John 6:1-21 After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.… I. THE MIRACLE OF THE BREAD. 1. Our Lord here appears as the Master of matter and natural laws. We are, in a certain sense, the slaves of matter, and when we conquer Nature it is only by obeying her. 2. The miracle appears to have been recorded because it led to disbelief. Now men say that there is too much miracle about Christ; then they said there was too little. But if you juggle away the miracles of the Book you cannot get rid of the miracle of the man. 3. In the fulness of Christ, as here revealed, is to be found the solution of the pressing social problems of want and pauperism. II. THE PARABLE OF THE BREAD. Christ's words are works, and His acts speak. We shall be better able to understand the refreshment which may come to us from this parable if we read it in the light of "Give us this day our daily bread." This means — 1. Give us food sufficient, and do not spiritualize this away, 2. But let us not gird in those words with the narrow rim of the loaf. Give us sanctifying bread. The words of Jesus are spirit and life. 3. There are many substitutes for the bread of Christ — morality, education, art; but in these things .is no abiding satisfaction. 4. There are those who speak as though there were two breads — a manly, undogmatic, free-speaking religion for the strong man; and Christianity for the weak man. But the time comes to the strongest when he feels that he has a woman's heart within him, and when in his hour of anguish he cries to God for bread, what will it profit him to find a stone, though it be the whitest intellectual marble. The bread for the woman and the child was the same here as for the strong man. (Bp. Alexander.) Parallel Verses KJV: After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. |
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