What did the crowd want to do to Jesus?
“Take Him by force and make him king” (John 6:15).
Make Jesus king so that He can do what for them?
Lead a rebellion and free them from bondage under the Romans, as their ancestors had been freed from bondage under the Egyptians.
Had the Creator of the universe come to earth to free
Jews politically?
Why had Jesus come?
To free sinners from sin and divert us from hell to heaven.
Where did Jesus go?
“To the mountain by Himself alone” (John 6:15).
Why?
He wanted to pray: “And having taken leave of them, He
went away to
the mountain to pray” (Mark 6:46).
Why might He have wanted to pray when they tried to make Him king?
If Jesus were to become king and free Israel from Roman rule, He would be
able to avoid crucifixion, so He may have felt tempted:
“Having therefore a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to what we profess. For we do not
have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but was
in all forms tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:14-15).
How does prayer help against temptation?
“The Lord knows
how to deliver the godly out of temptations” (2 Peter 2:9).
Where did the disciples go on the evening of the feeding miracle?
They “went down to the sea, and having boarded a boat,
were going across the sea to Capernaum” (John 6:16-17).
Did Jesus go with them?
“Jesus had not come to them” (John 6:17).
Why would the disciples leave their rabbi behind?
See the next two pages.
How far is “twenty-five or thirty stadia” (John 6:19)?
One stadion (singular of stadia)
= the length of a sports stadium at the
time = 600 Greek feet. The size of an average person's foot varied in
different regions of the Greek world, so the length of one Greek foot was
debated but generally around 30 centimeters. So, 1 stadion = 600 Greek
feet = 600 x 0.3 meters = 180 meters, and 25 stadia = 25 x 180 meters = 4.5
kilometers (2.8 miles), while 30 stadia = 30 x 180 meters = 5.4 kilometers
(3.4 miles). Therefore, they had rowed between 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles)
and 5.4 kilometers (3.4 miles).