industries and enterprise. Of the civilized nations now on earth but one in Christs time had a name or a place except the Jews. The languages then spoken are now dead. The manners and religions have passed away. Meanwhile, Jesus has walked upon the waves. The gospel has never been submerged or been less than the one shaping, controlling power.
1. At the outset fierce and bitter persecution assailed Christianity, but from beneath the heel of the Caesars it mounted their throne.
2. Then commenced the severer trial of corrupting prosperity; and still its ordinances, doctrines, and influence could not be wholly corrupted.
3. Invading races threatened to destroy it, but yielded to it.
4. During the dark ages it gave birth to noble charities, home life, etc.
5. In these latter ages how many and powerful have been the assailing forces, scientific and infidel; but no sooner has any fountain of knowledge become deep and clear than it has invited His tread and rolled tributary waves to His feet.
6. And lo! as centuries roll on His circuit widens. His steps lay hold on the ends of the earth and the islands of the sea.
II. OF HIS WAY IN THE HEART OF MAN.
1. How fierce the waves that threaten our peace and well being! Passion, appetite, lust, pride, desire, fear. What power but Christs can walk these waves? But let Him enter and these billows know their Lord.
2. What miracles of mercy has He not wrought in these subject souls!
(1) Here was intemperance or lust. No love could stem the torrent; but Christ entered and appetite was quelled and all is now pure and peaceful.
(2) In that spirit passion raged; Christ entered and vengeance has given place to love and forgiveness.
3. In every soul into which He enters, He walks as sovereign. The forces of character mould themselves at His command.
III. OF HIS PATHS AS HERALD AND GUIDE TO THE LIFE ETERNAL. (A. P. Peabody, LL. D.)
Christ in the night storm
I. Many of my hearers may be just now in a FEARFUL NIGHT-STORM OF TROUBLE.
1. One is in the darkness of a mysterious providence.
2. Another is under a tempest of commercial disaster. He has lost the rigging of his prosperity; and his pride has come down as a top-sail comes down in a hurricane.
3. Another one is toiling with the oars against a head-sea of poverty.
4. The guiding rudder of a dear and trusted friend has been swept away by death.
5. Still another one is in a midnight of spiritual despondency, and the promise-stars seem to be all shut out under gloomy clouds. My friend A–is making a hard voyage, with her brood of fatherless children to provide for. Friend B–has a poor intemperate husband on board with her; and Brother C–s little bark hardly rises out of one wave of disaster before another sweeps over it. There are whole boat-loads of disciples who are toiling at rowing over a dark sea of trouble.
II. THE HOUR OF THE CHRISTIANS EXTREMITY IS THE HOUR OF CHRISTS OPPORTUNITY. At the right moment Christ makes His appearance. We do not wonder at the disciples astonishment and alarm. But straightway Jesus speaks unto them, and in an instant their fears vanished and the wind ceased. Now, good friends, who are breasting a midnight sea of trouble, open the eye of faith, and see that Form on the waves! It is not an apparition; it is not a fiction of priestly fancies. It is Jesus Himself! One who has been tried on all points as we are, and yet without sin. Christ comes to you as a sympathizing, cheering, consoling Saviour. His sweet assurance is, Lo! I am with you. Fear not; I have redeemed thee. Receive Him into the ship. No vessel can sink or founder with Jesus on board. Let the storms rage, if God sends them. Christ can pilot you through. It is I! There may be a night coming soon on some of you, when heart and flesh shall fail you, and the only shore ahead is the shore of eternity. If Jesus is only in the bark, be not afraid. Like glorious John Wesley, you will be able to cry aloud in the dying hour, The best of all is, God is with us!
III. THE TEACHINGS OF THIS INSPIRING SCENE TO THOSE WHO ARE IN A MID-SEA OF CONVICTIONS OF SIN AND TROUBLINGS OF CONSCIENCE. The storm of Divine threatenings against sin is breaking upon you. You acknowledge that you are guilty. Alarming passages from Gods Word foam up around your distressed and anxious soul. You cannot quell this storm, or escape out of it. Toiling at the oars of self-righteousness has not sent you a furlong nearer to the desired haven. You have found by sore experience that sin gives no rest, and that your oars are no match against Gods just and broken law. Friend! Listen! There is a voice that comes sounding through the storm. Hearken to it! It is a voice of infinite love, It is I! Whosoever believeth in Me shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life. If you will only admit this waiting, willing, loving Jesus into your tempest-tossed soul, the wind will cease. Christ can allay the storm. Receive Him. Do all He asks, surrender the helm to Him, and you can then feel as the rescued disciples did when they knelt down in the drenched bottom of their little boat, and cried out, Truly this is the Son of God! (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)
It is I, be not afraid
The Lords voice to His people
I. PROCLAIMING HIS PRESENCE.
1. In unexpected places.
2. At unwonted times.
3. In unfamiliar forms.
II. DISPELLING FEAR
1. Of danger.
2. Of death.
3. Of evil. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
The recognition of Christ in the hour of death
The recognition of Christ coming to help and comfort in the hour of severest trial is ever the Christians privilege. If he see Him not in the storm, he must look again and again, for he has but failed to recognize Him. This truth we would apply only to that last fearful storm which wrecks the bark in which the soul has been crossing the sea of life.
I. TO RECOGNIZE HIM WE MUST EXPECT HIM.
1. He has promised to be there. Lo, I am with you alway. When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee.
2. He who has given His life for us will not fail us in that most trying moment.
II. BY WHAT SIGNS MAY THE CHRISTIAN KNOW HIM?
1. The Christian soul knows Him by His visage. Infinite love breaks through every disguise when viewed by the soul fitted to recognize it.
2. Knows Him because He announces Himself: It is I, be not afraid.
3. Knows Him because of the calm that comes with Him. Conclusion: Martyrs and Christians in all ages have borne testimony to the recognition of Christ in the last hour of life. (Homiletic Monthly.)
The symbolism of the voyage
A believer must have on the sea of life, Patience for his tackling, Hope for his anchor, Faith for his helm, the Bible for his chart, Christ for his captain, the breath of the Spirit to fill his canvas. (J. Trapp.)
Afraid of Christ
Of Him in whom was laid up all their comfort. How oft are we mistaken and befooled by our fears! (J. Trapp.)
Timely comfort
He waits to be gracious. Our extremity is His opportunity. God brings His people to the mount, with Abraham, yea, to the very brow of the hill, till their feet slip, and then delivers them. When all is given up for lost then comes He in, as oil of an engine. (J. Trapp.)
The storm on the lake
My experience in this region enabled me to sympathize with the disciples in their long nights contest with the wind. I have seen the face of the lake like a huge boiling cauldron. The wind howled down the valleys from the north-east and east with such fury that no efforts of rowers could have brought a boat to shore at any point along that coast. To understand the cause of these sudden and violent tempests we must remember the lake lies low–six hundred feet lower than the ocean–that water-courses have cut out profound ravines and wild gorges, converging to the head of the lake, and that these act like gigantic funnels to draw down the cold winds from the mountains. On the occasion referred to we pitched our tents on the shore, and remained for three days and nights exposed to this tremendous wind. We had to double-pin all the tent ropes, and frequently were obliged to hang with our whole weight upon them, to keep the quivering tabernacle from being carried up bodily into the air. No wonder the disciples toiled and rowed hard all that night. (W. M.Thomson, D. D.)
The disciples and their absent Master
I have observed that a shipmaster, especially when the presence of currents and the proximity of land make his burden heavy, shakes the compass sharply, and then watches the point on which the quivering needle finally settles down. The shaking makes the master more sure that the needle points truly to its pole. In those days the magnet was not known. No trembling compass on the deck that night told the steersman how to hold his helm, after the mountains had disappeared in night; but an instrument more mysterious and equally true within those simple seamen had once been touched by divine, forgiving mercy, and pointed steadfastly now to the Source of saving power. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
The pathway of the King
I. THE STRUGGLING TOILERS. Is it not the history of the Church in a nutshell? Is it not the symbol of life for us all? The solemn law under which we live demands persistent effort, and imposes continual antagonism upon us; there is no reason why we should regard that as evil, or think ourselves hardly used, because we are not fair-weather sailors. The end of life is to make men,; the meaning of all events is to mould character. Anything that makes me stronger is a blessing, anything that develops my morale is the highest good that can come to me. And so be thankful if, when the boat is crossing the mouth of some glen that opens upon the lake, a sudden gust smites the sheets and sends you to the helm, and takes all your effort to keep you from sinking. Do not murmur, or think that Gods Providence is strange, because many and many a time when it is dark, and Jesus is not yet come to us, the storm of wind comes down upon the lake and threatens to drive us from our course. Let us rather recognize Him as the Lord who, in love and kindness, sends all the different kinds of weather which according to the old proverb, makes up the full summed year. The solitary crew were not so solitary as they thought. That little dancing speck on the waters which held so much blind love, and so much fear and trouble, was in His sight, as on the calm mountain-top He communed with God. No wonder that weary hearts and lonely ones, groping amidst the darkness, and fighting with the tempests and the sorrows of life, have ever found in our story a symbol that comes to them with a prophecy of hope and an assurance of help, and have rejoiced to know that they on the sea are beheld of the Christ in the sky, and that the darkness hideth not from His loving eye.
II. THE APPROACHING CHRIST. If we look for a moment at the miraculous fact, apart from the symbolism, we have a revelation here of Christ as the Lord of the material universe, a kingdom wider in its range and profounder in its authority than that which that shouting crowd had sought to force upon Him. His will consolidates the yielding wave, or sustains His material body on the tossing surges. Two lessons may be drawn from this. One is that in His marvellous providence Christ uses all the tumults and unrest, the opposition and tempests which surround the ship that bears His followers as the means of achieving His purposes. We stand before a mystery to which we have no key when we think of these two certain facts; first, the Omnipotent redeeming will of God in Christ; and, second, the human antagonism which is able to rear itself against that. And we stand in the presence of another mystery, most blessed, and yet which we cannot unthread, when we think, as we most assuredly may, that in some mysterious fashion, He works His purposes by the very antagonism to His purposes, making even head-winds fill the sails, and planting His foot on the white crests of the angry and changeful billows. How often in the worlds history has this scene repeated itself, and by a Divine irony the enemies become the helpers of Christs cause, and what they plotted for destruction turned out rather to the furtherance of the gospel. Another lesson for our individual lives is this, that Christ, in His sweetness and His gentle sustaining help, comes near to us all across the sea of sorrow and trouble. A sweeter, a more gracious sense of His nearness to us, is ever granted to us in the time of our darkness and our grief than is possible to us in the sunny hours of joy. It is always the stormy sea that Christ comes across, to draw near to us; and they who have never experienced the tempest have yet to learn the inmost sweetness of His presence. Sorrow brings Him near to us. Do you see that sorrow does not drive you away from Him.
III. THE TERROR AND THE RECOGNITION. I do not dwell upon the fact that the average man, if he fancies that anything from out of the Unseen is near him, shrinks in fear. I do not ask you whether that is not a sign, and indication of the deep conviction that lies in mens souls, of a discord between themselves and the unseen world; but I ask you if we do not often mistake the coming Master, and tremble before Him when we ought to be glad? Let no absorption in cares and duties, let no unchildlike murmurings, let no selfish abandonment to sorrow, blind you to the Lord that always comes near troubled hearts, if they will only look and see. Let no reluctance to entertain religious ideas, no fear of contact with the Unseen, no shrinking from the thought of Christ as a Kill-joy keep you from seeing Him as He draws near to you in your troubles. And let no sly, mocking Mephistopheles of doubt, nor any poisonous air, blowing off the foul and stagnant marshes of present materialism, make you fancy that the living Reality, treading on the flood there, is a dream or a fancy or the projection of your own imagination on to the void of space. He is real, whatever may be phenomenal and surface. The storm is not so real as the Christ, the waves not so substantial as He who stands upon them. They will pass and melt, He will abide for ever. Lift up your hearts, and be glad, because the Lord comes to you across the waters. And hearken to His voice: It is I! Be not afraid. The encouragement not to fear follows the proclamation, It is I! What a thrill of glad confidence must have poured itself into their hearts, when once they rose to the height of that wondrous fact I There is no fear in the consciousness of His presence. It is His old word, Be not afraid. And He breathes it whithersoever He comes; for His coming is the banishment of danger and the exorcism of dread.
IV. THE END OF THE TEMPEST AND OF THE VOYAGE. It is not always true, it is very seldom true, that when Christ comes on board opposition ends, and the purpose is achieved. But it is always true that when Christ comes on board a new spirit comes into the men who have Him for their companion, and are conscious that they have. It makes their work easy, and makes them more than conquerors over what yet remains. With what a different spirit the weary men would bend their backs to the oars once more when they had the Master on board, and with what a different spirit you and I will set ourselves to our work if we are sure of His presence. The worst of trouble is gone when Christ shares it with us. Friends! Life is a voyage, anyhow, with plenty of storm, and danger, and difficulty, and weariness, and exposure, and anxiety, and dread, and sorrow, for every soul of man. But if you will take Christ on board it will be a very different thing from what it will be if you cross the wan waters alone. Without Him you will make shipwreck of yourselves; with Him your voyage may be as perilous and lonely as that of that poor Shetland woman in the Columbine a month ago, but He will take care of you, and you will be guided on shore, on the one little bit of beach where all the rest is iron-bound rocks, on which whoever smites will be shattered to pieces. Then are they glad where they would be. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. This is of a truth that prophet] Spoken of, De 18:15, viz. the Messiah. How near were these people at this time to the kingdom of heaven!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
When they had seen the miracle of Christs multiplying five loaves and two fishes, to the feeding of five thousand persons, besides women and children; a miracle of that nature, that never any such was wrought either by Moses or any prophet, and to the working of which a creating power was necessary; this brought them to a strong persuasion that this was the Messias; for he is signified by that phrase,
that prophet that should come into the world, as appeareth from Luk 7:19.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14, 15. that prophet(See onJoh 1:21).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then those men,…. The five thousand men, who had been fed with the loaves and fishes:
when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did; in feeding so many of them, with so small a quantity of food; in multiplying the provision in such a prodigious manner, that after they had eaten to the full, so many baskets of fragments were taken up:
said, this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world; meaning that prophet, that Moses spoke of, in De 18:15; for the ancient Jews understood this passage of the Messiah, though the modern ones apply it to others; [See comments on Ac 3:22]. And these men concluded that Jesus was that prophet, or the true Messiah, from the miracle he wrought; in which he appeared, not only to be like to Moses, but greater than he.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Saw the sign which he did ( ). “Signs” oldest MSS. have. This sign added to those already wrought (verse 2). Cf. John 2:23; John 3:2.
They said (). Inchoative imperfect, began to say.
Of a truth (). Common adverb (from ) in John (7:40).
The prophet that cometh ( ). There was a popular expectation about the prophet of De 18:15 as being the Messiah (John 1:21; John 11:27). The phrase is peculiar to John, but the idea is in Acts (John 3:22; John 7:37). The people are on the tiptoe of expectation and believe that Jesus is the political Messiah of Pharisaic hope.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
That should come [ ] . Literally, the one coming. Rev., that cometh. Vv. 15 – 21. Compare Mt 14:22 – 36; Mr 6:45 – 52.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Then those men,” (hoi oun anthropoi) “Therefore the people,” the estimated 15,000 or more men, women, and children who were benefactors of this miracle of the loaves and fishes, which Jesus multiplied, Mat 14:21; Mar 6:44.
2) “When they had seen the miracle that Jesus did,” (idontes ho epoiesen semeion) Upon beholding what a miracle that he did,” of His power over nature, first demonstrated to a wedding party in Cana in Galilee, Joh 2:11; Joh 3:2; Joh 20:30-31.
3) “Said, This is of a truth that prophet,” (elegon hoti houtos estin alethos ho prophetes) “They said that this is surely (truly) the prophet,” of the tribe of Judah, Gen 49:10; Deu 18:15-18.
4) “That should come into the world.” (ho erchomenos eis ton kosmon) “Who should come into the world,” to whom all true prophets gave witness, Act 10:43; Luk 24:25-27; Luk 24:44-45.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
14. Those men, therefore. The miracle appears to have been attended by some advantage, that they acknowledge the author of it to be the Messiah; for Christ had no other object in view. But immediately they apply to a different and improper purpose the knowledge which they have obtained concerning Christ. And it is a fault extremely common among men, to corrupt and pervert his truth by their falsehoods, as soon as he has revealed himself to them; and even when they appear to have entered into the right path, they immediately fall away.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
REACTION OF THE MULTITUDES
Text 6:14-15
14
When therefore the people saw the sign which he did, they said, This is of a truth the prophet that cometh into the world.
15
Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew again into the mountain himself alone.
Queries
a.
Who is the prophet the people are looking for?
b.
Why would they resort to force?
Paraphrase
When the people saw the miracle which Jesus performed, they began saying, This is surely the Prophet who is to come into the world. Jesus knowing, therefore, that the people were about to come and seize Him in order that they might forcibly make Him king, withdrew again unto the mountain, Himself alone.
Summary
Enthusiasm grips the multitude, Jesus reads their hearts and sees their materialistic determination to violently force Him to be king.
Comment
When the people saw the sign and had satiated their hunger they immediately concluded, This must surely be the promised Messiah-Prophet. All in the same day they had heard him speak of the kingdom of God on earth; many of them had seen and experienced His miraculous healing, and everyone had witnessed and partaken of the abundance of miraculously provided food, Some would recall His first sermon in Nazareth where He promised release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind and liberty to the bruised.
Because of their carnal attitude, the miracle merely confirmed them in their false Messianic hopes, for they interpreted it as a sign and pledge of the highest temporal prosperity under His rule . . .
Goaded by visions of temporal glory and prosperity, the multitude decided to seize Him by force, if necessary, and proceed triumphantly to Jerusalem and the Passover. As before, Jesus read their hearts and knew beforehand what they were about to do.
The Synoptics tell us that Jesus first sent the Twelve away in a boat toward the western shore of the sea. Then, by the majesty and authority of His countenance and voice, He dismissed the multitudes, which were already showing signs of taking Him, and went farther into the mountain and began to pray (cf. Mat. 14:23; Mar. 6:45). Jesus prayed for about eight or nine hours. The carnal attitude of the people sorely distressed and tempted Him to avoid the cross. He also wanted to pray that the Twelve not become saturated with this materialistic vision of Israels Saviour.
Quiz
1.
Can you name three things the people had experienced which would cause them to be so enthusiastic?
2.
How did Jesus take charge of the situation?
3.
How long was Jesus in prayer?
4.
Why and for whom would Jesus need to pray?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(14) Miracle.Better, sign. (Comp. Joh. 2:11.)
That Jesus did.Better, that He did. The example is instructive, as showing how words were added at the beginning of a portion read in church. See, among other examples in the Book of Common Prayer, the Gospels for St. John the Evangelists Day (Joh. 21:19), Quinquagesima (Luk. 18:31), the Third Sunday in Lent (Luk. 11:14), the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Joh. 8:46), the Second Sunday after Easter (Joh. 10:11).
This is of a truth that prophet.This verse is peculiar to St. John. The reception or rejection of Christ is always present to his thoughts. He remembers that the effect of the miracle on the minds of those men, was that they were convinced that this was the Prophet whom they expected, and for whom they had before taken John the Baptist (Joh. 1:21).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Of a truth that Prophet This expresses the popular expectation of the Messiah, based on Deu 17:15-20. Upon the same passage the Samaritan woman, with higher feeling, expected a Messiah who would “teach us all things;” some of these expect a Messiah who will fill their bellies gratis. A Messiah-king who will furnish them a good living and lazy enjoyment is just the Messiah for them!
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Joh 6:14. Then those men, when they had seen, &c. This vast multitude of people finding their hunger removed, and spirits recreated, as well as their taste delighted by the meal, were absolutely sure it was no illusion: as St. John expresses it, they had seen the miracle, so could not entertain a doubt, or form an objection.
In this manner did he, who is the bread of life, feed probably upwards of ten thousand people with five loaves and two small fishes, giving a magnificent proof, not only of his goodness, but of his creating power; for, after all had eaten to satiety, the disciples took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces of meat, each disciple a basket; in which, as every one of the multitude may be supposed to have left a little, there must have been much more than the quantity at first set before the Lord to divide. This stupendous miracle therefore, without all doubt, was conspicuous, not to the disciples only, who, carrying each his basket in his hand, had an abiding sensible demonstration of its truth, but to every individual guest at this divine feast, who had all felt themselves delighted, filled, refreshed, and strengthened by the meal. We may just observe, that the expression the prophet who should come into the world, was the usual characteristic by which the Jews described their Messiah. See the Inferences on this chapter.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 6:14-15 . , . . .] the Prophet who (according to the promise in Deu 18:15 ) cometh into the world, i.e . the Messiah .
] come and carry Him away by force (Act 8:39 ; 2Co 12:2 ; 1Th 4:17 ), i.e . to Jerusalem, as the seat of the theocracy, whither they were journeying to the feast.
] comp. Joh 6:3 . He had come down from the mountain on account of the feeding, Joh 6:11 .
] as in Joh 12:24 . See Toup. ad Longin . p. 526; Weisk.; Heind. ad Charm , p. 62.
The enthusiasm , of the people being of so sensuous a kind, does not contradict Joh 6:26 .
The solitude which Jesus sought was, according to Mat 14:23 , Mar 6:46 , that of prayer , and this does not contradict John’s account; both accounts supplement each other.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
2. The Miraculous Withdrawal Over The Sea
Joh 6:14-21
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
See the parallels in Mat 14:22-33; and Mar 6:45-56. [Omitted by Luke. Alford: An important and interesting question arises, Why is this miracle here inserted by St. John? That he ever inserts for the mere purpose of narration, I cannot believe. The reason seems to me to be this: to give to the Twelve, in the prospect of so apparently strange a discourse respecting His Body, a view of the truth respecting that Body, that it and the things said of it were not to be understood in a gross corporeal, but in a supernatural and spiritual sense. And their very terror and reassurance, tended to impress that confidence in Him which kept them firm, when many left Him, Joh 6:66.P. S.]
Joh 6:14. The Prophet that is to come.This denotes here not the fore-runner, but the Messiah, referring to Deu 18:15; as is proved (1) by the addition: that should come into the world; (2) by the inclination to make Him a king.
Joh 6:15. Take him by force.Carry Him forcibly into their circle, and conduct Him in triumphin order to make Him a king; as festival pilgrims, lead Him to Zion in triumphal procession. The arbitrary, confused, and premature idea of the subsequent triumphal entry.
He withdrew again into the mountain. The denotes not only return to the mountain, but also a second withdrawal of Himself from the pressure of the people. He sought solitude, to escape the people; but this of course does not exclude His sanctifying the solitude by prayer.
Joh 6:16. And when evening came.It would not appear from Joh 6:17, but it certainly does from the parallels, that this was the second evening, i.e., the later even-tide, from the decline of the day till night.
Joh 6:17. Having entered a ship.The before is hardly intended to repeat once more that they had already gone to sea which had been said in Joh 6:16, but to express that, after embarking, they took an involuntary course, driven by a fearful storm. See Com. on Matthew and Mark on the passage. According to Mark the disciples were to go before the Lord in the direction of Bethsaida. This must mean the eastern Bethsaida, not the western, because the return itself was to Capernaum; therefore a coast-wise passage northerly is intended. Christ wished to embark in a solitary place, unseen by the people. The storm intervened; the disciples were driven out into the midst of the sea. Then Jesus came to them on the sea; i.e., He met them as a helper in their distress under a contrary wind; not merely went after them as they were driving with a favorable wind. [Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, 2 p. 30) maintains, in opposition to the usual view, that there was but one Bethsaida, and that it was situated at the entrance of the Jordan into the lake, a few miles north-east of Tell Hm, the supposed present site of Capernaum. The disciples would naturally sail from the southeast toward Bethsaida in order to reach Capernaum.P. S.]
And Jesus had not yet come to them.As the disciples were not expecting Jesus to walk on the sea, the yet has been found troublesome, and has been dropped. But the sentence means: They had not yet been able to take up Jesus according to the original plan of the voyage. [See Text. Notes.]
Joh 6:18. And the sea began to rise.An explanation of their misfortune. We repeat: A violent gale, by which they would have come immediately twenty or thirty furlongs westward, could not have been to them a contrary wind, if they had intended to go westward without Jesus.
Joh 6:19. Five and twenty or thirty furlongs.The lake was forty stadii wide (Joseph. De Bell. Jud. III., 10, 11).48 The indefinite measure is very graphic; it reflects the situation: Darkness and an angry sea, in which accurate measurement of distance was impossible at the time. Matthew says the midst of the sea, Joh 14:24; denoting, however, an earlier moment, when Jesus was still on the shore. John marks the later moment, at which the disciples saw the Lord. The is a Greek measure (Luther: Feldweg, furlong). Eight stadia made a Roman mile. A stadium is the fortieth part of a geographical or German mile [a little less than an eighth of an English mile, and nearly equal to the English furlong; so that the twenty-five or thirty stadia would come between three and four miles.E. D. Y.]. Of the full two leagues breadth of the lake the ship had therefore already passed a league and a quarter or a league and a half.
They behold Jesus.Graphic present. And they ware afraid.Moderate expression of a powerful feeling. Compare the synoptical Evangelists. So little had they expected His coming to them in this way.
Joh 6:21. Then they desired to receive him.They still desired to take Him into the ship; that is, they still stood to their purpose. In the effort to take up the Lord on the eastern shore, the ship had already gone nearly to the western. The Evangelist finds it superfluous to state that the Lord now embarked, and sailed the small remaining distance with the disciples. He likewise passes over the falling of the wind.
According to the usual view of the event, in which Jesus went after the disciples, instead of meeting them, the expression of John is very hard to be explained. And here again Meyer (after the example of Lcke and De Wette) brings out a collision with the synoptical Evangelists. They wished to take Him into the ship, and immediately (before they carried out the ) the ship was at the land. He seems even to introduce here a wondrous agency of Jesus bringing the ship immediately to land, notwithstanding its distance of five or ten stadia and the surging of the sea. An unfortunate attempt at harmony [it is then said by Meyer, p. 255, 5th ed.]: They willingly received Him (Beza, Grotius, Kuinoel, Ammon, and many others; see against it Winer, p. 436); which is not helped by the assumed antithesis of a previous unwillingness (Ebrard, Tholuck). The sentence says simply this: They were still occupied with the effort to take Him up on the eastern coast, when by this miraculous intervention of Christ they at once reached the western side.
The , in the versions and expositions, to a great extent fails of its full force. It often denotes a secret, skilful or mysterious removal, escape, or disappearance. And so especially here, where the Lord was put upon extreme deliberation, and could properly use a miracle to rid Him of the multitude. If they still followed Him in spite of all, we must consider that certainly all could not follow Him in the boats which had come from Tiberias, and that Christ still found it necessary in the synagogue at Capernaum to put off the people by meeting them sternly and with the boldest declarations.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The culmination of the enthusiasm of the Galilean populace for Jesus is here brought out, and by John alone, with great distinctness. The great popular mass, a host of five thousand chiliastically excited men, would violently lift a Messianic standard with Him and for Him. But because Jesus cannot yield Himself to this project, the culmination of their enthusiasm is at the same time its turning-point.
2. In respect to the miracle of Christs walking on the sea; compare the Com. on Matthew and Mark.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The misinterpretation of the divine sign of Christ by the perverseness of earthly-minded men.They draw from the sign a correct conclusion (a true doctrine) and a false application (a false moral).So with orthodox faith a false (ecclesiastical or secular) morality is often associated.The flight of Jesus before the revolutionary design of the people: It occasions (1) His retiring in solitude to the mountain; (2) His sending the disciples before Him with the ship; (3) His hastening in the night, ghostlike, over the sea.Jesus on the mountain above the political designs of men; He alone: 1. He alone the free One, who is more a king than any prince of earth. 2. He alone the clear-sighted One, who sees far above all craftiness of policy. 3. He alone the silent but decisive Disposer of all things.The flight from the sedition and tumult: 1. The flight of Christianity (Christ). 2. The flight of the Church (the ship).The disciples in the ship, driven from east to west, a foreshadowing of the fortunes of the church.The miracle of the walking on the sea, as to its holy motives: Occasioned (1) by a holy flight; (2) by a holy solicitude.Christs superiority to nature.Christ the sea-king (He, not Mary, the true Stella Maris).Christ as master of the waterthe helper in perils of the sea (not the holy Nepomuc).Christ the helper in perils of water and of fire.While they were wishing to take Him up on the eastern shore, they were ready to land on the western.The hour when the Church becomes perfectly joyful in the presence of her Lord in this world, is the hour when she lands on the shore of the other.How the Lord suddenly puts an end to the reverses of His people.Every new necessity of the Christian, a new revelation of the glory of Christ. Every new necessity of man, a new revelation of the miraculous help of God.Perils of the night; perils of storm; perils of the sea. Sufferings from night, from storm, and from sea; Christ, the Deliverer.
Starke: Gods wonders among them that go down to the sea in ships. Psa 107:23.Pro 30:19.Wis 14:3.Be not troubled when thou must journey from one place to another, etc. The goal is all rest.Comest thou into a dark night of tribulation, etc.: Jesus is there.The perils of ones calling.Good fortune is followed again by ill; but to believers all is for the best.Canstein: Christ lets His people come almost to extremity, but then loses not a moment. In our troubles we commonly set God before us in a different character from the true; as an object of terror.Zeisius: What a mighty hero is thy Saviour and mine!Quesnel: Christs word and presence make everything good and tranquil again.Cramer: Christ has more ways of helping than one.Zeisius: Thus the saints come through great storms and trouble to the haven of eternal peace and safety.Gossner: When Christ is in the ship, the ship receives more help from Him than He from it. So is everything which we call the service of God more profitable to the servant than to the Lord whom he serves.Heubner: Distance, mountain, and sea cannot separate Him from His.Schleiermacher: We see here at first a certain dependence on an immediate and bodily presence, which is always united with a certain want of faith in the spiritual, and of a sense of spiritual power and agency.Schenkel: How do we stand towards Christ? (1) So as to have Him flee from us? (2) Or so as to have Him come to us?
[Wordsworth: Joh 6:20. I am ( ), the Ever-living One, Jehovah, the Author of Life. I am always at hand and never pass by you, therefore be not afraid, but trust in Me. Our Lord allows us to be in trial and danger, to struggle in the storm, to endure for a long time, in order that our patience and perseverance and faith may be proved, and that we may resort to Him who alone can save us. We are often in darkness and in storms, and the devil and evil men assail and affright us: but let us listen to Christs voice, , , and when human help fails, then divine aid will come. Terrors pass by, but Christ never passes by. He ever says, It is I. I am He who always am, who ever remain; therefore have faith in Me. And if we are rowing in the Apostolic Ship of the Church, doing our duty there in our respective callings, and if we desire to receive Christ into the Ship, He will not only quell the storm, but give us a fair breeze, and we shall soon be at the harbor where we would bethe calm harbor of heavenly peace. They who are in the Ship, and are rowing in the storm; they who labor in the Church, and continue in good works to the end, will receive Christ, and will at length arrive at the waveless haven of everlasting life.A fine Greek poem of Anatolius on Christ in the tempest, translated by J. M. Neale: Fierce was the wild billow (see Schaffs Christ in Song, p. 451).P. S.]
Footnotes:
[48][According to Robinson, the lake is about twelve English miles long, and five or six broad.P. S.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 1635
CHRISTS MESSIAHSHIP PROVED
Joh 6:14. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
THE friends of infidelity wish it to be thought, that the Gospel which they reject is not supported by such a weight of evidence as would justify them in yielding to it an implicit and unqualified obedience. But they have, unperceived by themselves, a bias against the truth; and will suffer any slight difficulty, which they are not able to solve, to outweigh all the most decisive proofs that can be adduced in its support. Where the mind is candid, and open to conviction, it will be satisfied with that measure of evidence which the subject itself fairly admits of, without demanding such as it is unreasonable to expect. The persons of whom my text speaks, afford us a good example in this respect. They had seen a stupendous miracle wrought before them, even the feeding of five thousand men, besides women and children, with five loaves, and two small fishes: and they were convinced that no person could work such a miracle as this, unless God were with him; and therefore, without further hesitation, they said, We are expecting the Messiah; and this must be he: Of a truth, this is that Prophet who should come into the world.
From this acknowledgment I will take occasion to consider,
I.
The proofs which Christ gave of his Messiahship
Miracles may properly be regarded as proofs of a divine mission
[I am not prepared to say that a miracle is of itself, independent of all its circumstances, a sufficient proof that the person performing it comes from God. For there may be circumstances so peculiar, as to account for Gods permission of such an event, even whilst the persons through whose instrumentality it occurs, are no better than hypocrites and impostors. The magicians of Pharaoh were permitted to imitate some of the miracles of Moses, for the very purpose of demonstrating the more forcibly, that Moses alone was invested with any authority from him. They were permitted to turn their rods into serpents: but Moses rod swallowed up all of theirs. They were permitted to inflict several plagues; but they could not remove one. Moses alone was empowered to do that. Nor could they follow Moses beyond a certain extent, or even avert from themselves the plagues that Moses inflicted: so that they themselves were made witnesses for Jehovah, and were constrained to say, This is the finger of God.
Again: God having done so many and great wonders for his people, may see fit to try their faith and love, in order that the faithful amongst his people may display their fidelity, and the hypocritical their hypocrisy. And for this end we may conceive him to suffer some impostor to assume the character of a prophet, and, by the performance of some sign or wonder, and the prediction of some event that shall come to pass, to give occasion for his people to manifest what is in their hearts. Indeed, he warned his people that he would suffer such occurrences, in order to try their fidelity to him [Note: Deu 13:1-3.].
But we cannot conceive that he should suffer such a trial to proceed so far as to impose on those who were truly upright. We can have no doubt, but that to a humble and prayerful soul there would appear, at the same time, very abundant evidences of the imposture: for otherwise the true prophets would be unable to prove the divine authority of their mission.
Admitting, however, that such occurrences may, for wise and gracious purposes, be permitted, we still must regard miracles, when wrought expressly in confirmation of the divine authority, as sufficient attestations to the mission of him who works them. These were the credentials whereby Moses was to authenticate his mission to the Israelites in Egypt [Note: Exo 4:1-9.]. By this test the worshippers of Baal agreed to have the contest decided between Elijah and them: The God that answereth by fire, let him be God: and, on seeing the testimony borne from heaven to Elijah, they exclaimed, The Lord, he is the God! the Lord, he is the God! To this test he referred the disciples of John, who were sent to inquire whether he were the Christ [Note: Mat 11:3-6.] And to the same he continually referred, as beyond all possibility of contradiction decisive of his own mission [Note: Joh 3:36; Joh 10:24-25; Joh 10:37-38; Joh 14:10-11.] ]
And, beyond all doubt, the miracles which Jesus wrought were sufficient for this end
[They were altogether innumerable; insomuch that the inspired historian says of them, that if they should be written every one of them (with all their attendant circumstances), the world itself would not contain the books that should be written. But we need not go further than the miracle before us. The Disciples, so far from being confederate with their Master to impose upon the multitude, acknowledged, with the utmost simplicity, the impossibility of providing for such a multitude in that wilderness. Our Lord had made the inquiry of them for the express purpose of calling their attention, and the attention of all around them, the more fully, to the miracle which he was about to work. The five thousand men were all placed in ranks, a hundred in length and fifty in breadth, that every thing might be done in their sight, and without a possibility of collusion. The food having been blessed by our Lord, was committed to the Apostles for distribution; and, as fast as they disposed of it, the remainder was augmented in their hands, and all were supplied to the full: and after all had eaten and been satisfied, the fragments which were taken up far exceeded in quantity the original measure which they possessed. All the people were themselves witnesses of what passed before their own eyes: and if there had been any deception, it could not but have been discovered. This miracle, therefore, gave them a very just ground for the conclusion which they instantly formed; namely, that Jesus must be the Messiah, who had been predicted, and was at that time expected to make his appearance in the world.]
Concluding Jesus, then, to be the true Messiah, let us consider,
II.
Our duty to him under that character
The history before us will enable us to state this to advantage. Our duty to him is,
1.
To believe in him
[At the time that Jesus abode on earth, it was generally expected that the Prophet spoken of by Moses would appear; the Prophet like unto Moses, who should be a Lawgiver, a Mediator, a Prophet, a Ruler, a Deliverer [Note: Deu 18:15; Deu 18:18-19.]. Such a prophet Jesus professed to be [Note: Act 3:22-23.]: and such a prophet he was. The people who saw this miracle had no doubt of it: they said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world. Let the same conviction be on your minds. View him as the true Messiah. Regard him in the full extent of his character, as resembling Moses and give him, from your inmost souls, the honour due unto his name ]
2.
To become his devoted followers
[Hear from him all that he has come to reveal: for God has said, that Whoso will not hear that Prophet, he will require it of him. How zealous the people were in his cause, you are told in the very words following my text: They sought to take him by force, and to make him their King. In this they erred, because they thought of him only as a temporal Prince. And therefore he withdrew, and hid himself from them. But if you will, in a spiritual view, make him your King, I will venture to assure you, he will not withdraw from you, or decline the honour you would assign him. You may even come by force, the holy violence of faith and prayer with which the kingdom of God is taken; and he will yield to your importunity, and establish his throne in your hearts. O that we could see somewhat of this ardour in the minds of those who profess to acknowledge him as their Messiah! Let every rival be banished from your hearts and let Jesus henceforth reign the unrestrained governor of your souls.]
3.
To look to him for all that your utmost necessities can require
[Though he had withdrawn from them, they concluded that he would follow his Disciples; and therefore they followed him, though with much difficulty, and to a great distance, in the confidence that he would supply their every want. Herein also they erred, because they sought only the meat which perisheth: but if you will seek of him the meat that endureth unto everlasting life, he assures you, that he will give it to the utmost extent of your necessities; for that God the Father has sealed him to this very office [Note: ver. 27.]. You see how he supplied thousands of persons with food: and can he not equally supply your wants, though they should be ever so numerous? He can; he will. He has all fulness treasured up in him for that very end. He is ascended up above all heavens, that he may fill all things [Note: Eph 4:10.]. Indeed, by the ministry of his word, he is working this miracle yet daily. How many does he nourish and strengthen by the bread of life that we dispense! Know, then, that he will not commit this ministration to us in vain, as it respects you: for God has said, He will supply all your need out of his riches in glory by Christ Jesus [Note: Php 4:19.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
Ver. 14. This is of a truth that prophet ] Yet anon they are at it, “What sign showest thou?” that you may know them to be the Pharisees’ disciples. Of whose sour leaven also that in the next verse savours; where they would needs take him by force to make him a king, Joh 6:15 . They could not imagine a Messiah that had not an earthly kingdom.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
14. ] On . see note on ch. Joh 1:21 , . ;
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 6:14-25 . The immediate impression made by the miracle and the consequent movements of Jesus and the crowd .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Joh 6:14 . The conclusion drawn from the miracle by those who had witnessed it, was that this was “the beginning of that reign of earthly abundance, which the prophets were thought to have foretold”. See Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. , 552. This at once found expression in the words . “This is indeed,” or “of a truth,” as if the subject had been previously debated by them, or as if some had told them He was “the prophet who should come into the world,” , used of the Messiah by the Baptist (Mat 11:3 ) without further specification; but John adds his favourite expression . That the people meant the Messiah ( cf. Deu 18:14-19 ) is shown by the action they were prepared to take.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Then = Therefore. A supplementary note by John.
those = the.
seen. Greek. eidon. App-133.
of a truth = truly.
that prophet that should come = the prophet who is coming. See Joh 1:21.
world. See note on Joh 1:9.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
14.] On . see note on ch. Joh 1:21,- . ;
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 6:14-15. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
Our Lord Jesus had just wrought the miracle of feeding the five thousand men with five loaves and two small fishes, so he was very popular at that time. The people even wanted to come and take him by force, and make him a king, but he escaped from them, for he knew the value of that popularity. What was it but a puff of wind? Probably, many of the very people, who tried then to crown him were among the crowds in Jerusalem who cried, Crucify him! Crucify him! And, nowadays there may be a great deal of anxiety to hear the gospel, yet very little result may follow from it. A crowded house of prayer is certainly a very hopeful sight, yet it may end in disappointment to those who are looking for souls to be won for the Saviour.
Joh 6:16-26. And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh unto the ship and they were afraid. But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went. The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone; (Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:) When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
How faithful and truthful the Master was! There was in him nothing of the politic concealment of his knowledge, and the endeavor to please everybody, which we see in so many. He speaks the truth whether it offends or pleases his hearers, and so should his servants do. Ye seek me, said he, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Joh 6:27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed.
He rebuked their excessive ardor in seeking meat for their bodies, and urged them rather to seek food for their souls. But did you ever notice what an extraordinary piece of advice our Saviour gave to these people? It is one of his paradoxes. He bade them not to labour for the very thing which they could not get without labouring, and to labour for that which they never could get by labouring. Labour not for the meat which perisheth: yet how else can we have it? But for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you. It is a free gift, and not the reward of labour, yet Christ told them to labour for it. Did he not mean just this, Let not your greatest efforts be expended upon the things of time and sense, but let them go out after eternal and spiritual blessings.
Joh 6:28. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
What is the noblest work that we can do? What is that work which will please God most?
Joh 6:29. Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
The grandest work that any man can do is to believe on the Saviour whom God has sent. There are some who despise faith, but Christ was not of that number. He honoured it exceedingly when he said, in effect This is the Godlike work, the work which is nearest to Gods heart, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Dear friend, art thou struggling after that which is high and noble? Wouldst thou do the best days work that was ever done in any mortal life? Thou run not to this or that invention of thine own, but be content to believe on him whom God hath sent. This is the first, the highest, the noblest work, the work which gives to God the greatest pleasure.
Joh 6:30. They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
What strange questions for them to ask when he had amazed them with his wonderful works.
Joh 6:31. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
They talk about bread again, how they persist in coming back to that! You know the questions that men of the world are always asking, What shall we eat, what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed? This is the worldings wretched trinity.
Joh 6:32. Then Jesus said to them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven;
Moses did not give Israel the manna, God gave it. And it did not from heaven; that is, from the celestial sphere, in the sense in which Christ, the true Bread, came from heaven.
Joh 6:33. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
The Bread of God is Jesus Christ himself. The man who would feed so as to satisfy his spiritual nature, and live thereby, must feed upon Jesus Christ himself.
Joh 6:34. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
They did not understand the meaning of their own prayer. Sometimes, in our services, when people are very quickly convinced of sin, and fall to praying on a sudden, a wise conductor ought to enquire carefully whether it is not a mistaken prayer. I do not doubt that many of the cries and many of the professions made in enquiry-rooms are mistaken ones after all, and that we put down as the results of our work much of which we shall have cause to be ashamed when it comes to the time of testing.
Joh 6:35. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Hear this, poor starving people; the wants of your soul can all be met by Jesus Christ. If you have him, the hunger of your spirit shall be appeased, and the thirst of your heart shall be quenched.
Joh 6:36. But I said unto you. That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
How the Saviour brings the truth home to these people, and he might do the same to some of you. You pray, Give us this bread; and he replies, I have given it to you, yet you have not eaten it. You have seen me, you have heard me, you know me, and yet you do not believe on me. If Christ were to appear in this building at this moment, might he not say to many of you, You have heard of me from your childhood, and you know all you need to know about me, yet you have not believed in me? Would God it were not so with so many of you!
Joh 6:37-40. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Fathers will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
This is the glorious gospel of the blessed God, that everyone, who looks to Christ with the eye of faith, hath everlasting life, and though his body may die, yet even for that there is everlasting life too, for Christ will raise him up again at the last day, Oh, that you would all believe on Jesus Christ and so find that life eternal!
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Joh 6:14. – , miracle-the Prophet) Ch. Joh 3:2, [Nicodemus to Jesus] No man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him; Joh 9:17, [The restored blind man to the Jews] He is a prophet.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
world
kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
This: Joh 1:21, Joh 4:19, Joh 4:25, Joh 4:42, Joh 7:40, Gen 49:10, Deu 18:15-18, Mat 11:3, Mat 21:11, Luk 7:16, Luk 24:19, Act 3:22-24, Act 7:37
Reciprocal: 1Sa 10:7 – signs Mar 6:15 – a prophet Joh 2:23 – many Joh 7:12 – some Joh 7:31 – believed Joh 7:39 – Of Joh 8:30 – many Joh 9:17 – He is Joh 11:27 – which Act 2:22 – a man
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
PROPHECY FULFILLED
This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
Joh 6:14
We may reverently take up the words of the admiring crowd as they beheld the miracle of multiplied bread, and expand them in the light of a fuller revelation. This is of a truth that Prophet Who has come once in the mystery of the Incarnation; Who is coming again to gather together the elect saints to be partakers in His glory. We can confidently declare that He is the Prophet foretold; the Living Bread that came down from heaven. As a proof that He is Divine we point thankfully to His regenerating work, and exultingly to His power to satisfy the craving of human souls. We may examine and criticise His teaching, and comment upon the perfection of His example. We do it in the spirit of glowing pride, delighting in Him as servants in a powerful and generous master. Let us lovingly contemplate the result of His redeeming work, and pronounce Him in our hearts and with our lips to be the Messiah foretold and the King coming to judgment.
Those who lived in the days of the first Advent were conscious of a longingof a void within the soul which all human systems had hitherto been unable to fill. No philosophy, no moral law, no mere device of man, could still the cry upon human lips, nor the tumult in human hearts.
I. Jesus differs from all human teachers, and the remedy, which He declares to be unlimited in its powers, is not a system or a code of morals, but a Person, God veiled in human flesh, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. He presents Himself as our Redeemer and Restorer. He is not only the Priest, but the Victim, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world; He is not only the Mediator, but the ground of the mediation; not only the Teacher, but the sum and substance of all that is taught. If Jesus be within the human soul, purified for His temple, then and then only the longing is satisfied and the cry is hushed.
II. Jesus Christ presents Himself to man as a moral being, and is Himself the mainspring of the morality which He teaches. Roman and Jewish laws could not curb unbridled passion by the strong hand of power; but the foundations of Christian morality are loyalty and love, and the object of their rapturous devotion is EmmanuelGod with us. By love man is taken out of himself and raised into a higher and purer atmosphere; the once worshipped shrine of self is battered down, and in its place is reared and beautified a holier altar. Loyalty to Jesus lifts the soul from earth to heaven, and sustains it in the sincere worship of all that is pure. Thus is Jesus all in all to man as a moral being.
III. And man, as a spiritual being, beholds Jesus the Good Physician, and acknowledges that if he be willing he can be made whole. Man, at his best, has an insatiable longing to feel after God if haply he may find Him. In Jesus, God comes down from heaven to earth.
Rev. W. E. Coghlan.
Illustration
Look out upon the world as it is and imagine what it would have been had not Jesus come, the Prophet foretold, had He not sealed with His death of agony the lessons of His self-sacrificing life. The spiritual world without Jesus Christ would be like the natural world without the sun: we should now be groping miserably in the dark without life and immortality brought to light. All that is best and purest in human society is the result, directly or indirectly, of the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth and the beauty of His undeviating example. Charitable institutions for the needy; hospitals for the sick in peace, and the wounded in war; the sanctity of the marriage vow; the purity of domestic life; the respect given to women; the abolition of slavery; mercy to the conquered foe; the bond of brotherly love; even-handed justice to rich and poor; forgiveness of injuries; the careful training of the young, and the keen anxiety for the salvation of other mens souls; all these things are the results, directly or indirectly, of the life and death of Christ.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
4
The miracle served two purposes; it satisfied the hunger of the people, and also presented a proof of the personality of Jesus. This was one of the purposes of all miracles performed by Jesus. (See chapter 20:30, 31.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 6:14. When therefore the people saw the sign that he did, they said. The people,i.e., the people of Joh 6:10, those who had been fed and satisfied. Are we, however, to understand that they saw the wonder, but saw in it no sign, as it is said by our Lord below, Ye follow me not because ye saw signs; or may we suppose that even to this multitude the miracle was a sign, like the miracles of healing which they had witnessed before? (Joh 6:2). The latter interpretation is nearer to the words of John, and is more probable. If in any sense the cures were signs to the beholders, the multiplying of the loaves must have been a greater sign. Their own words confirm this, for they receive the miracle as the heaven-appointed token of the mission of Jesus. Still they did not really look beneath the surface; in the depth of meaning which the word has to John, the wonderful work was not apprehended as a sign. Our Lords design in this chapter is, as we shall see, to remove their ignorance on this very point.
This is of a truth the prophet that cometh into the world. To an Israelite a miracle at once suggested the thought of a prophet (Deu 13:1), as the general name for one who had received a Divine mission. But here it is of the Prophet that they speak, no doubt referring to the promise of Deu 18:15 (see note on chap. Joh 1:21). The general expectation which lay in the hearts of men at this time clothed itself in different forms of expression, according to the events which drew it forth. Perhaps the miracle of Elisha (2Ki 4:43) rose to their thought, or that of Elijah (1Ki 17:14); and the memory of their ancient prophets drew along with it the promise of the Prophet now to come. More probably it was to the miracle of the manna that their minds recurred, and the work of Moses brought to recollection the promise which Moses left behind him for the last days. The words used by the people leave no doubt that here at least the Prophet is identified with the Messiah, whose most frequent designation seems to have been He that cometh (Mat 11:3, etc.), or more fully, He that cometh into the world (comp. chap. Joh 1:9).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 14, 15. The people therefore, having seen the miracle which He did, said: This is of a truth the prophet that should come into the world. 15. Jesus therefore, knowing that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him King, withdrew again into the mountain Himself alone.
Here is the beginning of the crisis of which we are to see the development even to the end of the chapter. A selection among the adherents of Jesus becomes necessary to purify His work from all political alloy. Jesus had received this multitude with open arms; He had made a feast for them. It was an emblem of that feast which He was procuring for them in a higher realm. By thus giving His bread, He had symbolized that gift of Himself which He had just made to mankind.
But instead of rising to the hope and desire of such a spiritual banquet, the Galileans occupy their thoughts only with the material miracle, and in their exalted state see in it already the inauguration of a Messianic Kingdom such as they picture to themselves. This is what is expressed by the connection of the participle having seen, seen with their eyes, with the verb , they said. This exalted state, altogether carnal it is true, is the indisputable proof of what was absolutely extraordinary in that which had just now occurred. The prophet, whom the multitude thought they recognized in Jesus, had been presented in Joh 1:21; Joh 1:25, as a personage distinct from the Messiah. But it seems from our Joh 6:14-15, that many regarded Him as possibly being the Messiah Himself. They imagined probably that, after having been once proclaimed by the people, He would become the Messiah. The plot of which Joh 6:15 speaks implies the highest degree of enthusiasm on the part of the multitude. John does not tell us how Jesus became aware of it.
The word , knowing, is explained, according to Weiss, by the conversations with these people; according to Keim, by certain indications in their mode of action. Certainly all this is possible. But an immediate perception, like that in Joh 5:6, is not to be denied. The participle , he who comes, is the present of idea; it is an allusion to the prophecy on which the expectation of such a personage rested, Deu 18:18. The term , to seize, does not allow us to doubt that the plan was to get possession of Jesus, even in spite of Himself, that they might go to Jerusalem and crown Him. The task of Jesus at this moment was a difficult one. If He went away again immediately with His disciples, the commotion instead of being quieted, would be in danger of extending widely in Galilee. If He remained there with His disciples, they might be infected by the contagion of this carnal enthusiasm which would find only too much sympathy in their hearts. It might even be asked whether some one among them, Judas for example, did not secretly direct the plot (Joh 6:70-71). It was necessary, therefore, to take measures speedily: First of all, Jesus bestirs Himself to send back His disciples to the other side of the sea, in order to break all immediate connection between them and the multitude. Thus is the singular expression of Matthew (Mat 14:22) and Mark (Mar 6:45) explained: He straightway constrained His disciples to enter into the boat and to go before Him to the other side, till He should send the multitudes away. This term constrain, which is not suggested by anything in the Synoptical narrative, is explained only by the fact which John has just related (Joh 6:14-15). Perhaps most of the apostles were ignorant of the true reason of this step which was so suddenly taken by Jesus. After this, Jesus calms and dismisses the multitude, which scatters itself through the neighboring region. Matthew and Mark also say: And having sent the multitudes away, He withdrew to the mountain, apart, to pray. This moment in their narrative evidently coincides with the end of our Joh 6:15. After this only a part of the multitude undoubtedly, the most excited partremained on the spot (comp. Joh 6:22).
The reading , flees, of the Sinaitic MS., which is adopted by Tischendorf, is absurd, especially with , again. This last word which is rejected by some Byzantine MSS. is to be retained. It contains an allusion to , he went up(Joh 6:3), which was not understood by certain copyists. We must conclude from this that Jesus had approached the shore for the repast, which is in conformity with the Synoptics: He went forth, He received them; and now He returns to the heights whither He had at first gone with His disciples. , Himself alone, is in exact contrast to the words of Joh 6:3 : with His disciples. Weiss also places the , again, in connection with Joh 6:3, but without holding that Jesus had descended for the multiplication of the loaves. The meaning would thus be: He went up to a still higher point. He supports his view by the: they descended (Joh 6:16), which, according to him, proves that the whole preceding scene had taken place on the height. This reason is of no value (see Joh 6:16), and to go up again is not equivalent to go up higher.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Verse 14
That Prophet; meaning the Messiah, as appears by their design of raising an insurrection against Herod, to make him king in his stead.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
The Jews who enjoyed Jesus’ provision concluded that He must be the prophet whom Moses had predicted (Deu 18:15-19; cf. Joh 1:21; Joh 7:40; Joh 7:52). Jesus had fed the Israelites in a wilderness area (Mat 14:15; Mar 6:35) as Moses had with bread that came from heaven.