Were the Miracles of Jesus Just Misinterpretation?

Tom:

We’ve been going through the gospel of John and our emphasis in particular has been on salvation—what we have in Christ.Right now we are about to begin Dave, chapter six.

Dave:

Amazing!

Tom:

Yes, well you don’t have to run through these things.You don’t have to—there’s no schedule here.We keep looking for the Lord to come.It would be great if—

Dave:

Amen!

Tom:

—Before we even finish these next couple of verses.However, let’s begin John:6:1After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.
See All..., “After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is [the sea] of Tiberias.And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.When Jesus then lifted up [his] eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.”Dave, we find examples in which—go back to the Garden of Eden—God asking Adam and Eve a question.He knows the answers, he knows where they are, although they hid themselves, but we find many instances of Jesus wanting to hear from Philip, wanting to hear from people, but he knows the answers.

Dave:

Tom, you are moving much too fast for me.You left me way back-“After these things…” of course, what went before?Chapter 5 he crosses, he goes across, he takes a boat and goes across the Sea of Galilee.In fact, I think his disciples had the boat.“And a great multitude followed him…” and it tells you very plainly why.Because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.Just like people today, Tom.We’ve got a great company that follows Benny Hinn, wanting to see signs and wonders, or used to follow Oral Roberts, or some of these other so-called faith healers who emphasis signs and wonders, healing and so forth.This is what people really want and they get huge crowds to follow them and this is why.It tells you very clearly.Not because of his teaching, not because they want to give their hearts to him, not because they understand who he is and why he came to die for their sins, but they are intrigued by the miracles and they want him to heal them.

Tom:

But Dave, Jesus, he understands all of this.

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

But yet it didn’t stop him from—say hey, this is the wrong crowd, I don’t want these people following after me because they are only interested in themselves, so he was going to curtail his miracles.It doesn’t happen that way.

Dave:

Well he does not commit himself to them.

Tom:

Right.

Dave:

We get that in John 2.A great company believed on him when they saw the miracles he did.But it says Jesus did not commit himself to them, he knew what was in their hearts.But he’s tolerating these people and trying to help them.So they’re miracle groupies, they are following Jesus because of the miracles.And because of that he went up into a mountain and there he sat with his disciples, not this whole multitude.“And the Passover, a feast of the Jews was nigh.”Now that’s an interesting expression.This is not one of the feasts of Jehovah.There are seven feasts of Jehovah in the Old Testament.It doesn’t say this is one of the feasts of Jehovah.A feast of the Jews, in other words they had turned it into what they wanted and you remember in Matthew 15 Jesus condemns them.He says, “By your tradition you have made void the scriptures.”So this is what they had done.Now—

Tom:

Dave, I’m lost here.This is the Passover.This is something that had to be carried out by the Jews and it will be for eternity according to the scriptures.

Dave:

Yes, but they have perverted it. They have their own traditions involved in this.They don’t understand what it really means, sadly and sadly too, there are Christians today that like to celebrate the Seder and they come out with the gospel in the Seder from Jewish tradition.Well Jewish tradition does not present the gospel, so they’re coming up with symbolism that was developed.In other words, there’s a lot of ritual involved now in the Passover that the Jews practice that never was part of the Passover.There’s no instruction for that in the Bible.So this is tradition that developed over a period of centuries from the Jews, so it is called a feast of the Jews.You guys are doing your own thing now, and you’ve got so much extra thrown in that you really obscure the simplicity of what this was all about.

Tom:

Yes, so Jesus is going on for all of that he’s going to feed these people.Looking upon them with compassion they’re, you know, they did follow, they were looking for signs and wonders, but he was ministering to them.

Dave:

You see he crosses on a boat, and there’s not that many boats—there may not have been any boats other than the one they had, so they’ve had to walk around.Now he’s been alone with his disciples a little while and then it says is verse 5, “When Jesus then lifted up his eyes and saw a great company come unto him. (Here they come now.These are the guys that want to see some more miracles.Maybe some of them need healing, although I rather doubt that, he’s already healed everybody.)It says every time, “he healed everyone” that came to him.I think it’s just signs and wonders.They’re really intrigued by this.He says to Philip—because these people in contrast to the disciples who had a boat, carried a little bread in it; and came across by boat.These people walked all the way around and Jesus knows they’re tired and they’re hungry.He says to Philip, “Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?”

Tom:

“And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do.” And that’s where you interrupted me Dave.

Dave:

Okay, alright.

Tom:

What about that?Jesus knowing these things, I mean that’s the way the Lord works in our hearts sometimes.I mean he knows that we—prayer for example, why do we pray?He knows before we even ask what’s on our hearts and our minds.But there is that communion, that communication.It’s an opportunity for him to demonstrate—certainly his love is demonstrated on the cross, but he’s concerned for every little aspect of our lives.

Dave:

Well, he’s checking Philip out to see whether he has faith and Philip says 200 penny-worth of bread is not sufficient for them that everyone of them may take a little.Then one of the disciples Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother saith unto him, “There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?”Well they didn’t believe, I mean they didn’t know how could that possibly be enough?Now you have someone like Malcolm Muggeridge, whom unfortunately—

Tom:

The British writer.

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

Journalist.

Dave:

Billy Graham praises him in his autobiography, in fact, had him as one of the—well, key-note speaker in Lozanne.I was there in 1974, he got a standing ovation and yet this man in 1969, had written a book, Jesus Rediscovered, in which he denies everything about Jesus.He denies the resurrection.He says I like to think some grave robber stole the body and dumped it up there and the vultures plucked the bones.He says, Malcolm Muggeridge, at this point, well somebody opened his lunch and decided he had more sandwiches than he needed and he decided to share it with somebody else and that was the inspiration and they all began to share with one another.That was the great miracle here.

Tom:

Now he, I think he’s deceased now isn’t he?

Dave:

Yes, he is.

Tom:

But his view was he was helping Christianity out.He was covering over some of the difficult things and making it more palatable.

Dave:

Yes, he thought so.

Tom:

Unbelievable.

Dave:

He thought so.“And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. (Wow, you’re going to feed 5000 people and you’ve got a dozen disciples and maybe some other people helping them.) And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.”Come back for seconds, guys.“When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”That’s amazing!Jesus can create out of nothing and yet he tells his disciples, be thrifty, be careful now, don’t waste any of this, gather up the fragments that are left, that nothing is lost.“Therefore they gathered [them] together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.”Five thousand people have eaten and they fill 12 baskets full.This is not a myth Tom, this actually happened.It was a miracle and it was a miracle to which the disciples testified and gave their lives saying it is true.Not one of them says, “Don’t kill me, I’ll tell you we made it all up.”

Tom:

So Dave, let’s—we’re out of time, let’s close with verse 14: “Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.”He is the prophet, he is the Messiah, he is the true Prophet.

Dave:

It caused them to believe that Jesus was a great prophet, but they don’t seem to understand yet that he’s the Messiah.