NOVEMBER 1

Miracles and Multitudes-.

As his ministry nears its second year, Jesus reaches a peak of popularity among the multitudes. He amazes a crowd of over 5000 by feeding them all, using  just a few loaves of bread and some fish. Upon that demonstration they are ready to make hint king, but of course they have misunderstood the nature of his kingdom. When Jesus says that he is the true bread of life and that they must eat his flesh, many are offended and turn away. They can accept Jesus as a popular hero who works wonders, but they are unwilling to accept the demands of discipleship.

 

Jesus continues his dialogue with.-the Pharisees, pointing out the danger of legalism, especially regarding traditional doctrinal rules which are not a part of the law. Naturally, Jesus' condemnation of their institutionalized reli­gion, as well as his threat to their political power base, evokes their hostility. Opposition in Judea grows to such a point that the political and religious leaders there are seeking to kill Jesus. Therefore Jesus remains in Galilee for a while longer, apparently not even leaving to attend the Passover Feast in Jerusalem, which takes place during this time.

 

Despite his opposition, what is so impressive about Jesus is the extent to which he has won the hearts of the common people. The prophets of old had also preached righteousness and brought judgment against false religious leaders, but none of them ever had the popular following of Jesus. Which of the prophets could match Jesus' insight? Which of the prophets could approach Jesus' personal righteousness? And which of the prophets did the people want to make their king? This Jesus is not just another prophet, but rather the Messiah about whom all the other prophets have prophesied.

 

JESUS TEACHES MULTITUDE. Mk. 6:34 Lk. 9:11b [Mt. 14:14 Jn. 6:2-4]

Mk When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. LkHe welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who need­ed healing. '"The Jewish Passover Feast was near.

 

FIVE THOUSAND FED. Mk. 6:35-44 Jn. 6:5-14 [Mt.14:15-21 Lk. 9:12-17 ]

Mk By this time it was late in the day, so his dis­ciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding coun­tryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." '"When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

 

Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages  would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"

 

Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" Mk Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. '" After the people saw the mirac­ulous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world."

 

KINGSHIP AVOIDED. Mk. 6:45,46 Jn. 6:15-17 [Mt.14:22,23a ]

Mk immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

 

JESUS WALKS ON WATER. Mk.6:47-50 Jn.6:17b-21 [Mt.14:23b-27]

'"By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. MkHe saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. '"When they had rowed three or three and a half miles,' they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water . . . MkHe was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified.

Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

 

PETER WALKS ON WATER. Mt.14:28-33 ,Mk.6:51,52     

 Mt "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water,"

"Come," he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. MkThey were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. M'Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

 

MIRACLES AT GENNESARET. Mk.6:53-56 [Mt.14:34-36]

When they had crossed over, they land­ed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and car­ried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

 

JESUS' CROSSING IS MYSTERY. Jn. 6:22-24

 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

 

DISCOURSE ON BREAD OF LIFE. Jn. 6:25-40

 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."

Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God re­quires?"

Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

 

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

 

"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

 

JEWS CHALLENGE JESUS' CLAIM. jn. 6:41-51

At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"

"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 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. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heav­en. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

 

JEWS QUESTION EATING FLESH. jn. 6:52-59 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the liv­ing Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

 

OFFENDED DISCIPLES TURN AWAY. jn. 6:60-66

On hearing it, many of his disci­ples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"

Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit0 and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer fol­lowed him.

 

PETER AFFIRMS FAITH jn. 6:67-71     . 

"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.

 

Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

 

TRADITION CONDEMNED. Mk.7:1-13 [Mt. 7:1-13]

 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles. )

 

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"

He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

 

" 'These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain;

their teachings are but rules taught by men.'

 

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the tradi­tions of men."

 

And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the com­mands of God in order to observer your own traditions! For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,'5 and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."

 

DEFILEMENT CONTRASTED. Mt.15:10-20 Mk. 7:14-23

Mk Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'"" MtThen the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"

 

He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides." If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."

Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."

 

"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. Mk "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In say­ing this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoral­ity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'"

 

MINISTRY ONLY IN GALILEE. Jn. 7:1

After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life.