John 6:24
When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.
The morning after the feeding with five loaves and two fishes, the multitude came back to the shore where they had left Jesus and, finding neither Him nor His disciples there, took boats across the lake to Capernaum seeking Him. This was after He had refused to be made king, sent the disciples away alone, gone into the mountain to pray, and come to them walking on the stormy sea in the night. They sought Him not from understanding of the sign or desire for spiritual truth, but because they had eaten the loaves and been filled and hoped for further food to sustain physical life. He rebuked that selfish seeking and bade them labor not for food which perishes but for food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man sealed by the Father will give, declaring Himself to be the Bread of Life whose words are spirit and life. To receive Him is to receive and assimilate His words by the Spirit into daily life and obedience, bringing eternal life and resurrection at the last day, yet many were offended by this testimony and turned away from Him.
Crossing to Capernaum Seeking
The verse stands on the day after the feeding of the multitude with five loaves and two fishes, after Jesus had refused to be made king, dismissed the crowd, sent His disciples across the lake alone, gone up into the mountain to pray, and come to them walking on the stormy sea in the night. It belongs to the larger account that includes the loaves and fishes, Jesus walking on the water, His teaching that He is the Bread of life, and disciples turning away from Him.
On the following morning the fed multitude returned to the barren shore where they had left Jesus, to the spot where they had last seen Him watching their departure, knowing no boat had been left by which He could depart. With news of the feeding miracle spread far and near, many others arrived at an early hour by land and water in large numbers and searched for Him there in vain. The report of the miracle had drawn large crowds, who searched for Jesus by land and water and found neither Him nor His disciples there.
Finding neither Jesus nor His disciples where they expected them, the people took boats and crossed the lake to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. They were surprised to find Him and His disciples already at Capernaum, since they knew there had been no boat for Him to use. Their arrival interrupted the instruction He had been giving His disciples.
Selfish Motive Exposed Corrected
They crossed to Capernaum seeking Jesus not from desire for spiritual truth but from hope of further material benefit after being fed. They had eaten the loaves and been filled, and they wanted Him to keep providing food to sustain physical life. They did not seek Him because they saw the miracles, understood the sign, or desired the life He wanted to give.
Their search came at a turning point, when many had hoped to make Him king for worldly advantage. The spiritual meaning of the miracle had not yet been understood, and the teaching that would make it plain was about to test their motives.
Jesus exposed that motive and rebuked them for seeking Him only because they had eaten and been filled. He commanded them to labor not for food which perishes but for food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man, sealed by God the Father, will give. He defined the work of God as believing on Him whom God sent. Their pursuit therefore leads into His lesson that they should seek the lasting spiritual food He gives rather than make perishable food their chief concern. There He taught them that He Himself is the Bread of Life and that His words give spiritual life.
Bread of Life Received
The chapter to which this crossing belongs teaches that Jesus is the Bread of life and the center of life, and that His words are spirit and life. Receiving Him means taking His words into the life through the Spirit, and this brings eternal life with the promise of resurrection at the last day. The people came by boat to Capernaum seeking Him after the feeding of the five thousand, after He had sent the disciples across the lake and dismissed the crowd to refuse their attempt to make Him king, and there He taught them that He was the Bread of Life and that His words give spiritual life.
Eating Christ's flesh and drinking His blood explains what it means to study God's Word: to receive and assimilate its truths, obey its precepts, and make them part of daily life. Receiving Christ's words gives spiritual life just as eating bread sustains physical life, for the living oracles are His flesh and blood taken into oneself and lived by as what God has revealed. That eating and drinking is how to comprehend and appreciate the truth as it is in Jesus, needed for continual growth in grace and for bringing truth into daily experience, with prayer ascending to God for this and for all other blessings, and with daily teaching in the school of Christ. His work as the substitute for sin was the hope of ancient Israel, and the New Testament sheds light on the Old Testament rather than setting it aside, so that the practical directions for holiness and obedience given to Israel remain relevant to Christians.
Seeking Jesus and tasting that the Lord is gracious means eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God as actual personal experience. It means true conversion and being born again, learning as newborn babes to desire the sincere milk of the word that growth may come. Opening the mind to the entrance of God's word with determination to practice it brings light, because the word gives understanding to the simple. When this education is obtained the frivolous life is changed, character is transformed, the common level is forsaken, the feet are placed on Christ as the first round of the ladder, and step by step heavenward Christ is revealed in spirit, words, and actions.
Mere outward connection with any church will not save a man; salvation requires personal faith in a personal Saviour that brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. The sixth chapter defines the righteousness of Christ that must be accepted to have on the wedding garment. That garment is the standard of character each must reach to be counted a fit guest at the wedding, which is the marriage of humanity with divinity. Without accepting this righteousness there is no wedding garment, and continuing in sin instead of surrendering to God what is already His and taking a firm stand for Christ results in loss of the soul.
The chapter is to be studied for dependence on Christ, for the truth that people must look to Christ and to God, not to human beings, for wisdom, strength, and guidance, rather than be brought into bondage to people. Christ's testimony in this chapter offended many because they would not accept its reproof, showing the truth was unwelcome to them and that they preferred human praise to God's admonition. After the loaves and fishes, Jesus walking on the water, and His teaching that He is the Bread of life, some disciples turned away from Him. The setting of the feeding of the multitude and the teaching about the bread from heaven showed the disciples their work as Christ's representatives: to give the people the bread of life, and when hungry souls came to them to seek spiritual food from Christ, the source of supply, rather than turn anyone away unfed.