Month: February 2021

7After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him. ² Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. ³ So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; ⁴ for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” ⁵ (For not even his brothers believed in him.) ⁶ Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. ⁷ The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil. ⁸ Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.” ⁹ After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

¹⁰ But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret. ¹¹ The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, “Where is he?” ¹² And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, “He is a good man,” others were saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowd.” ¹³ Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴ About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. ¹⁵ The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?” ¹⁶ Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. ¹⁷ Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whe-ther the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. ¹⁸ Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.

¹⁹ “Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?” ²⁰ The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?” ²¹ Jesus answered them, “I performed one work, and all of you are astonished. ²² Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. ²³ If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath? ²⁴ Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

²⁵ Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? ²⁶ And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? ²⁷ Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” ²⁸ Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. ²⁹ I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” ³⁰ Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. ³¹ Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?” NRSV

Get into the Word

1. Where is Jesus when this section opens? Why is he avoiding Judea? What do Jesus’ brothers suggest about his ministry? What does this tell you about their beliefs?

2. What does Jesus do about his brothers’ suggestion? Why does he not go to Jerusalem right away? What is the situation when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem? Why do you think the crowd was divided in its opinion of Jesus? How does Jesus respond to the crowd? 

3. What does Jesus talk about to make his message and purpose clear? What does he say about the Law? 

4. Why are the people confused about who Jesus is? What difference does where Jesus comes from make about who he is? How does Jesus respond to the crowd’s confusion? What is the crowd’s reaction to Jesus’ statements about his origin? Why do some believe in Jesus?

Get Personal

What is your usual method of verifying what somebody tells you? How does Jesus ask us to test his teaching to determine its validity? How has God demonstrated his reliability in your life recently? 

7:1. Stay out of Judea — Galilee and Judea were separate “states” in Jesus’ time. When John was writing his Gospel Galilee was more open to Christians and the Jews were stronger in Judea.
7:2. Festival of Booths — (literally “tent”) commemorates Israel’s wandering in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt, and lived in tents.
7:3. Jesus’ brothers — though some scholars use “cousins” or “countrymen” or even “step-brothers” (supposedly from an earlier marriage of Joseph), it is clear from Matthew that Jesus had brothers and sisters,[Matt 13:54-58; also check out Mark 3:21, 31-32, and Acts 1:14].
7:4-5. Show yourself – the brothers are actually mocking Jesus because they don’t yet believe him.
7:6. Right time — Jesus is very aware of the the need to do things according to God’s timing.
7:12. Deceiving the crowd — the Mosaic Law mandated that false teachers be put to death: But those prophets or those who divine by dreams shall be put to death for having spoken treason against the Lord your God, [Deut 13:5].
7:15. Never been taught — the Jews had great respect for the type of “teaching” that comes as a result of long and arduous study, and they ignored or discounted or Jesus’s remarks because he was not so trained.  Matthew records a similar reaction, [7:28-29].
7:20. Demon possessed — a fairly common label for someone acting

strangely. The Jewish leaders also used it (incorrectly) on Jesus [Mark 2:22-30].
7:21. One work — the Jews faulted Jesus for healing on the Sabbath [in 5:1-15], which supposedly violated the commandment to “do no work.” By Jesus’ time the Jews had an elaborate system of “explanations” of the Law that made the commandments more cumbersome than ever. However, Jesus points out that even Moses knew there would be dilemmas with the Law, using the example of circumcising a child (required on a specific day [Gen 17:10-12]) and the Sabbath (required to be without “work”). 
7:24. Appearances . . . right judgment — Jesus distinguishes between surface decisions and those decisions that go to the heart of the matter. Jesus made his decisions – and his declarations – based on how things or actions really are.
7:27. No one will know — the popular tradition was that the Messiah would just appear, which ignored Micah’s prophecy of Bethlehem [5:2].
7:29. I am from him — yet another of Jesus’ declarations about his divinity, which led to another failed attempt to arrest him. This is also another clear statement that Jesus is God’s representative and, according to the cultural view should be accepted as God would be accepted – the irony is the Jews did treat Jesus the same as they treated the Lord: very shabbily.

6³⁰ So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?
³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³² Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴ They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷ Every-
thing that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; ³⁸ for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰ This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”

⁴¹ Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. ⁴⁶ Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; ⁵⁵ for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

⁶⁰ When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” ⁶¹ But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶² Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³ It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴ But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. ⁶⁵ And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”

⁶⁶ Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. ⁶⁷ So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” ⁷⁰ Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” ⁷¹ He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.  NRSV

Get into the Word

1. How is the crowd like the disciples and the woman at the well in its response to Jesus? How would you have reacted if you had heard him explain what “God’s work” really is? How do you react today?

2. What parts of Jewish history does Jesus use to explain his kingdom? Why would the Jews not realize this since Passover is such a prominent part of their religion? In what ways are we still like the Jews in our response to Jesus?

3. Why do the Jews get upset with the answers Jesus gives to their questions? What seems to surprise and offend them? Why?

4. What is Jesus’ central point in vv. 43-51? How does he relate to the God the Jews thought they were worshipping? 

5. What is different about Jesus from what the prophets taught? What is different about Jesus from what happened on the exodus from Egypt?

6. What is the disciples’ response to Jesus message? Why do they find it a “hard teaching?” What do they do about the situation? How do you think you would have reacted?

Get Personal

1. How does God help you get outside of your worldly “box” to look at things the way Jesus taught? Why is it so difficult to see things this way all the time? What generally happens when we see things only from the world’s point of view?

2. Which teachings in this section are “hard” for you? How do you deal with such “hard teachings?” Are you sometimes tempted to turn back as some disciples did or do you stand with Peter and “believe and know” that Jesus has the words of eternal life? 

6:32. Moses didn’t . . . — Jesus corrects the people [check Exodus 16:15-16, and Psalm 78:24-25], and then underscores his point with the contrast between the bread of Moses and the “true bread from heaven,” which is himself. 
6:34. That bread — the crowd is still looking at this world, even after Jesus makes his point explicit.
6:35. Bread of life — Jesus repeats his claim and goes on to describe his purpose on earth and his relationship with the Father.
6:45. Written in the Scriptures — Jesus is referring to Jeremiah: But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” 

the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.  [31:31-34].
6:51-58. Living bread . . . my flesh — Jesus is anticipating the Eucharist: He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you,[Luke 22:19-20].
6:68. You have the words that give eternal life — Peter’s confession of belief parallels his declaration in Matthew 16:16, Mark 8:29, and Luke 9:20.

6After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. ² A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. ³ Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. ⁵ When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.
⁷ Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” ⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,
⁹ “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. ¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. ¹⁴ When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

¹⁵ When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

¹⁶ When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷ got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸ The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹ When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. ²⁰ But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”
²¹ Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

²² The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. ²³ Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” ²⁸ Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”   NRSV

Get into the word

1. What happens as this chapter opens? Why do you suppose the crowd followed Jesus? What does this say about his ministry?

2. How does Philip react to Jesus’ question about buying bread for the crowd? How does this compare to other responses to Jesus’ remarks about water and bread? How would you have reacted?

3. How does Jesus solve the dilemma of feeding the crowd? How do you suppose the disciples felt as they were giving out the food? How would you have felt? What do you think they did with the twelve baskets of leftovers? Why did Jesus leave the crowd abruptly?

4. Why would the disciples leave for the other shore of the lake without Jesus? What happens when they are in the middle of the lake? How do they react to Jesus’ presence? How would you have reacted?

5. Why did the crowd follow Jesus? What were they really seeking? Do you think they realized what they were doing? How do you think they felt when Jesus told them what God’s “work” actually was? How do you respond?

Get Personal

What picture of who Jesus really is emerges from these two incidents? Does this change your view of Jesus’ power? Of his love? Of his expectations for your life? How does this view of Jesus affect your faith?

6:1. Sea of Galilee — a fresh water lake about 60 miles north of Jerusalem. It is 650 feet below sea level in a valley with steep hills and cliffs on all but the south side, which make it subject to sudden, violent storms. There were several good sized cities, including Tiberias and Capernum around the lake.
6:4. Passover — six months after the Feast of the Tabernacles [see chapter 5].
6:6. Test — rabbis often tested their disciples with questions about an apparently impossible situation. The Greek word means an experience that proves the strength or purity of the tested one – similar to proving the purity of gold or proving one’s faith like Jesus in the wilderness. The focus is how much you grow, not how much you know.
Knew — Jesus has already said he is the one Moses prophesied, now he is going to give the people a sign like God gave during the exodus: “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. ⁵ On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”[Exodus 16:4-5].
6:7. Six months’ wages — Philip reacts like the disciples in the earlier incident  He tries to compute the worldly cost of feeding the crowd rather than

looking for the spiritual solution Jesus has in mind.
This is one of the few incidents that is recorded in all four Gospels [compare Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, and Luke 9:10-17].
6:14. Prophet — the Jews had been expecting “the Prophet” for more than 1,200 years, but they continued to look for the wrong kind of prophet. But the Old Testament makes it clear that God would send a spiritual leader, not a worldly one.
6:19. Terrified — even though they had just experienced Jesus’ power and love, the disciples now think he is a ghost.
6:20. I am here . . . — literally “I am,” the name God applies to himself with Moses [Exodus 3:14]. Jesus is telling the disciples “God is here.” 
6:21. Immediately — this incident ends with a second miraculous sign, which confirms Jesus’ mastery over this world.
6:26. Very truly — Jesus knows the crowd wants more of the material blessing that Jesus provided the day before.
6:28. Perform the works — actions were the most important to the Jews – following the laws. Jesus tells them the real “work” is to believe, and to seek the spiritual “bread” of a life in relationship with God. Our work is with our heart and minds, not with our hands. And Paul points out in Romans 4:5 that even our belief is a gift from God.