A King By Force
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Theme for this year, here on Sunday mornings, is “The Life of Christ.”
Our goal has been to help us draw closer to our God by studying him who was “God in the flesh,” the “Word incarnate.”
Today, we turn our attention to the fascinating account found in John 6:1-15.
Here we find Jesus preaching, feeding, and then leaving a group of 5,000 men.
In John 5 we read of Jesus teaching in Jerusalem during a “feast of the Jews.”
Jesus healed a sick man who had been trying for years to get into the pool by the Sheep Gate.
This was on a Sabbath so “…the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him…” (John 5:18).
In John 6, we find in our account that Jesus is back in the region of Galilee.
So, with that in mind, let’s examine our lesson.
The Biblical Account
The Biblical Account
Jesus’ Popularity.
Jesus’ Popularity.
By this time in Jesus’ ministry his popularity was soaring.
People continued to talk about the miracles “signs” he was performing.
2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.
In this verse there are three verbs in the Greek imperfect tense which indicates continuous action.
“And a large crowd kept following him, because they continued to see signs that he was continually doing on the sick.”
Now, remember the crowd here is 5,000 men not counting the women and children there.
Jesus was extremely popular.
We also see…
It Was The Passover.
It Was The Passover.
In John 6:4 we see that it was “the Passover, the feast of the Jews.”
4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
Why is this significant?
This little detail helps explain a great deal of the context of our account.
The Passover season for the Jews, during this time, was a time of great patriotism.
Each year the Jews would gather in Jerusalem and wait and see if this was the year the Messiah would arrive and overthrow the Roman empire and restore Israel to its former glory.
So, when Jesus excited the people of Galilee by performing all these miracles and you have the P,assover taking place, the Jews were filled with strong expectations for Jesus, that he might just be the King of Israel they had been waiting all these years for.
These 5,000 men were farmers who had put their hoes down and shopkeepers that had closed up shop, to come and see if this was the King they had been waiting for and were willing to “fight” for that kingdom.
Next, we see Jesus’ compassion for the people there.
The Miracle.
The Miracle.
Jesus asked Philip, a native of this region (John 1:44), in John 6:5…
John 6:5 (ESV)
5 …Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?
Although Philip was aware, like the crowd, of the miracles Jesus had done, he had little faith in Jesus at this moment.
6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”
Philip said eight months of daily wages wouldn’t be enough to feed this crowd.
In comes, Andrew and he tells Jesus of a boy who has five barley loves and two fish.
These barley loaves were about the size of dinner rolls and the fish, as this was a boy, wouldn’t have been very big.
Andrew interestingly enough, in the book of John, is always seen bringing people to Jesus.
Now, as we know Jesus takes those loaves and fish and feeds the 5,000 plus people with 12 baskets full left over.
When the people saw the sign, they knew who he was.
14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
This is in reference to Moses’ prophecy about the coming Messiah in Deuteronomy 18:15.
Now…
The Rest Of The Account.
The Rest Of The Account.
Now, let’s put ourselves in these men’s shoes for a moment.
They are feeling extra patriotic.
They are hoping to see the Messiah due to it being the Passover season.
They have just seen this man feed them, whom they are suspecting to the “Prophet and King of Israel.”
These farmers and shopkeepers are ready to take Jesus with them to Jerusalem and make him their king.
Remember, because it’s the Passover season there would be a Roman garrison stationed in Jerusalem to assure the peace.
These guys are willing to take on the Romans with their king and fight for their freedom, clean the Temple of its pollution and abuses, while overthrowing those in power that have corrupted so much.
In their minds, in a spectacular and decisive victory they would smash the Romans and come the new world power.
Summary
Summary
However, that isn’t what happened.
Jesus had something else in mind.
That leads us to…
Their Mistake & Ours
Their Mistake & Ours
The Unexpected.
The Unexpected.
With all these expectations and excitement Jesus did the unexpected.
John 6:15 (ESV)
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.
Let’s think about this for a moment.
Imagine in 2020 with all the hype over Trump’s “reelection.”
The expectations and excitement as it were.
What if, after all the campaigning and speeches, on election day Trump had just bowed out of the presidential race.
This couldn’t compete with the confusion these Jewish men would have felt at this moment.
Jesus shows us here, again, his unparalleled ability to stay focused on his goal.
He knew the men’s intentions, as flattering as they were, would not save the world from their sin.
That brings us to…
The Lessons Taught.
The Lessons Taught.
More often than not humanity tends to try and force Jesus into “our” mold.
We want to place “our expectations” on Jesus.
Americans think of Jesus as “American.”
Even speaking English.
Italians think of Jesus as “Italians.”
Spanish think of Jesus as “Spanish.
The rich think of Jesus as rich, the poor as poor.
The educated think of Jesus as educated and the uneducated as one who is anti-education.
Emotional people see him as emotional while calmer people see him as calm.
Seeing Jesus walk away from the 5,000 reminds us how wrong we can be when we think like this.
Jesus insisted on doing the Father’s will, even if the whole world misunderstood.
19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
We cannot let “our expectations” of Jesus distort us and cause us to miss the “real Jesus” and his word.
We cannot take our baggage into bible study.
2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV)
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
We cannot take our baggage or opinions into our prayer life.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
The second lesson we find from this is that we cannot let “short-term problems” make us ignore “long-term solutions.”
The Jews “short-term problems” of being under Roman rule and desiring political freedom got them to overlook the Messiah’s actual “long-term solution” of being…
John 1:29 (ESV)
29 …the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Summary
Summary
Do we ever become so concerned with the immediate problems that we overlook or lose sight of “life’s biggest issues?”
Do we ever find ourselves wanting deliverance from taxes, pain, conflict, stress, or work more than longing for deliverance from sin?
Conclusion
Conclusion
When we insist on making Jesus fit our expectations and follow our agenda, we are doing what the 5,000 did that day on the mountain, and Jesus walked away.
Several years ago, 4-D stereograms were all the rage.
These were hidden pictures within what looked like just a jumbled mess of patterns at first glance.
At the bottom was a title so you could have some idea of what you were trying to see.
When they first came out, people in malls could be seen grouped around the display, with everyone trying to see the image.
John 6:1-15 is like a stereograms.
At the bottom of the picture is the “Victory.”
Some people, seeing that title, will expect to see…
Dollar bills floating around.
That American flag waving.
Tanks and bombers.
However, like at the mall, one by one people start saying, “Oh, I see it.”
Instead of all those other things, it’s a cross.
As God’s children who “know our King” let us shout from the mountain tops about who the real Jesus is.
Let’s help as many “created souls” as possible know the “King of king and Lord of lords” who has offered “deliverance from sin” and an “eternity with God.”
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.