After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. John 6:1-2
As we begin John 6, Jesus is in Galilee, and we are told that “a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing” (6:2). John 5 takes place in Jerusalem—in the south, but now Jesus is back in Galilee—in the north. Word spread quickly and wherever Jesus went, large crowds would gather.
As one of the Twelve, John was an eyewitness to the feeding of the 5,000. He is reporting on what he heard and saw. He tells us that Jesus went up on a mountain, and He sat down with John and the other disciples. He describes Jesus lifting up His eyes and seeing a large crowd coming toward Him (6:5). John is looking at Jesus and Jesus is looking at the crowd.
There are many things that we can learn from the crowd and from the disciples, but the story is about Jesus. Later John writes: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).
As you go through the Gospel of John, keep your eye on Jesus. Why did John write this account of Jesus for us?
