We are going to look at one of the greatest rejection pain that Jesus suffered. In Judea He was rejected by the scribes and Pharisees.
In Capernaum He was rejected by most of the thousands He fed on miracle bread and fish.
As on previous occasions He had to leave His field of labour and visited the heathen territories for a while.
May God help you and me not to reject the most serious message that Jesus spoke at Capernaum.
When Christ refused the people to declare Him king, He knew that a turning point in His history was reached. Multitudes who desired to exalt Him to the throne today would turn from Him the next day.
The disappointment of their selfish ambition would turn their love to hatred, and their praise to curses. Yet knowing this, He took no measures to avert the crisis. From the first He had held out to His followers no hope of earthly rewards.
To one who came desiring to become His disciple He had said,
“The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” Matthew 8:20.
If men could have had the pleasures of the world in addition Christ, multitudes would have given Him their allegiance; but such service He could not accept.
Of those now connected with Him there were many who had been attracted by the hope of a worldly kingdom. These must be undeceived. The deep spiritual teaching in the miracle of the loaves had not been comprehended. This was to be made plain. And this new revelation would bring with it a closer test.
The miracle of the loaves was reported far and near, and early the next morning the people flocked to Bethsaida to see Jesus. They came in great numbers, by land and sea. Those who had left Him the preceding night returned, expecting to find Him still there; for there had been no boat by which He could pass to the other side. But their search was fruitless, and many went to Capernaum, still seeking Him.
Meanwhile He had arrived at Gennesaret, after an absence of but one day. What happened when they discover that that He had arrived at Capernaum?
Mark 6:53 When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and anchored there.
Mark 6:54 And when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him,
Mark 6:55 ran through that whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was.
Can the visualize this picture? Can you visualise the pain of Jesus, knowing that their search for Him were for selfish reasons?
After a time, He went to the synagogue, and there those who had come from Bethsaida found Him. They learned from His disciples how He had crossed the sea.
The fury of the storm, and the many hours of fruitless rowing against adverse winds, the appearance of Christ walking upon the water, the fears thus aroused, His reassuring words, the adventure of Peter and its result, with the sudden stilling of the tempest and landing of the boat, were all faithfully recounted to the wondering crowd. Not content with this, however, many gathered about Jesus, questioning Him.
John 6:25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?”
Why didn’t Jesus satisfy their curiosity? With an expression of pain and sadness He said:
John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.
Sorry to tell you but you are here with ulterior motives? If only they had heeded His observation!
They did not seek Him from any worthy motive; but as they had been fed with the loaves, they hoped still to receive temporal benefit by attaching themselves to Him.
The Saviour encouraged them to rectify their selfish desires. He never revealed the sin problem of His audience without given the solution for their problem.
John 6:27 Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal
In ancient times the seal was employed much as a signature is used today; it was a sign of personal confirmation of ownership. In this instance it is an indication that the Father has testified that Jesus is His Son.
All the miracles of Jesus were performed by the power of the Father. Jesus did not use His divinity because He gave us an example of how to live in dependence on God.
Jesus is also referring to His own reception, His own sealing by the Spirit which was accompanied by His Father’s endorsement at the time of His baptism (see Matthew 3:16, 17)
He pleads with people. Seek not merely for material benefit. Let it not be the chief effort to provide for the life that now is, but seek for spiritual food, even that wisdom which will endure unto everlasting life. Please. This I, the Son of God alone can give because God the Father has set His seal on Him.
John 6:27 Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal
For the moment, the interest of the hearers was awakened. Because they believed that God’s favour could be earned, they were ready to give it a try.
John 6:28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”
The Jews’ concept of true religion was to a large extent in terms of works, and so it was natural that in inquiring how they might please God, they asked as to what works they might do.
They had been performing many and burdensome works in order to recommend themselves to God; and they were ready to hear of any new observance by which they could secure greater merit.
Their question meant, What shall we do that we may deserve heaven? What is the price we are required to pay in order to obtain the life to come?
Listen to this graceful, encouraging answer that Jesus gave. By the way, this is still the good news of the gospel:
John 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
What a message. Salvation is not my work. It is the work of God. And you and just have to put our trust in Jesus whom God the Father sent to reveal His loving forgiveness and salvation.
The price of heaven is Jesus. The way to heaven is through faith in “the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.” John 1:29.
The people did not choose to receive this statement of divine truth. Jesus had done the very work which prophecy had foretold that the Messiah would do. They pictured a Messiah who would conquer the Romans and raise them as the greatest nation on the planet.
Christ had indeed once fed the multitude with barley loaves. In the days of Moses Israel had been fed with manna forty years. But the Jews expected greater blessings from the Messiah than the miracle Jesus performed with the bread and fish.
Their dissatisfied hearts queried why, if Jesus could perform so many wondrous works as they had witnessed, could He not give health, strength, and riches to all His people, free them from their oppressors, and exalt them to power and honour?
The fact that He claimed to be the Sent of God, and yet refused to be Israel’s king, was a mystery which they could not fathom. His refusal was misinterpreted.
Many concluded that He dared not assert His claims because He Himself doubted as to the divine character of His mission. Thus, they opened their hearts to unbelief, and the seed which Satan had sown bore fruit of its kind, in misunderstanding and defection.
Now, half mockingly, a rabbi questioned,
John 6:30 “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?
Now as He began to probe into the true condition of their hearts and to demand that they believe despite their disappointment, they clamoured for an added miracle. Their attitude in making this demand is probably the same as that indicated by an ancient Jewish commentary on Deuteronomy. 18:19, which says:
“If a prophet begins to prophesy and gives a sign and wonder, then men listen to him; but if not, then men do not listen to him” (Siphre Deuteronomy 18, 19, sec. 177 [108a], cited in Strack and Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament, vol. 1, p. 727).
John 6:31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘HE GAVE THEM BREAD FROM HEAVEN TO EAT.'”
An ancient Jewish commentary on Ecclesiaste 1:9 declares concerning the Messiah: “As the former redeemer [Moses] caused manna to descend, … so will the latter Redeemer [the Messiah] cause manna to descend” (Midrash Rabbah, Soncino ed., p. 33).
The Jews honoured Moses as the giver of the manna, ascribing praise to the instrument, and losing sight of Him by whom the work had been accomplished. Their fathers had murmured against Moses, and had doubted and denied his divine mission.
Now in the same spirit the children rejected the One who bore the message of God to themselves.
John 6:32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
The giver of the manna was standing among them. It was Christ Himself who had led the Hebrews through the wilderness, and had daily fed them with the bread from heaven. That food was a type of the real bread from heaven.
The life-giving Spirit, flowing from the infinite fullness of God, is the true manna. Jesus said,
John 6:33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
NEXT TIME
Next time we will continue with one of the saddest dialogues between Him and the people.
Despite all the Messianic prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, they stubbornly refused to accept Him as who He really was, the promised Messiah.
What are the modern excuses we use not to accept Him as the Messiah, the One who came to save us?