A JOURNEY THROUGH THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN

Two Notable Miracles by Christ on Land and on the Sea

St. John 6:14-27

In this momentous chapter, we have discussed the Miracle of Jesus feeding the Five Thousand beside women and children.  It was a very notable miracle and each gospel writer reports about it.  As a result of this signal miracle, Jesus’ popularity increased tremendously to the extent that verse 14, says – “Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.”  Furthermore, in verse 15, we are told that the people were so excited about Christ’s ability as a miracle – worker until they wanted to take Him by force and make Him a King (v. 15).  But, what really laid behind their zeal?  They really had no appreciation for His Divine person, nor did they understand the real reason for His first coming.  Moreover, our blessed Lord knew about their motive; and any way:  “He did not need to be made King, for He was already King” (Matthew 2:2).  And before He reigns as King, He must die a vicarious death for human kind!  In other words, before the crown, He must endure the cross:  no cross, no crown!  Having instructed His disciples to get into a boat and go to Bethsaida, Jesus dismisses the crowd and went into a mountain to pray (Mark 6:45-46).  While Jesus was on the mountain praying, the disciples were struggling on the lake, for a tempestuous wind had caused much difficulty on the lake.  As the disciples’ lives were in danger, Our Lord came to their rescue “walking on the sea;” and He arrested their fears by saying – “It is I; be not afraid” (St. John 6:19-20).  In our darkest trial, our Lord is not indifferent to our plight; but He is right there with us to calm our fears and to placate our troubled hearts!  What a God we serve.  Having delivered His disciples (v. 21), Christ will give a lengthy discourse explaining the spiritual import of the notable miracles of feeding the five thousand, and Jesus’ walking on the water.  After the crowd discovers that our Lord is no longer on the eastern side of the lake, where they were fed, they took a boat and found Jesus in Capernaum (v. 22-25), and raised a question – “Rabbi, when camest thou hither” (v. 25).  Having analyzed their motive, Jesus knew that they were only following Him for physical sustenance (v. 26) but they needed to focus on the spiritual bread that leads to eternal life!  May God Bless!