In this essay I’m looking at the aftermath of Jesus feeding five thousand plus people in the light of his assessment of the Jewish leaders (Ἰουδαῖοι, a form of Ἰουδαῖος)[1] as an answer to how the Father seeking his own is not self-seeking. And ultimately it is a continuing part of my attempt to view—Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord[2]—as a definition of love (ἀγάπη) rather than as rules. Matthew and Mark end this thread of their narratives focused on people who did not eat from the five loaves and two fish.
| Matthew |
Mark |
| After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. When the people there recognized him, they sent word into all the surrounding area, and they brought all their sick to him. They begged him if they could only touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
Matthew 14:34-36 (NET) |
After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and anchored there. As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Jesus. They ran through that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever he was rumored to be. And wherever he would go – into villages, towns, or countryside – they would place the sick in the marketplaces, and would ask him if they could just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
Mark 6:53-56 (NET) |
John grappled with the more distressing story of many who did eat from the five loaves and two fish (John 6:22-24 NET).
The next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the lake realized that only one small boat had been there, and that Jesus had not boarded it with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. But some boats from Tiberias came to shore near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”[3]
Jesus didn’t answer their question. Instead He said to those who were part of the crowd… following him because they were observing the miraculous signs he was performing on the sick,[4] who saw the miraculous sign that Jesus performed, [and] began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world,”[5] who were going to come and seize him by force to make him king:[6] I tell you the solemn truth, you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs (σημεῖα, a form of σημεῖον), but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted.[7]
They didn’t argue with Him about it. In fact, they said something a bit later that confirms his assessment of their motives.[8] And I’m reminded of Mark’s Gospel narrative, they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.[9] Who and what did they believe instead of Jesus?
I’ll hazard a guess that they were afraid (ἐφοβοῦντο, a form of φοβέω) of the Jewish (Ἰουδαίους, a form of Ἰουδαῖος) religious leaders. For the Jewish leaders (Ἰουδαῖοι, another form of Ἰουδαῖος) had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.[10] We are disciples of Moses, the Ἰουδαῖοι said. We know that God has spoken to Moses! We do not know where this man comes from![11]
Jesus didn’t walk into anyone’s place of employment, interrupt him and say, Do not work for the food that disappears. Instead, He said it to those who had spent their time, their effort and their money to follow Him not because [they] saw miraculous signs, but because [they] ate all the loaves of bread [they] wanted: Do not work for the food that disappears, but for the food that remains to eternal life – the food which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.[12]
I played the organ, and sometimes the piano, at a downtown mission the summer after I got my driver’s license. The man who ran the mission was a nice enough guy in everyday life but an angry[13] preacher. I felt sorry for the homeless men, sometimes a few women, sitting through that angry tirade everyday for the free meal that followed. But as I look at it in this light, maybe they got what they paid for, indigestion.
Those who followed Jesus not because [they] saw miraculous signs, but because [they] ate all the loaves of bread [they] wanted seemed to grasp his meaning when He told them to work… for the food that remains to eternal life.
What must we do to accomplish the deeds God requires?[14] they asked.
This is the deed God requires, Jesus answered, to believe in the one whom he sent.[15]
They understood that Jesus claimed to be the one God sent: Then what miraculous sign will you perform, so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?[16] Here they unmasked themselves, for they already had a sign in mind. Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[17] In other words, give us more free food and we’ll believe you.
I’m going to hazard another guess that what they really wanted wasn’t free food. What they really wanted was confirmation of their own goodness and acceptability in God’s sight (Deuteronomy 28:12, 13 NET):
The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his commandments which I am urging you today to be careful to do.
Let me put this back in perspicuous form: If you obey his commandments, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail. If you obey his commandments, you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom. Those who followed Jesus not because [they] saw miraculous signs, but because [they] ate all the loaves of bread [they] wanted didn’t feel like they were the head, at the top, under Roman rule. It was a jarring, glaring, living example of denying the consequent, modus tollens, a deductively valid argument that they were not obeying the Lord’s commandments. And it wasn’t from a lack of trying. That needs to be clearly understood.
The Jewish Encyclopedia online defines Zealots (Hebrew, Ḳanna’im) as follows: “Zealous defenders of the Law and of the national life of the Jewish people; name of a party opposing with relentless rigor any attempt to bring Judea under the dominion of idolatrous Rome, and especially of the aggressive and fanatical war party from the time of Herod until the fall of Jerusalem and Masada. The members of this party bore also the name Sicarii, from their custom of going about with daggers (‘sicæ’) hidden beneath their cloaks, with which they would stab any one found committing a sacrilegious act or anything provoking anti-Jewish feeling.”[18]
“This unfailing ‘zeal for the Law’ became the standard of piety in the days of the Maccabean struggle against the Hellenizers. Thus it is asserted that when Mattathias slew the Jew whom he saw sacrificing to an idol, ‘he dealt zealously for the law of God, as did Phinehas[19] unto Zimri the son of Salu’; and Mattathias’ claim of descent from Phinehas implies that, like the latter, he obtained for his house the covenant of an everlasting priesthood (I Macc. ii. 24, 26, 54).”[20]
“‘Ḳanna’im’ was the name for those zealous for the honor and sanctity of the Law as well as of the sanctuary, and for this reason they at first met with the support and encouragement of the people and of the Pharisaic leaders, particularly those of the rigid school of Shammai.[21] It was only after they had been so carried away by their fanatic zeal as to become wanton destroyers of life and property throughout the land that they were denounced as heretic Galileans (Yad. iv. 8) and ‘murderers’ and that their principles were repudiated by the peace-loving Pharisees.”[22]
Jesus’ disciples were steeped in this milieu. Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?[23] This question was foremost in their minds moments before Jesus’ ascension. And Jesus’ response to his faithful followers was, You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…[24]
So Jesus instructed them to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit, the source of the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control[25] that is the fulfillment of the law.[26] Jesus was focused on the work his Father had sent Him to accomplish (Matthew 5:17-20 NET):
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
So how did Jesus respond to those who followed Him not because [they] saw miraculous signs, but because [they] ate all the loaves of bread [they] wanted?
I tell you the solemn truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God (ἄρτος τοῦ θεοῦ) is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.[27]
Give us today our daily bread (ἄρτον, a form of ἄρτος).[28] I wouldn’t alter the translation but it’s important to realize that as I pray this I’m asking, Give us today our daily Jesus, the fruit of his Spirit. Sir (κύριε, a form of κύριος), give us this bread all the time,[29] those who followed Jesus not because [they] saw miraculous signs, but because [they] ate all the loaves of bread [they] wanted said.
Outwardly, they appeared to be doing right, following Jesus. They said the right words: Sir (literally, Lord), give us this bread all the time. The note in the NET reads: “The Greek κύριος (kurios) means both ‘Sir’ and ‘Lord.’ In this passage it is not at all clear at this point that the crowd is acknowledging Jesus as Lord. More likely this is simply a form of polite address (‘sir’).” And I agree, for when Jesus clearly identified Himself as the ἄρτος τοῦ θεοῦ saying, I am the bread of life (ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς),[30] they began complaining about him.[31]
I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty. But I told you that you have seen me and still do not believe. Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who 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 the one who sent me. Now this is the will of the one who sent me – that I should not lose one person of every one he has given me, but raise them all up at the last day. For this is the will of my Father – for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.[32]
Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus (Ἰουδαῖοι, a form of Ἰουδαῖος) began complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven…”[33] The note in the NET reads: “Grk ‘Then the Jews.’ In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus…Here the translation restricts the phrase to those Jews who were hostile to Jesus (cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.β), since the ‘crowd’ mentioned in 6:22-24 was almost all Jewish (as suggested by their addressing Jesus as ‘Rabbi’ (6:25). Likewise, the designation ‘Judeans’ does not fit here because the location is Galilee rather than Judea.”
Yes, I get it. The Jews who responded to Jesus this way were hostile or hardened. There were other Jews who were not so hostile, who had heard and learned from the Father.[34] But I think another important point that John and the Holy Spirit have made here is that it was “Jewishness” that began complaining about him because he said… It was the religious mind, and the religious mind comes in many flavors, even scientific, even atheist, even Christian flavors.
[1] John 5:16-47 (NET) Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders (Ἰουδαῖοι) began persecuting him (verse 16).
[2] Romans 12:11 (NET) Table
[8] John 6:31 (NET)
[13] James 1:20; 3:17, 18 (NET)
[18] Kaufmann Kohler, ZEALOTS, Jewish Encyclopedia
[19] Numbers 25 (NET)
[20] Kaufmann Kohler, ZEALOTS, Jewish Encyclopedia
[21] An interesting insight on Paul: Paul: At the Feet of Gamaliel? In my zeal for God I persecuted the church (Philippians 3:6a NET).
[22] Kaufmann Kohler, ZEALOTS, Jewish Encyclopedia
[23] Acts 1:6 (NET) Table
[24] Acts 1:7, 8a (NET) Table