Sign #4: Jesus Feeds a Crowd with Five Loaves and Two Fish

John 6

After these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Tiberias). A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on those who were sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and he sat there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. Then Jesus, when he lifted his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where should we buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he knew what he was going to do.

Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii+6:7 This would be the wages for 200 days or 6 months of work. worth of bread would not be enough for everyone to receive even a little.”

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “A boy is here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many?”

Jesus said, “Y’all get the humans to sit down.” Now there was plenty of grass in that place, so they sat down (there were about five thousand men). Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were sitting down. He did likewise with the fish, as much as they desired. When they were full, he said to his disciples, “Y’all gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing will be lost.” Then they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten. Now when the humans saw the sign that Jesus performed, they said, “This is truly the prophet who comes into the world.” Then Jesus, perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Sign #5: Jesus Walks on the Water

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea. They entered the boat, and were going over the sea to Capernaum. It was already dark, and Jesus had yet not come to them. A strong wind was blowing, and the sea was getting rough. Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat, and they were afraid. But he told them, “It is I. Don’t y’all be afraid.” Then they were willing to take him into the boat. Immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

On the next day, the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except the one, and that Jesus hadn’t into the boat entered with his disciples, but his disciples had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias came near to the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

I Am #1: The Bread of Life

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

Jesus answered them, “Very truly I tell y’all, y’all are seeking me, not because y’all saw miraculous signs, but because y’all ate the loaves and were satisfied. Y’all shouldn’t work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures toward eternal life, which the Son of Humanity will give y’all. For God the Father has sealed him.”

Then they asked him, “What must we do, so that we may work the works of God?”

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that y’all believe in him whom ʜᴇ has sent.”

So they asked him, “Then what sign will you do, so that we may see and believe you? What will you do? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’”+Exo 16:24-25

Then, Jesus told them, “Very truly, I tell y’all, it wasn’t Moses who gave y’all the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives y’all the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.”

Then they said to him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I told y’all that y’all have seen me, and yet y’all don’t believe. All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. Whoever comes to me, I will never send away. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of ʜɪᴍ who sent me. This is the will of ʜɪᴍ who sent me, that I should lose none of those ʜᴇ has given to me, but raise them up at the last day. This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”

Then the Jews began to grumble about him, because he said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’”

So Jesus answered them and said, “Don’t y’all grumble among yourselves*. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ +Isa 54:13 Therefore everyone who heard and has learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell y’all, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Y’all’s ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so anyone may eat it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

In response, the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

So Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell y’all, unless y’all eat the flesh of the Son of Humanity and drink his blood, y’all have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in them. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will also live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven—not as our ancestors ate the manna and died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.” He said these things in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum.

The Father, Son, and Spirit at Work

When they heard this, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard saying! Who can understand it?”

But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Does this cause y’all to stumble? Then what if y’all see the Son of Humanity ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to y’all are spirit and life. But there are some of y’all who don’t believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who didn’t believe, and who would betray him. He said, “For this reason I told y’all that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to them by my Father.”

Peter’s Declaration of Faith

At this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Y’all don’t want to go away too, do y’all?”

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus answered them, “Didn’t I choose y’all, the twelve? And yet one of y’all is a devil!” Now he spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he was the one from the twelve who would betray him.