Reflective Bible Study

Following Jesus feeding the crowd of over five thousand people, and then walking on the water to His disciples as they were struggling in their boat to cross the lake, we come to our passage for this episode. Leading up to this passage, Jesus had sent the people away following the miraculous feeding of food, and the following day they return looking for Him.

The crowd saw Jesus’ disciples leave without Jesus in their boat, but when they came back looking for Jesus, they could not find Him where that miracle had taken place. The crowd then travels to the other side of the lake looking for Jesus.

This background leads us into our passage for this episode, and a set of powerful truths we can learn from it. Actually, the teaching we are looking at in this passage is too long for one episode, and because of this, we will split this teaching into two parts.

Let’s read the first part of what Jesus shared, and discover some amazing things about how Jesus pushed His crowd of followers.

Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read it from the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 25, John tells us:

²⁵ When the people found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Teacher, when did you come here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you aren’t looking for me because you saw me do miracles. You are looking for me because you ate the bread and were satisfied. ²⁷ Don’t work for the food that spoils. Work for the food that stays good always and gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give you this food, because on him God the Father has put his power.”

²⁸ The people asked Jesus, “What are the things God wants us to do?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “The work God wants you to do is this: Believe the One he sent.”

I must pause here to draw out this huge truth. In Jesus’ response, we have the clearest answer for the mission of Jesus’ followers on earth. Above anything and everything else, we are called to believe the One God sent. In other words, we are to believe Jesus and place our faith, our hope, and our trust in Him. When we believe someone, we trust their words and adjust our actions accordingly. When we believe Jesus, we trust His words and we align our lives into His will.

However, the crowd has another question. After Jesus tells them to believe the One God sent, we continue in verse 30, and read:

³⁰ So the people asked, “What miracle will you do? If we see a miracle, we will believe you. What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the desert. This is written in the Scriptures: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

³² Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven; it is my Father who is giving you the true bread from heaven. ³³ God’s bread is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ The people said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵ Then Jesus said, “I am the bread that gives life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But as I told you before, you have seen me and still don’t believe. ³⁷ The Father gives me the people who are mine. Every one of them will come to me, and I will always accept them. ³⁸ I came down from heaven to do what God wants me to do, not what I want to do. ³⁹ Here is what the One who sent me wants me to do: I must not lose even one whom God gave me, but I must raise them all on the last day. ⁴⁰ Those who see the Son and believe in him have eternal life, and I will raise them on the last day. This is what my Father wants.”

⁴¹ Some people began to complain about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “This is Jesus, the son of Joseph. We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

⁴³ But Jesus answered, “Stop complaining to each other. ⁴⁴ The Father is the One who sent me. No one can come to me unless the Father draws him to me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. ⁴⁶ No one has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ I tell you the truth, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread that gives life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but still they died. ⁵⁰ Here is the bread that comes down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will never die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give up so that the world may have life.”

Let’s stop reading here and finish this passage in our next episode.

In this first portion of Jesus’ challenge to this crowd, I am amazed that they are this stubborn and unbelieving. It is as though this crowd is looking for reasons to not believe in Jesus than for reasons to believe.

This is the clearest to me when they directly ask Jesus what sign He would give them from heaven. I suspect you caught the irony like I did when the crowd uses the example of God giving the people manna in the desert. They quote scripture saying that God gave them bread from heaven to eat.

The irony in my mind is that these people just finished eating a clearly miraculous food miracle, where the only place for this bread to have come from is God. A boy supplied his meal big enough for one person, and Jesus multiplied it into food for over 5,000 with plenty of leftovers. After witnessing this miracle, likely less than 48 hours later, this crowd completely discounts the miracle of food multiplication, and they want a clearer sign instead of remembering back to what had just taken place.

Jesus redefines the source of the Bread from heaven, and in a symbolic way, Jesus takes the manna that the Old Testament Israelites ate, and He turns it into a symbolic prophecy about God sending Him into the world.

Jesus clearly tells this crowd in no uncertain terms that He is the symbolic bread that gives life. Jesus says in verse 35 that “Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Jesus is speaking on a spiritual level that many in this crowd do not understand, and those that do understand this are not willing to accept it.

Those in the crowd are unwilling to accept Jesus because many of them knew the family Jesus was raised in. Whether Mary and Joseph kept Jesus’ miraculous birth a secret, or whether they stopped trying to tell people because no one believed them, this crowd saw Jesus as simply being Joseph’s son and nothing more significant. The amazing miracles that God did through Jesus were not enough to break through to them that Jesus was more than simply a carpenter’s son.

However, we have an advantage, because three of the four gospels shed light on Jesus’ origins, and on how Jesus did in fact come from heaven. While this passage may be enough to cause some people to trip up in their faith like those in this first century crowd, the biggest truth I see included in this passage is Jesus’ repeated promise about His own task and responsibility.

In this first part of Jesus’ challenge to this crowd, He repeatedly tells them that He is the Source of eternal life, and that His responsibility is raising up all of God’s people on the last day. When we place our trust in Jesus, not only to we trust in His sacrifice to cover our sins, we trust that He is more than capable of raising us up personally when He returns on the last day.

Jesus’ promise is a promise pointing forward to resurrection, and it is a promise I firmly hold on to. Jesus conquered death, and I know He is preparing a place for all of us who have placed our faith in Him as we all together look forward to the day He returns to bring us home!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, continue seeking God first in your life and intentionally place your faith, your hope, your trust, and your belief in Jesus and what He did for you on the cross. Also place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and His power to do exactly what He has promised for all of God’s people, which is raising each and every one of them up when He returns. It is Jesus’ responsibility to raise up God’s people and it is His responsibility to not lose even one of those who have given their lives to God. We can trust that even when we don’t know why or how, Jesus knows, He is trustworthy, and God is working in ways we likely cannot see yet.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to personally grow closer to Jesus each and every day. The Bible is the best way to discover Jesus for yourself, and prayer and study are the best ways to open your heart to Jesus and fall in love with Him like He has fallen in love with you!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

After being rejected in His hometown of Nazareth, Mark’s gospel transitions to Jesus sending His disciples out to spread God’s message. Whether this was directly because of the rejection Jesus faced, or because Jesus wanted to teach the disciples a big truth, Mark transitions us to this event, and he specifically includes some of Jesus’ instructions to the disciples as they head out.

Let’s read what Mark tells us and discover some things we can learn from Jesus sending out His disciples. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will read it from the New International Reader’s Version. Starting in verse 7, Mark tells us that Jesus:

⁷ [He] called the 12 disciples to him. Then he began to send them out two by two. He gave them authority to drive out evil spirits.

⁸ Here is what he told them to do. “Take only a walking stick for your trip. Do not take bread or a bag. Take no money in your belts. ⁹ Wear sandals. But do not take extra clothes. ¹⁰ When you are invited into a house, stay there until you leave town. ¹¹ Some places may not welcome you or listen to you. If they don’t, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet. That will be a witness against the people living there.”

¹² They went out. And they preached that people should turn away from their sins. ¹³ They drove out many demons. They poured olive oil on many sick people and healed them.

In this short passage, we discover some amazing ideas. Probably the first amazing thing is that Jesus gives His disciples the authority to drive out evil spirits. While we can learn from the detail of Jesus sending His disciples out in pairs, this strategy is less amazing than the incredible thought that Jesus would give sinful, people the authority to drive out evil spirits.

It is even a little more amazing to think that this passage strongly implies that Judas Iscariot would have been included in this. Judas Iscariot was the disciple who would later let Satan into his life prompting his betrayal of Jesus, and here, earlier in Jesus’ ministry, Judas Iscariot is given the power and authority to drive evil spirits out of other people.

However, in Jesus’ instructions to the disciples, another big idea stands out in my mind. Jesus tells the disciples to basically travel empty-handed. All Jesus tells them they can take are the clothes they are currently wearing, a walking stick, and sandals for their feet. This would be equivalent to what someone might take if they were going for an afternoon walk, but not for a month-long or more trip. While near the end of Jesus’ time on earth, He tells the disciples to pack a little more when they travel from that point forward, I believe this first missionary-like trip emphasizes dependence and acceptance.

Jesus then tells the disciples to stay at one place in town as long as they are welcome, and to silently reject the towns that reject them. While shaking the dust off of their feet would be visible to those who are watching, this action is not disruptive or obnoxious in any way.

Similar to how Jesus had been rejected in Nazareth, Jesus emphasizes that some of the disciples would likely experience rejection in the towns they visited. It’s possible that depending on how many towns Jesus asked the disciples to travel to, all six pairs of disciples faced rejection at least once.

When reading this event and wondering about the territory that was covered in this evangelistic campaign, I am curious if there was no overlap between disciple pairs covering the town. In other words, I am curious if one pair of disciples was rejected at their first or second town, if later on, a different pair of disciples stopped to share at the same town and was met with success. Something I have noticed as I have traveled speaking is that different people respond differently to different people. It is possible that the former tax collector Matthew could have been rejected because of his reputation, but James, who was a fisherman before becoming a disciple, was accepted.

In this passage, we have no indication how long the disciples traveled and we have no indication how many towns Jesus asked them to visit. It is quite likely that Jesus gave these disciples this detail, but that these details are not relevant to the bigger themes that the disciples understood Jesus to be teaching.

However, just like what we saw that was amazing at the opening of our passage, we discover an amazing idea and truth at the close of our passage. At the opening of our passage, we discovered how Jesus gives His disciples the power to drive out evil spirits. At the close of this passage, we discover how their missionary journey was successful. Not only were the disciples able to drive evil spirits out, they preached a message of repentance, and they healed many sick people as well. In the lives of these disciples, in this event we see evidence of the Holy Spirit being with them while Jesus was alive on earth.

When reading the summary of what happened, it is amazing to see what is not said alongside what was said. While about half of the instructions Jesus shares with the disciples relates to responding when a town rejects the disciples, nothing is even indicated that any town rejected any pair of disciples. This either tells me that the instructions Jesus gave regarding this point were not needed, or more likely, that the disciples simply didn’t focus on or dwell on the rejection that they did face. Instead, the disciples focused on the towns and people they were able to help and bless, and this truth is a great point to remember.

While it is easy to remember and focus on the points when people rejected us in our past, remembering our rejection is never positive. Instead, we should remember the times when God has used us in powerful and/or significant ways, and seek to place ourselves in situations where God can work powerfully in us again. God used these disciples to bless the towns that accepted them, and God is more than willing to use us to bless our communities when we let Him lead our lives as well!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to let His Holy Spirit guide and direct your steps. While it might seem that at times God is silent, during those times, I recommend living your life as a witness for God and to focus on growing your personal relationship with Him.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself. While pastors, speakers, authors, or even a random podcaster can give you ideas to think about, take everything you learn and discover and test it against the truth of the Bible. God has giving us everything we need to strengthen our spiritual lives in the pages of the Bible, and the Bible gives us many warnings about traps our spiritual lives can face. With prayer and study, we can learn from God how to best live for Him in a world that is opposed to God in almost every way imaginable.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!