CHAPTER 12

It was springtime and the time of the Jewish Passover Feast was near.

When so many people were coming and going that they did not have time to eat, Jesus said to his disciples, “Come with me and let’s go to an isolated place on the other side of Lake Galilee where we can be alone and get some rest.”

Jesus and his disciples withdrew by boat privately across the northern end of Lake Galilee to the isolated region of Bethsaida on the northeast side of Lake Galilee. But some people became aware that Jesus and his disciples had left Capernaum. So they ran from all the towns and followed Jesus by foot, and they arrived at Bethsaida before Jesus.

When their boat landed at the Bethsaida Plain, Jesus saw a large crowd of people waiting for them. He welcomed them and had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus taught the people many things about the kingdom of God and healed the sick.

When it was getting dark the disciples said to Jesus, “It is evening and this is a very isolated place, send the people away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside to buy food and find lodging.” Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” The disciples said, “Are we to go and spend that much money on bread and give it to them to eat? It will cost more than a half year’s wages.”

When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd of people rushing toward him, he said to Philip, “Where will we buy bread for all these people to eat?” Philip said to Jesus, “It would take a lot of money to buy enough bread for everyone to just take a single bite.” Jesus said to them, “Go and see how many loaves of bread you have.” Then Andrew spoke up, “Here is a boy who has five small barley loaves and two small fish, but we will need much more to feed so many people.”

Jesus told his disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. They sat down in groups of 50 and 100. There were about 5,000 men. Jesus took the five loaves of bread and two small fish, looked up to heaven, gave thanks to God, and then broke the loaves of bread. He gave the pieces to his disciples, who then distributed them to the people. The people ate and were full. Jesus told his disciples, “Gather up the pieces of food that are left over; let nothing be wasted.” So the disciples collected 12 basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish that had not been eaten. After the people saw Jesus’ miracle, they began saying to one another, “This must be the Prophet that Moses said would come into the world.”

Jesus knew the people were planning to come and make him the king of Israel by force, so he withdrew again up a hillside so he could be alone.

Jesus told his disciples to take the boat and go back to Capernaum, while he dismissed the crowd. Jesus’ disciples went down to Lake Galilee that night. It was now dark and they got into a boat and started across the north end of the lake toward Capernaum. After he had dismissed the people, Jesus withdrew onto a hillside by himself to pray.

Later that night the disciples’ boat was in the middle of the north end of Lake Galilee. Suddenly a storm arose making huge waves on the lake. The waves smashed against the boat. From the shore Jesus could see the disciples straining to row the boat against the waves.

Shortly before dawn Jesus walked on the lake toward the disciples’ boat. Jesus was about to walk by the boat, when the disciples saw him walking on the water and they were terrified. They cried out in fear, “It is a spirit, a ghost!” Jesus immediately called out to them, “It is me! Take courage! Don’t be afraid!” Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” Jesus said, “Come!” Then Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind and waves, he became afraid and began to sink. He cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. Jesus said, “You have such little faith, why did you doubt?” And then Jesus and Peter climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped.

The disciples were completely amazed. Then the disciples were filled with joy when Jesus got into the boat. The disciples worshiped Jesus saying, “It is true, you are the Son of God!”

When they had crossed back over to the western coast of Lake Galilee, their boat was blown off course and landed in the region of Gennesaret. The fertile Plain of Gennesaret is crescent-shaped and is located on the northwestern coast of Lake Galilee between Tiberias and Capernaum.

As soon as Jesus and the disciples got out of the boat the people recognized Jesus, so they ran and sent word throughout the whole surrounding region of Galilee. The people carried the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard Jesus was. And wherever Jesus went—into villages, towns, or the countryside—they put the sick in the public marketplaces.

The people begged Jesus to let the sick touch the edge of his clothes, and everyone who touched him was healed.

The next day a large crowd of people who had stayed on the east side of the lake realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there. They got into their boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. When the people found Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum, they said to him, “Teacher, when did you get here?” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth: You are following me not because you saw my miracles, but because your stomachs were filled with bread. Stop working for food that rots, but live for food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give to you.”

Then the people asked Jesus, “What are the works that God requires of us?” Jesus said, “This is the work of God: To believe in the one God has sent into this world.” They said to Jesus, “Show us a miracle, then we will believe in you! Our ancestors ate bread from heaven in the desert, as Psalm 78:24 says, ‘God gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth: It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For God’s bread is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to this world.” They said to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread forever!”

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life! Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I said, you have seen me and still you do not believe in me. Whoever the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never turn away. For I came from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of the one who sent me into the world. And this is the will of the one who sent me: That I would not lose anyone he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For this is my Father’s will: That whoever comes to the Son and believes in him will receive eternal life, and I will raise him from the dead on the last day.”

After Jesus said these things, the Jewish religious leaders were upset because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “How can he say that he came down from heaven? Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother.”

Jesus said to them, “Stop complaining! No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me brings him to me, and I will raise him from the dead on the last day. For it is written in Isaiah 54:13, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Whoever hears and learns from the Father comes to me. No human has ever seen the Father, but only the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth: Whoever believes in me has eternal life. I am the bread of life! Your ancestors ate the bread in the wilderness, yet they died. But this is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone can eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven! Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my body, which I will give for the life of this world.”

Then the Jews began to argue with each other saying, “How can Jesus give us his body to eat?” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth: Unless you eat the body of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him from the dead on the last day. For my body is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in them. Just as the liv- ing Father sent me into this world, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats my body will also live. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and died, but whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

When Jesus was speaking about eating his body and drinking his blood, he was speaking symbolically about his death on the cross for the sins of the world. This is a foreshadow of what is today known as the Lord’s Supper or Communion.

When many of his disciples heard Jesus’ teaching, they said to one another, “This is a very difficult teaching to believe. Who can accept it?” Jesus knew that his disciples were complaining about his teaching and said to them, “Does my teaching offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven where he came from! It is the Holy Spirit who gives life; the flesh means nothing. The words of my teaching are full of the Holy Spirit and life. But some of you still refuse to believe in me.” For Jesus knew from the beginning which of them would not believe and who would leave him. And Jesus said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father enables them.”

Because of Jesus’ teaching, many of his disciples stopped following him. Jesus looked at his apostles and said, “Are you going to leave me too?” Peter said, “Lord, who are we going to follow? You are the only one who has the words of eternal life. We believe in you! We know that you are the Holy One of God!” Jesus said, “Although I have chosen you as my apostles, one of you is a demon.” Jesus was talking about Judas Iscariot, who would later betray him.

Then some Jewish religious leaders who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. The religious leaders saw some of the disciples of Jesus eating food with unwashed hands. So they considered them to be religiously unclean, for the Jews would not eat unless their hands were ritually washed. They also observed many other religious traditions, such as ritually washing cups, pitchers, and copper kettles.

So the religious leaders asked Jesus, “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the Jewish elders?” Jesus said to them, “The prophet Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you religious hypocrites in Isaiah 29:13, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are simply human rules.’ You have rejected God’s commandments and are obeying human traditions and rules. You are experts at ignoring God’s commands! For God said through Moses in Exodus 20:12, ’Honor your fathers and mothers.’ But you teach the people that money dedicated to help their father and mother should be given to God’s temple instead. So you nullify the word of God by your religious tradition, and you do many things like this.”

Once again, Jesus gathered the crowd of people together and said to them, “Listen to me and understand what I am telling you: It is not what you eat that makes you unclean, but it is what you say that makes you unclean. There is nothing outside a person that can make him un- clean. Rather, a person is made unclean by what comes out from inside him.”

Then the disciples came and asked Jesus, “Did you know that the religious leaders were offended by what you said?” Jesus said to them, “Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them alone; they are blind leaders. And if the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into a hole.”

After Jesus left the crowd of people and went into the house, Peter and his disciples asked Jesus to explain his teaching to them. Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand that it is not what a person eats that makes him unclean? It is what comes out of a person’s heart that makes him unclean. For it is out of a person’s heart that comes evil thoughts, sexual perversion, theft, false testimony, murder, adultery, greed, hate, deceit, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from a person’s heart and make him unclean, but eating with unwashed hands does not make anyone unclean.”

By this teaching, Jesus made all foods clean to eat.

Then Jesus left Capernaum and walked through Galilee, for he knew the Jewish religious leaders were looking for a way to kill him.