John 6 - Introduction

The Feeding of the 5000, Discourse on The Bread of Life And On His Coming Death And Offering Of Himself To Us.

John's descriptions of the first and second Signs at Cana had included within them the section John 2:12 to John 4:45 which was an exposition of the initial sign at Cana, the significance being that the old ritual and the old holy things were being replaced by the new living and vital reality. It was necessary for the Temple to be reformed, and indeed it was in the process of being replaced by Jesus. Men had to seek new life in the Spirit rather than looking to the old ritual. For those in the desert of life living water was available, but it meant turning away from the old ideas to the living God through the Spirit. And so on. The third Sign was the healing of the Disabled Man who had been disabled for thirty eight years, something which introduced the discourse on Jesus' unique position in relation to the Father and God's manifold witness about Him. It indicated that His people's long-time disablement, their thirty eight years ‘wandering in the wilderness', could now find healing in the One Who had come, for He had come to give them eternal life. Men could again walk with God as man had in the beginning. We now come to the fourth Sign through which Jesus is represented as the bread of life who can feed the hearts and deepest needs of man. Once again there is the thought that the old ‘bread', the manna given in the wilderness, is being replaced by the new ‘bread', Jesus as the bread of life.

Note that suddenly, without any preparation, we find ourselves in the midst of a powerful Galilean ministry. In the previous chapter Jesus was present at a feast in Jerusalem. Here in chapter 6 it is assumed that He was in Galilee and He leaves one part of Galilee for another. So whilst adhering closely to the facts in the detailed narrative, the author is not pretending to present a chronological ‘life of Jesus'. He is rather giving us different cameos about Jesus in order to bring out the truth about Him, and what He had come to do.