Humanity and Divine Compassion
John 6-7 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 4 viewsIn part one, we will consider indications in the text that people struggle with thinking about Jesus properly. What is the evidence?
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
We need to stay in close contact with the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life.
We are his disciples, after all.
We need to be taught, as best we can, by him.
John 6-7 give us events in Jesus’ life that we know well, but it also challenges us to slow down and to listen to Jesus.
The account in John will also challenge us to examine our own motivations for following Jesus.
Why do you follow Jesus? Why do you associate yourself with him, in so far as you do?
Is all association with Jesus good? (At least they’re with Jesus?).
Did Jesus think all association with him was good?
What are the wrong reasons to be around Jesus?
If there are wrong reasons to associate with Jesus, what are the right reasons (or reason)?
What did Jesus teach about himself? What did he teach about people, especially those who came around him?
While these topics will be relevant in the long term, this morning, we will spend most of our time thinking about different motivations that people have and struggles for even Jesus’ own disciples.
The Gospels do not sanitize the ugliness of humanity.
Background
Background
We can also get the sense from the gospel writers that Jesus’ contemporaries were trying to make sense of who he is.
Representatives of the Pharisees began this with John the Baptist.
Jesus’ early followers, especially Philip and Nathanael, are puzzled.
Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple in Jn. 2 as well as the confusion by the apostles until the resurrection helps them to make retrospective sense of what they witnessed.
In this gospel, Jesus and the Pharisees have had serious discussions about his person.
So, part of what we, as the reader of the gospel, are invited to consider is why the crowd is there with Jesus and his disciples.
In the long run, this will prove to be one of the key questions. We will also consider why someone should follow Jesus.
John Sets the Scene:
John Sets the Scene:
Jesus has concluded a lengthy, at times acrimonious, conversation with the Jewish leaders.
Jesus crosses over the Sea of Galilee.
Every gospel writer includes at least one account of Jesus feeding a large crowd.
Matthew 14:13-21
Mark 6:30-44
Luke 9:10-17
. John 6:1-14.
These accounts also all feature Jesus seeking solace or respite by going with his disciples into the hills or mountains.
Three significant things, so far:
Questions about the crowds’ motivations.
Jesus and his disciples sought some retreat.
The Passover is approaching.
Passover is part of the context which means people thinking about the Exodus is important. The account will bear this out.
Jesus’ Compassion for the Crowd
Jesus’ Compassion for the Crowd
John, like Luke 6:20, has Jesus “lift up his eyes.”
This may be a phrase that conveys Jesus’ concern and compassion for the crowd.
At a minimum, he watches them intently (Jn. 6:5).
Two things are at work, here.
Jesus knows what he will do ( Jn. 6:6).
Jesus also wants to test Philip’s clarity on what he has learned about Jesus, so far.
Even Jesus’ own disciples lack clarity, throughout all of the Gospels, about his person.
They are clear, and John especially emphasizes this, that the resurrection made sense of previous events.
Yet, the evidence was there for them to consider all along.
Jesus’ Disciples’ Confusion
Jesus’ Disciples’ Confusion
Jesus intentionally tests what his disciples think as well as how they will respond.
When he tests Philip:
He asks where they can purchase bread for the crowd to eat.
John is clear on what is happening and what Jesus will do (Jn. 6:6).
Philip sees this as an impossible situation: When Philip objects, he tells Jesus that loves of 200 denarii would not be sufficient so that each one could have a little something.
Using equivalent metrics, the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the average, daily pay in the United States at around $230 (I took a middle number for cautionary reasons). At a daily wage of $230, for 200 days of work, the total pay would be $46,000.
When Andrew tries to help:
He knows of a little boy in the crowd who has five barley loaves and two “tidbits.”
In Greek the usual meaning of ὀψάριον is a tidbit of food eaten with bread, but it occurs in later Greek in the meaning of fish, and in the NT this meaning occurs only in the fourth Gospel.
He thinks what the little boy has will not be useful given the number of mouths they have to feed.
Introduction (Part 2):
Introduction (Part 2):
We have seen three layers to this event:
The motivations of the people.
The testing of the disciples.
The “sign” of the event itself.
A word about “sign” versus “miracle.”
John, through his word choice, indicates to his readers that the event points to a greater meaning. It indicates something.
The Event:
The Event:
John provides very specific details about the event that transpired.
There was a lot of grass in the area.
The men numbered approximately 5k.
Jesus reacted to Philip and Andrew’s responses to the situation where, they implied, no resolution was possible.
The size of the crowd made it financially impossible.
The only known food available seemed irrelevant given the crowd’s size.
John, like the other gospels, includes Jesus’ habit of praying before the distribution of the food.
How he prays and breaks bread became one of the identifying characteristics/habits of Jesus.
Those habits became important in Luke’s Gospel for recognizing him after the resurrection.
Once Jesus distributed the food, John takes note of the following:
People ate as much as they wanted.
When the eating was over, Jesus told his disciples to gather the leftover fragments so they would not go to waste.
The disciples gathered twelve baskets of fragments/pieces from the barley loaves.
The Aftermath:
The Aftermath:
Here, it becomes obvious that John saw a pattern in the misinterpretation of events.
People knew enough to know a little. But, what little they knew skewed their interpretation of what just happened.
They interpreted the “sign,” as the fulfillment of the expected prophet.
Dt. 18:15-20 now becomes important for the remainder of Jesus’ conversation with this crowd.
Nicodemus and the Pharisees thought of Jesus as a prophet, as well (Jn. 3:1-2).
They sent to John the Baptist asking the same question (John 1:19–21 “Καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ μαρτυρία τοῦ Ἰωάννου, ὅτε ἀπέστειλαν [πρὸς αὐτὸν] οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἐξ Ἱεροσολύμων ἱερεῖς καὶ Λευίτας ἵνα ἐρωτήσωσιν αὐτόν· σὺ τίς εἶ; καὶ ὡμολόγησεν καὶ οὐκ ἠρνήσατο, καὶ ὡμολόγησεν ὅτι ἐγὼ οὐκ εἰμὶ ὁ χριστός. καὶ ἠρώτησαν αὐτόν· τί οὖν; σὺ Ἠλίας εἶ; καὶ λέγει· οὐκ εἰμί. ὁ προφήτης εἶ σύ; καὶ ἀπεκρίθη· οὔ.”)
Questions always swirl(ed) around Jesus’ identity and the meaning of his signs.
John then explains that because the people intended to come and make Jesus king, he retreated again (note this) until the mountain, but this time, at least for now, he goes alone.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God/Jesus has higher standards than we do.
He wants people to come to the right conclusions for the right reasons based on a careful consideration of the right information.
Crowds don’t tell you what is true.
Jesus wanted people to follow him for the right reasons.
Jesus came to fulfill a particular plan - becoming king by any means was not the goal (kingship alone was not the goal).
How will this lead to a deeper conversation about God, Jesus, and Moses?
