John chapter 6

vs 21

Did I say Jesus had a speedboat? Jesus is a speedboat! When they finally decide to let him on the boat (if he was a ghost, how were they going to stop him?) it immediately reaches its destination. I am assuming it's not because they were 100ft from land.

vs 22

The crowd are pretty cluey. I don't know if they were all Inspector Morse or what, but somehow they work this stuff out. What conclusion do they draw?

vs 23

Well, some boats turn up from elsewhere, and they don't have Jesus or any of the disciples in them. So now they are thinking "He's done the runner!"

vs 24

The fact that they can just jump on these boats and cross to Capernaum is really wierd. I don't know if they paid the boat owners, or if they hijacked the boats, it's quite bizzare. Because remember, this is a huge crowd of people.

vs 25

They don't want their teacher to go away. They've all just seen him dispense with the trivialities of work, and provide them free food. But perhaps they feel a little bit rejected by him absconding in the night. So they ask him how long he's been there.

vs 26

Jesus, though, knows their hearts, and gets right to the head of the matter. He questions their devotion to him - they aren't even following him because he performed a miracle! They are only doing it because he gave them bread. If he'd been a rich king and had just bought everyone bread, they'd probably still follow him, that's his opinion.

vs 27

Now, Jesus talks again about eternal life, this time linking it with bread instead of water. In the context of the miracle he had performed, people may well have though that he was offering to sell them bread that never runs out, as if he were the bread equivalent of the tim-tam genie.

Of course, that's not what he is offering. He is offering eternal life, which can be accepted as easily as they accepted the bread they took the day before, but will mean life forever with God for them. He says that he can give it to them, just as he was able to give them normal bread, and the reason is because God has given him his seal. The words "of approval" are just added here - it is really just the seal of God.

vs 28

I say he can give it to them - in fact, Jesus does say that they should work for it. So they ask him what work they need to do to get such bread.

vs 29

The work is easy compared to the work they have to do to get regular bread - they just need to believe that Jesus is sent by God and is who he claims he is, the Son of God. The problem is that, once you believe a claim like that, you are compelled to do what he says. And that shows that the cost is more than just believing. Believing anything has a cost. You are throwing your two cents in with anything you believe. Belief is an acceptance of existance, but it is more than that - because something exists, and you believe it exists, then that necessarily changes your worldview. Jesus isn't asking them simply to believe in God - his audience is already there, they come from a culture where God is obviously present. He is asking them to believe in the one God sent - which is him. You can't accept Jesus' existence without accepting his claims or at least explaining them away - especially when he's right in front of you telling you so.

vs 30

So now they, who saw five loaves of bread feed 5000 men, want to see a miracle that will convince them of who he is. And they seem pretty keen for it to be bread-based, too. When you use an analogy, someone takes it too far and it always comes back to bite you in the ass.