John 6:1-4, Passover Again

1After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 

“After this” is an indefinite period of time that John also used to begin chapter 5 and means “some time later.”  (The mention of the Passover, the second in Jesus’ ministry, indicates a year has passed since he cleansed the temple in chapter 2. John’s gospel is the only one that mentions three Passovers. Without John, it seems that Jesus’ ministry only last about a year, but from John we get a timeline closer to three years.) 

Jesus has traveled north again to Galilee where he grew up near the great lake. John mentions its official Roman name, the Sea of Tiberias. Tiberias comes from the name of a town named for the emperor and founded around A.D. 20. While Matthew, Mark, and Luke recount much of Jesus’ teaching in this area, this is the only chapter of John set here. The Galileans were quite different than their wealthier, sophisticated Jerusalem neighbors to the south. In Jerusalem, people were interested in prophecies and the law and how they related to what Jesus was doing. In Galilee, the peasants’ concerns were about the daily issue of hard work and getting food on the table, hence the fishing and agricultural parables Jesus tells. 

These verses set up the feeding of the five thousand, which is the only miraculous sign included in all four gospels besides Jesus’ resurrection. As in the south, Jesus’ healing miracles attract a following of people. Specifically, Jesus and his disciples are on the eastern shore of the lake, known today as the Golan Heights. The reference to the Passover is critical in understanding what follows. John did not have to make this reference but has. It harkens back to John the baptizer calling Jesus “the Lamb of God” in 1:19 and 35 and to the fact that none of Jesus’ bones were broken at the crucifixion (19:36). Jesus, who will call himself “the Bread of Life,” will give his life; he will be the Passover lamb who gives its life so that others may live. 

Take some time to thank Jesus today for giving his life for you.