John 6 Pt. 1

Feeding the Five Thousand
v1-15

At this point there is a large crowd that is following Jesus.  Jesus feeds this crowd of five thousand people using the five loaves and the two fish of a young boy.  This is no small task since we read that it would've costed two hundred denarii to buy enough bread for everyone to only eat a little.  Jesus wasn't rich, so he certainly didn't have the money to buy all that bread.  What he did was certainly a miracle that no ordinary person could perform.

Crowd Reaction
v14-25

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

John 6:14-15

Initially, the crowd is amazed and say great things about him.  In fact, they are so amazed that they want to make Jesus king.  This is not what Jesus wants, so he manages to get away by himself.  What's more is that it seems like Jesus goes out of his way to further dodge the crowd.  The Disciples go across the sea in a boat without Jesus, but then Jesus walks on water and catches up with them.  So Jesus makes the crowd think that he's still on one side of the sea without a way to cross but ends up on the other side somehow.  As a result, the crowd was fooled.

The crowd can't seem to find Jesus whom they so desperately want to find.  So, they decide to cross the sea and they finally catch up with Jesus.  My question is this: if Jesus knew that they'd find him in the end, why did he bother trying to dodge the crowd?  What was the purpose of that whole ordeal?  Couldn't have Jesus just skipped that and jumped straight into what he was going to say next?  Perhaps this was to show their desire to seek Jesus even after he had been evading them.

The Wrong Reason
v26

The crowd obviously really wants to find Jesus and so they finally do find him.  This begs the question: "why?"  If you remember from the beginning of the chapter, we read why they are following Jesus.

And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

John 6:2

They were following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.  However, it seems as though there has been a change in their reasons for seeking Jesus.  Jesus plainly gives an answer.

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

John 6:26

They didn't care about the signs.  Instead, they cared about the food.  They only cared that Jesus could feed them.  Sure, feeding people is certainly a good thing.  They might even be commended if they wanted Jesus to solve world hunger.  However, they totally missed the point and were only thinking with their stomach.

The Work of God
v27-29

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

John 6:27-29

Okay, if the crowd got it wrong, what should they be doing instead?  Well, they should "work for food that endures to eternal life" and not for "food that perishes".  They were only caring about filling their stomachs when they should've sought eternal things.  The satisfaction from eating the bread wouldn't last because eventually they would get hungry again.  Though they should care about eating because that's a basic necessity of life, they should care more about food that would endure to eternal life.

The crowd even asks Jesus, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”  Jesus simply tells them that they need to believe in him.  Jesus is the answer and Jesus is the key.  He is the one in whom they should put their hope in, not the physical food that fed five thousand.

Conclusion

Jesus is the answer.  Jesus in the one in whom you should believe.  Unfortunately, the crowd was interested in Jesus for the wrong reason and cared only for filling their stomachs. In the same way, we should beware of seeking Jesus for the wrong reasons and simply believe in him.