After
these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee, which is also called the Sea of Tiberias. A great multitude followed him, because they saw his signs which he did on those who were sick. Jesus went up into the mountain, and he sat there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great multitude was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?” This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that everyone of them may receive a little.”
John 6:1-7
John 5 [45.] “Don’t think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me. But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
John 6 [1.] After these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee, which is also called the Sea of Tiberias. A great multitude followed him, because they saw his signs which he did on those who were sick. Jesus went up into the mountain, and he sat there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great multitude was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?” This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.
John 6 [7.] Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that everyone of them may receive a little.”
John 6 [8.] One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many?”
Meaning:
John 6 opens with the only miracle, apart from the resurrection, that all four Gospels record: the feeding of the five thousand (Mark 6:35-38; Mark 6:39-44; Matthew 14:14-21; Luke 9:11-17). John tells it in his own way. In the other Gospels the disciples raise the problem of feeding the crowd; in John, Jesus himself raises it, and he does so to test Philip. The scene prepares for the long teaching on “the bread of life” later in the chapter (John 6:35).
- “After these things… the other side of the sea of Galilee”
“After these things” marks a break in time. In chapter 5 Jesus was in Jerusalem for a feast, where he healed a lame man and was opposed by the religious leaders. Now he is back in Galilee and crosses the lake to its quieter eastern shore. John adds that the lake was “also called the Sea of Tiberias.” Tiberias was a city on the western shore built by Herod Antipas and named after the emperor Tiberius, and by the time John wrote the lake was widely known by that name.
- “A great multitude followed him, because they saw his signs”
John calls Jesus’ miracles “signs” because they point beyond themselves to who he is. His first sign at Cana “revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11). The crowd here followed because they had seen the healings, but seeing signs is not the same as believing. Earlier in Jerusalem many believed when they saw his signs, yet Jesus “didn’t trust himself to them” (John 2:24). The rest of the chapter will show how shallow this crowd’s interest was (John 6:26).
- “Jesus went up into the mountain… Now the Passover… was at hand”
Jesus sat on the hillside with his disciples, the posture of a teacher. The mention of the mountain and of the Passover recalls Moses. The Passover celebrated Israel’s rescue from Egypt, after which God fed his people with bread from heaven in the wilderness (Exodus 16:4). At this Passover season a new deliverer would feed God’s people in a desolate place. The crowd will soon call Jesus “the prophet who comes into the world,” the prophet like Moses (John 6:14; Deuteronomy 18:15). This is the second of three Passovers mentioned in John’s Gospel; at the last, Jesus himself would die as the Passover Lamb (John 1:29).
- “Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?”
Jesus asked Philip because he came from nearby Bethsaida (John 1:44), so he might know where food could be bought. But John explains that the question was a test: “he himself knew what he would do.” He wanted to see whether Philip would think only of money and markets, or would look to him. Moses had faced a similar crisis and asked God, “Shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?” God answered him, “Has Yahweh’s hand grown short?” (Numbers 11:22-23).
- “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient”
Philip did the arithmetic. A denarius was a labourer’s wage for a day (Matthew 20:2), so two hundred denarii was most of a year’s income, and even that would give everyone only “a little.” Mark records that the disciples mentioned the same sum (Mark 6:37). Philip’s answer was sensible but it left Jesus out of the calculation. Andrew’s reply, which follows, at least brought what little there was to Jesus (John 6:8-9).
The Significance of John 6:1-7
- God tests to strengthen faith
Jesus tested Philip not to shame him but to teach him. God often lets his people face needs they cannot meet, so that they learn to look to him. Philip would later ask, “Lord, show us the Father” (John 14:8), still learning who Jesus was. Our tests reveal how much we are relying on our own resources and invite us to trust the one who already knows what he will do.
- Counting without Christ
It is right to plan and count the cost, but faith adds one more figure to the sum: the power and goodness of God. When the need is greater than our means, the question is not only what we have, but what the Lord can do.
Cross-References:
Numbers 11:23: "Has Yahweh’s hand grown short?" God’s reply to Moses when food for the multitude seemed impossible.
Mark 6:37: "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give them something to eat?" Mark’s parallel.
2 Kings 4:43: "Give the people, that they may eat; for Yahweh says, ‘They will eat, and will have some left over.’" Elisha feeds a hundred men with a few loaves.
Deuteronomy 18:15: "Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him." The prophet like Moses.
Conclusion: As the Passover drew near, a great crowd followed Jesus across the Sea of Galilee because they had seen his signs of healing. Seeing them coming, Jesus tested Philip by asking where bread could be bought, though he already knew what he would do. Philip calculated that even two hundred denarii would not give everyone a little, but the scene was set for Jesus to show that he himself is the provider of God’s people.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible