1. Jesus Seeks the Disciples (verses 16-21)
2. The Crowds Seek Jesus (verses 22-24)
3. The Crowds Wanted Bread (verses 25-29)
4. Jesus is the Bread (verses 30-35)

There are many phrases in the English language that come from a context that have come to be common place in our day.

For example, in the world of boxing, when those in the corner see their fighter being pounded by their opponent, and when they believe that their man has no chance of winning any more, what can they do? They can throw a towel into the ring, signaling to the referee that they are surrendering the fight. "Throwing in the towel" has come to mean, "I surrender" or "I quit." "After months of trying to fix the car, he finally decided to throw in the towel and take it to a mechanic."

Here's another example from the world of dogs. Suppose a dog is chasing a squirrel in the yard, and the squirrel prances up the tree, and the dog is at the bottom of the tree, barking in an effort to capture the squirrel, and unknown to the dog, the squirrel has jumped from tree to tree and is no longer in the tree it climbed. What do we say? The dog is barking up the wrong tree. "Barking up the wrong tree" has come to mean that we have come to emphasize the wrong thing. "He keeps asking me for help with his car, but I don't know how to fix it. He is barking up the wrong tree."

Here's another one that comes from the days before electricity. When work had to be done past sundown, without electricity, people relied on their oil lamps for illumination, and when they worked late into the night, what were they doing? They were burning the midnight oil. That's what we say when people are up late working on a project. "With finals approaching, the students were burning the midnight oil in their study sessions."

Well, this morning, as we come to the gospel of John, we are going to see the historical context of one of these phrases. It is "walking on water." This phrase comes from Jesus in John, chapter 6. He did this very thing. He walked on the waters of the Sea of Galilee. In our modern context, "Walking on Water" can come to mean that you have some incredible abilities. "He's so admired by his fan base, that they think he can walk on water," that is, he can do the impossible. That's what we see in our text this morning.

So, if you haven't opened your Bibles yet, I invite you to open up to John, chapter 6. My message this morning is entitled, "Jesus Walks on Water." Our text begins in verse 16. Let's begin reading it now:

John 6:16-21
When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

John tells amazingly little about this event, a mere six verses. When Matthew told this same story, he used twelve verses to tell the story (Matthew 14:22-33). When Mark told this story, he used eight verses (Mark 6:45-52). Matthew and Mark used more verses because they had more details to share.

Both Matthew and Mark shared how the disciples, when they saw Jesus walking on the water toward them, thought that Jesus was a ghost on the water (Matthew 14:26; Mark 6:49-50), amplifying their fear. Matthew shared how Peter also walked on the water, until he became afraid, and began to sink, and Jesus rebuked him for his lack of faith (Matthew 14:28-33). Mark mentions how Jesus was on the mountain, watching the plight of the disciples in the boat (Mark 6:48). Mark shared how the disciples in the boat had failed to believe in the power of Jesus in feeding the 5,000 (Mark 6:51-52).

We don't see any of these details in the gospel of John, so we won't spend our time focusing upon them. We will focus on what John tells us in his gospel, which, by the way is a good way to study the gospels.

Too often, when coming to the gospels, people are so interested in getting the full picture of what happened in the life of Jesus, that they try to harmonize all of the details together. There is a place for that. I have a book entitled, "Harmony of the gospels" that seeks to do that very thing, and it is helpful. But we have four gospels. Each of them tell their own story.

John is telling his own story. We don't need to harmonize all of the details of the other gospels to get John's point. John gives us the details that we need, to make the point that he's making.

In line with the overall purpose of John, I think it's true that John is telling us this story, to reveal who Jesus is, that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing, we might have life in his name (John 20:30-31). So, let's look at my first point:

1. Jesus Seeks the Disciples (verses 16-21)

Let's work through the text.

John 6:16
When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.

At this point in the narrative, Jesus and the disciples are not together. Jesus is on the mountain, the disciples are in the boat.

We know this from our text last week. This all happened after Jesus fed the 5,000 (verses 1-15). (Or, more properly, according to verse 10, 5,000 men. There may have been some women and children). Jesus had them sit down, and taking the five loaves and the two fish that the boy had brought, Jesus generated enough food to feed the crowds.

How he did it is all a mystery. Perhaps Jesus generated all of the food and continued to distribute to the disciples to bring to the crowds. Every time the disciples ran out of food to distribute, Jesus had more to give. Perhaps the fish and loaves were multiplying in the baskets that the disciples were using to distribute the food, much like the widow of Zarephath in Elijah's day: her jar of flour and jug of oil never ran empty during the drought (1 Kings 17:12-16). Every time she went to the jar of flour or jug of oil, there was always enough to feed her and her son.

We don't know how the thousands were fed. We simply know that they were fed, and had so much left over that the disciples picked up 12 baskets full of leftovers. We also know that they were fed as a sign to show that Jesus was the Christ (John 20:30-31).

The crowds sensed the miraculous power of Jesus. Verse 14 says, "When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, 'This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!'" They believed that Jesus was the one of whom Moses spoke in Deuteronomy 18:18, which says, "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him." Feeding the 5,000 with bread was like the days of Moses, when the entire nation was fed with Manna that came down from heaven.

So much did the crowds believe this about Jesus that they wanted to take him right then and there, and march him to Jerusalem to make him king. Look at verse 15, "Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself." But as John will tell Pontius Pilate later, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world" (John 18:36).

So, Jesus, lest this happen, that he become king by force, Jesus removed himself from the situation. He went up into the hills by himself, where nobody could find him. Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus was praying (Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46), but John's point is that he wasn't about to become king by force, so he left the scene. In his absence, the disciples,

John 6:17
got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.

Now remember, many of the disciples of Jesus were fishermen. They made their living on the lake. They often traversed it, even at night. John mentions in verse 16 that it was dark.

Darkness is one of those subtle themes that John mentioned in his prologue: "In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:4-5). Whenever John mentions darkness, there's always a subtle reference to the light of Jesus. These disciples were separated from the light, they were away from Jesus, and it was dark. Perhaps there is a subtle reference here to how the disciples weren't quite grasping who Jesus, the light of the world, actually was.

Now, we read in verse 18,

John 6:18
The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.

Such storms were not uncommon on the Sea of Galilee. Much of it has to do with the topology of the land. The Sea of Galilee is 600 feet below sea level. It's sort of in this bowl. You can see it in the topological map on the screen. You can envision the cold air from the Mediterranean Sea coming up and over the hills, and mixing with the warm air above the Sea of Galilee, and causing some turbulence in the water. That's what John describes in verse 18, "The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing."

Nowhere in any of the gospel accounts of this story is there any mentions of the fear of the disciples from the wind and the waves at this time. What gave them fear was Jesus walking to them on the water. Look at verse 19,

John 6:19
When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened."

John mentions that they are "three or four miles" out to sea. The last thing that they would expect is Jesus coming to them, walking on the water. Yet, there Jesus was, "coming near the boat," and that's what caused them to be frightened. That's why Jesus said to them

John 6:20
"It is I; do not be afraid."

Isn't this how it happens in the night? You are awakened at night by the sound of someone rustling downstairs. But you don't know who it is. So you get out of bed, and creep down the stairs to see who it is. You say, "Who is it?" Your teenager says, "It's me. I'm hungry. I'm down here looking for something to eat," and then it all makes sense.

But I'm not sure that it much made sense to the disciples. Can you imagine, you are three miles from the shore. That's a long way! My wife and I try to take walks every day. It ends up being only a few times a week. But we know that it takes about an hour to walk three miles. So, unless Jesus had done something else miraculous, (which he could have done), Jesus may well have been walking for an hour upon the Sea of Galilee to reach their boat.

I remember when our children were little, one of their favorite children's Bibles was "The Word and Song Bible." They liked it because it put some of the stories of the Bible to song, and so we could sing them. As I remember, it came with a CD of the songs, so that we could sing along. As I also remember, we used to play the CD in their rooms when we put them to bed at night. When talking about the story of Jesus walking on the water, the song was entitled, "Footprints on the Water." The song tells the story of some fish in the Sea of Galilee.

When I was a little fish, swimming happily,
I heard the sounds of footsteps walking on the sea.
I swam up to the surface and much to my surprise,
there on top of the water, right before my eyes,
and I saw footprints on the water,
footprints on the sea,
footprints on the water,
and I could not believe,

I saw Jesus, Jesus, walking on the waves.
Footprints on the water that day.^[1]

Just as the fish marveled at what they experienced, so does John want for us to marvel at Jesus, who can walk on water. John wants for us to see the power of Jesus, who can turn the water into wine (John 2), who can heal those at the point of death (John 4), who can heal the lame (John 5), who can feed the 5,000 (John 6), who can walk on water! (John 6), who died upon the cross for our sins! Jesus wants for us to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that by believing, we might have life in his name. Do you believe?

When he arrived at the boat, and when the disciples understood that it was him, verse 21 says,

John 6:21
Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

Again, we meet with something confusing. How is it that they were three miles from the Sea, then immediately at the land? It could have been miraculous, or, it may have been that the reference to the "three or four miles" was how far they had rowed from when they got into the boat, but they were almost on the other side. We don't know. But we do know that what Jesus did was a sign of his deity. For nobody can walk on water, unless he is God!

Let's go to our next point. In verses 16-21, we see Jesus seeking the disciples by walking after them for three miles on the water. Now, in verses 22-24, we see:

2. The Crowds Seek Jesus (verses 22-24)

Let's read the passage:

John 6:22-24
On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

There's really not much to comment about these verses, other than to say that these verses serve to verify the miracle that Jesus really walked on the water!

In verse 22, John picks up the narrative from the next morning after Jesus walked to the disciples across the water and into the boat. The crowds were doing some detective work. They had noticed that there had been only one boat on the shore. They had noticed that the disciples left the scene in that one boat. They had noticed that Jesus was not with them in the boat.

In verse 23, they noticed other boats coming to where they were, but they were not there the previous night.

In verse 24, they noticed that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples. It was a mystery that the crowds were seeking to solve. So, "they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus" (verse 24).

We know how Jesus got to Capernaum. He walked on the water. But the crowds didn't know, so they went seeking Jesus to figure out exactly what happened. That's why, in verse 25, we read,

John 6:25
When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, 'Rabbi, when did you come here?'"

In asking "When did you come here?" the crowds were essentially asking, "How did you come here?" But their minds weren't on "how" Jesus got to Capernaum. They knew that he must have taken a boat. That's the only way to get to the other side of the sea. So they asked, "When did you come here?" "Was there another boat that we didn't know about?" "Did you get into that boat in the middle of the night when we were all asleep?" "When did you come here?"

Jesus answers, by not answering the question. Instead, he rebukes them. I'm surprised that Jesus didn't dwell more on how he had just walked on water. In fact, the topic never comes up again.

John 6:26
Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves."

Here we get our third point:

3. The Crowds Wanted Bread (verses 25-29)

Jesus was able to get to their hearts. They weren't seeking Jesus, because they saw the signs, and concluded that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. Rather, they were seeking Jesus, because they liked the bread that he could provide. They wanted more bread! Back in the garden of Eden, the LORD said to Adam,

Genesis 3:17-19
Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
    and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
    'You shall not eat of it,'
cursed is the ground because of you;
    in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
    and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return."

Since that day, we all have had to labor long and hard for our food. But these crowds saw in Jesus a way that this could be eliminated. They wouldn't have to work for their food. Instead, Jesus could provide them all with their food! It would be great! They could sit around and enjoy life. Jesus would feed them! What a great retirement plan!

But Jesus didn't think it was a good plan. Jesus used the metaphor of food and work to speak spiritual truth into their lives. Jesus said,

John 6:27
"Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal."

Our food perishes! My bread from last week was left in my office. It's moldy now! We don't want this. This is what Jesus is telling the crowds. "Our food perishes. But there's something better! You all are thinking on a physical plain. You all are thinking about the here and now. You need to think about the spiritual. You need to think about eternity! So, labor for the food that gives eternal life! Which I can give you! God has set his seal upon me!"

The same is true for us as well. Church family, don't labor for the food that perishes! Labor for the food that continues forever! Does this sound familiar? Doesn't this sound like the conversation that Jesus had with the woman at the well? Jesus said to her: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water" (John 4:10). "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14).

Remember what the woman said to Jesus? "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water" (John 4:15). This is the same question that the crowds asked Jesus,

John 6:28
Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?"

Then Jesus twists the conversation further.

John 6:29
Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

This is the message of the gospel of John. It is written that we might believe in Jesus, whom God has sent! This is the message of John, because it is the message of Jesus! Believe in him! Our text continues

John 6:30
So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?"

Are you crazy? Jesus just fed the 5,000. Jesus just walked on water to get to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and they are asking for a sign for him to perform? Then, in verse 31, we see that their hearts are still on the bread.

John 6:31
"Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

This implication is simple. In the wilderness, our fathers were fed! But now, you can feed us! They still have their minds upon the bread! But Jesus again transitions to speak of the spiritual bread that only he can give.

John 6:32-35
Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father 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." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

This is my fourth point:

4. Jesus is the Bread (verses 30-35)

Jesus can give bread, because Jesus is the bread of life. Jesus can walk on water! Jesus can give us the bread of life. See, it was God, the Father, who fed the Jews in the wilderness (verse 32), and God, the Father, gave more bread, in sending Jesus, the bread of life (verse 33). What a great promise is verse 35,

John 6:35
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

Those appetites that we have are fulfilled in Jesus! On Thursday, many of us will eat our fill on Thanksgiving Day. That's merely a picture of what Jesus gives to us. He is our feast! If we eat of him, we will never hunger again! If we drink of him, we will never thirst again!

This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church on November 24, 2024 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org.