"It is I; don't be afraid."

John 6:1-27

Welcome! Today we have a second message from our series called “What did He say?!” on the book of John, chapters 5 to 11. As I mentioned last week, the reason for the title of the series is that throughout these chapters of Scripture, the things Jesus said were shocking, astounding, even outrageous except for the fact that they were true.  The titles for each message in the series are direct quotes of Jesus from the verses being studied that week. This week we are exploring John chapter 6, verses 1 to 27, and the title of the message is “It is I; don’t be afraid.” Our passage is one that should be familiar to you if you have grown up going to church, but my desire is that we would look at it with fresh eyes, and not just fresh eyes but fresh hearts. To do this we need the Lord’s help, so let’s ask Him for His help. I am going to stop talking for a minute or so, and I encourage you to use this time to ask the Lord to speak through His word to you, that He would open your eyes and your heart to whatever He would have you learn and apply to your life today.

Well, John 6:1 begins with the phrase “some time after this,” so it is helpful to briefly talk about the previous chapters of John so that we appreciate the connections between what has already happened and what is about to happen in this chapter.

Jesus has been traveling with His disciples spending time in various places, and wherever He has gone, He has caused quite a stir. He has done miracles, such as changing water to wine and, most recently, healing of a man who had been crippled for decades. He has also challenged the religious establishment, the various Jewish leaders, through overturning the tables in the temple courts, saying “How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” and through various confrontations with the religious leaders, confrontations with words. He has healed someone on the Sabbath, and in their blindness and pride, they are deeply offended by Jesus’ claims to be more than a mere man, to have the authority of God, to have such an intimate relationship with God that He calls Him “My Father,” and to even imply that He is one with God and God Himself. Often these discussions were not in private (although one, with a single leader named Nicodemus was in relative secrecy), but out in the open, where crowds of the curious have stood by to listen. Everyone who has heard Him speak has been shocked by what He has been saying. The response of much of the Jewish leadership is that they are now plotting and scheming about how to kill Him. The response of general people is quite different; some already think He is the Messiah; some don’t know what He is, but want Him to heal them or their family members. Undoubtedly others just find Him entertaining and want to follow Him to see what happens next. Regardless, the result of all this is that Jesus has become famous in Israel, and wherever He goes, the crowds, once they find Him, follow, growing larger and larger. This brings us to today’s passage in John chapter 6.

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed Him because they saw the miraculous signs He had performed on the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with His disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near. – John 6:1-4

In John 5, Jesus was in the southern part of Israel, in Jerusalem, in Judea; now, He is in the northern part, in the area called Galilee. He is being followed by a great crowd – why? Because they have seen Him heal the sick (in plural).

Now, I think it is important to note that these healings in Galilee that draw this great crowd are not recorded in John. In fact, the gospels differ significantly with regards to which miracles they include and which they omit. Each gospel writer was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write different things, to include different events. John, in particular was very selective with the miracles he included. John even writes at the very end of his gospel: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

However, what we are about to read is not only recorded in John but in all four gospels. In fact, apart from the resurrection, this is the only miracle that is fully recorded in John as well as the other three gospels. Because the gospel writers wrote with different themes and purposes, this implies that the events we are about to read about touch many different themes and so it goes without saying how important it is. So let’s keep reading!

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test Him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do. – John 6:5-6

You know, I have to confess that I sometimes playfully tease my youngest daughter, Hannah. Actually, I have to confess that I do it pretty often. By teasing I don’t mean that I am being cruel, but that I ask questions to her for which I know the answer, just because I enjoy watching her react, watching how she thinks, how she responds. I have done this enough now so that it is difficult to really “catch” her; often she will say, “Daddy,” (with a high drawn out pitch on the first syllable and a low pitch on the second) showing that she knows I’m kidding or that she knows I’m doing that playful teasing thing again.

Now Jesus’ motives are far, far better than mine, but I do see I tiny bit of a parallel here. Jesus knows exactly what He is going to do. Not only that, He has orchestrated this moment. He has done the miracles He has done not just to show compassion to the individuals who have been healed, and not just to encourage and grow the faith of the disciples, but to also create a situation in which a huge crowd would come to Him at this very moment. He also knows the disciples’ relatively weak faith, their looking at situations solely from a worldly perspective, and so on. Now, I don’t think He asked the disciples this question to tease them, but to reveal to them these very problems in their lives – they are weak in faith, and they do look at things from a worldly perspective. As a result, every overwhelming situation produces feelings of crisis. But I am getting ahead of the story. Maybe they will get it this time--Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, and He can do anything; nothing is impossible with Him. Maybe they will say, “Jesus,” (with a high drawn out pitch on the first syllable and low pitch on the second), and say, “We can’t do anything about this – but You can!” So how did they do? (Sigh.)

Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” – John 6:7

Oh, well. One could hope… But before you get too critical of the disciples, ask yourself how you do in crisis situations. If you reach into your pocket, men, or your purse, women, for your wallet or your keys and they aren’t there, how do you do? If your boss or your coworker or, if you are a student, your team member was supposed to give the final presentation on your project, and it’s time for the presentation but they aren’t there yet, how do you do? If your employer announces that there will be a 25% reduction in force and that layoffs will begin tomorrow, how do you do? Are these situations really any different than the situation with the disciples, nearly broke but faced with (1) no grocery store nearby and (2) no money with which to buy food for such a giant crowd? I think the situations are quite similar! One with faith says, “Jesus, I can’t do anything, but you can!” One with weak faith or no faith says, well, something perhaps quite similar to what you say or think when in such a situation? (And for the record, I am preaching to myself here, too. I know exactly what it is to fail spectacularly in such a test – not even noticing it is a test and instead entering panic mode.)

By the way, and I’ll just say this briefly – in a modern age, Philip might have been an engineer. He’s doing some back of the envelope calculations here – wait, they didn’t have envelopes – all right, a back of the sealing wax calculation.

Another of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” – John 6:8-9

Again, this is an answer without faith. Now these loaves are not like the big bread loves we know today; they are small, personal size. After all, 5 were apparently for this one boy’s lunch. And the fish were also quite small, perhaps used sort of like a spread, much like how we might add jam or butter to our biscuits.

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. – John 6:10-11

Mark says that they had them sit in groups of around 50 or 100. Now, the people, once they saw how they were being organized, certainly helped out by organizing themselves. And I am pretty sure they knew why – it was so there would be places to walk between the groups so they could be served. How did the disciples feel at this point? Probably not well! Now, expectations are raised – what is going to happen when they all find out there is no food? There might be riot. People will be angry, and the disciples, who have now been walking among them, getting them organized, will be the source of their anger! And there is still no food! But to their credit, the disciples obeyed. This is a good lesson for us – we should obey even when we don’t fully understand. In fact, this is another kind of testing, and just as certainly as Jesus was testing His disciples in this at this moment, so does He test us.

It says Jesus distributed them. Other gospels also give the detail that He broke them into pieces. “How many pieces would you like?” “Oh, um, just one, sir.” “One is not enough for a big guy like you. Here, have seven. And you?” “Um, six?” “Sure, six it is.” “How about you?” And at some point it went on to the groups via the disciples. From the other gospels I suspect the way it worked was a disciple was given a big basket of bread and fish and would go out giving the contents away; when the basket was empty He would go back to Jesus and get some more. And this process continued, continued, impossibly continued, miraculously continued. And the people most likely are watching – they are figuring out what is going on. And they are amazed, right along with the disciples. And I bet they are pretty happy, too.

How encouraging that He used the disciples. He didn’t need them for any of this. He could have made the bread come down from the air, just like God had essentially done back in the time of Moses. He could have given them manna, but He chose instead to work through His disciples. They weren’t doing the miracle, not at all; without Him they could have only fed that one boy whose lunch they started out with. But they participated.

And I think that is a great picture of the Christian life. God doesn’t need us to help Him, but He chooses to use us – to minister to one another, to encourage one another, build up one another, help one another, and to reach out to a lost world. As we grow in Christ-likeness, as we grow in faith, as we grow in service, in love, in all these things – it is Him who has the power, it is Christ who does the miracle that is change in our lives, but He chooses to use us because it pleases Him to do so. And it pleases Him to do so because He so loves us.

When they had all had enough to eat, He said to His disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. – John 6:12-13

What did they do with the leftovers? Scripture does not state the answer, but I think the implication is that the disciples took it with them. There were 12 baskets, one for each of them. So not only did Jesus miraculously multiply the child’s meal to feed a multitude, he had exactly enough left over so the disciples were provided for. Symbolically, it was also a reminder of how God had used 12 as a key number in the Old Testament – the 12 tribes of Israel that began with the 12 sons of Jacob. And it was a hint of things to come – the multitudes of believers that began with the 12 disciples.

After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make Him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself. – John 6:14-15

By “the Prophet” they were probably thinking of Moses, who said in Deut. 18:15, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him,” and also Deut. 18:17-18, The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put My words in His mouth, and He will tell them everything I command Him. If anyone does not listen to My words that the Prophet speaks in My name, I myself will call him to account.” 

Why would they think this? Because, number one, it was a genuine miracle. And number two, it was Moses-like in that a great multitude was provided food to eat.

By the way, what did the people mean by intending to make Him king? Israel was essentially a conquered nation, part of the Roman Empire. The Romans allowed Jewish leaders, but their power was constrained; “the scepter had departed from Judah.” They served at the pleasure of the Roman leaders over them. You see this, for example, in the trials of Jesus – where Romans are intimately involved. Making Jesus King meant, to them, primarily a political thing – Jesus would overthrow the Romans and Israel would once again be a free nation, like back in the “glory days” of David and Solomon.

Now, it was about time for the Passover, and at Passover, all the people who were able would be going to Jerusalem. Jesus, who knew their hearts, saw that they wanted to take Him by force and, most likely, take Him to Jerusalem to be crowned King. I don’t know about you, but there is something severely wrong about trying to make a king “by force.” Even on a purely secular level, there is something quite messed up about this. And from a Biblical point of view, that is not how kings were to be made. They were to be chosen and anointed by prophets to whom God spoke. That is how it was in the days of Saul and David.

In any case, Jesus knew that His time was not yet come. And when He did go to Jerusalem in His own time, in God’s timing, ultimately the purpose was not to be crowned king, but to be “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” And so Jesus left the scene, alone, before any of this could happen.

When evening came, His disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. – John 6:16-19

So Jesus has left some time ago, and following His instructions they now get into a boat to cross the lake. It is dark and it has become extremely stormy. From the other gospels we know they were terrified just by the storm. But then, seeing this person or ghost or spirit or who-knows-what walk on the water, and not just walk on the water, but walk towards them, they were terrified.

And the account of Matthew adds the part about Peter, going out into the water to meet Jesus and then starting to sink and saying “Lord save me” and Jesus does. But John does not include this account; indeed, he has few details of this event because it is not his Spirit-led focus.

But He said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” Then they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading. – John 6:20-21

They were terrified, but Jesus spoke to them the title of this message – “It is I; don’t be afraid.” Picture the story in your mind’s eye. You are on that boat. It’s a small boat, not particularly stable. Picture the wind howling. Picture the lake in the storm; the waters are splashing big waves, churning, foaming.  Picture the darkness, the uncertainty. And then picture the impossible – some person or creature or something walking across the water as if it were a carpet. Picture your friends pointing this out and screaming in terror as it is clear this monster or demon or worse is coming towards you. And then you hear, clearly, over the storm and the splashing noises and the wind,  a familiar voice, a voice you have come to know and trust, saying, comfortingly, “It is I; don’t be afraid.”

Now stop the scene. Why did this happen? It was another lesson. It was another lesson about who Jesus is. He is not just a good teacher, or a prophet, or even a king. He is God, Lord of heaven and earth, Lord even over the laws of physics. Psalm 98:8 says “Let the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains sing together for joy.” Jesus could make them really do that! Even the wind and the waves obey Him. In Matthew it tells us that the disciples worshiped Him. They, at this point in time, got it – He is God; He is Lord.

And the terrors ceased. The wind and waves ceased. And before you knew it Jesus was on the boat and they were all the way to shore. By the way, the word the NIV translates as “immediately” does not necessarily mean in 0.0 seconds; it also can mean “quite soon after that” or, colloquially, “the next thing you know.” It is also used to describe how the disciples left their nets to follow Christ in Matt. 4:20 and to describe, in the parable of the different kinds of seeds, the shallow seeds that grew up quickly.

The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with His disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. – John 6:22-24

I find it interesting how John turns our attention back to the crowd that had received the miraculous meal the previous day. They are confused – they know there was only one boat, and they know that Jesus had not gone with the disciples. So where was Jesus? After searching around where they were a little more, they were certain that Jesus was not where they were. So after some boats came, they took them to search for Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked Him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for Me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” – John 6:25-27a

Jesus once again says something that made them say, “What did He say?!” First, He is quite blunt when He explains to them that He knows why they are really following Him – it is because of free food! They have not come to worship Jesus, as the disciples did the previous night, but to receive.

Sadly, our culture is deeply influenced by a similar kind of thinking. Advertisements often use a variation of the message “get what you can out of life.” And our various government programs that provide handouts without any requirement in return only add to this atmosphere in our culture. There are many people in our culture who, although they regularly attend church, never really settle down in one, instead choosing to hop from church to church to church, continually looking for, what is really, if they were really honest with themselves, the place that is most entertaining and just makes them feel good. I’m not saying that all entertainment is bad, or that church should only make you feel bad (!), but that’s not the purpose of church. Church is a community of believers together worshiping Christ with their words and with their actions, with their lives.

Jesus says, do not work for food that spoils, that is, to paraphrase, “don’t come to Me for another serving of bread and fish,” but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.

We will continue this conversation Jesus has with the crowd next week, but let me just say that we, even as believers, are not immune from the attitude that these people have. We too can just desire the “shallow things” from Jesus, the temporary things. You can see how you are doing in this by looking at what you pray for. Do you pray only for things of this world? Or do you only pray when you are in a real bind and then you pray for a solution to your problem? I am not saying that you shouldn’t pray for these things – God loves it when we come to Him even with the little things. God delights to hear our prayers; He delights to hear from us period. But there are deeper things. Do you pray that God would change you – not just so that you don’t keep sinning in a particular area, but that God would really change you, making you a person of great faith, with great love, who joyfully sacrifices self for others, who lays down his or her life for Christ? These things all start with coming to Christ for the right reasons – because you know that He is good, and that what He most wants to give you, even if it comes with struggle, or challenge, or testing, or pain, should be what you most want Him to give.

I want to close with some examples to pray for yourself – these are all roughly taken from prayers Paul prays for others. I strongly encourage you to choose one of these, the one that most grabs you, to write it down and pray through the week for yourself this one thing.

1. That you would glorify God. – Rom. 15:5-6

2. That you would abound in hope in God. – Rom. 15:13

3. That you would better know God. – Eph. 1:16-19

4. That you would better be able to grasp the depths of His love for you. – Eph. 3:16-19

5. That you would love God more in knowledge and discernment. – Phil. 1:9-11

6. That you would be filled with the knowledge of His will so that you may bear fruit. – Col. 1:9-12

7. That God would fulfill your desire for goodness and works of faith with power. – II Thess. 1:11-12

8. That God would equip you to do His will, working in you. – Hebr. 13:20-21

Do you see how much deeper these prayers are than praying for a good grade, or for a better paying job, or that you would quickly get over your cold, or that we would beat USC this year? Again, I am not saying that it is bad to pray for these things – pray for them too (well, most of them). But pray for these deeper things – life in Christ is so much more than our next free meal. Pray these for yourselves, and then, let us pray them for one another.