John 6:1 Commentary and Bible Study

The event of chapter 6 took place a good while after the events of chapter 5. The opening verse says ‘After these things’, but it is obvious as you read the Gospel of John that this phrase does not mean immediately after these things, but subsequently at some point of time. The order is roughly chronological, but there are gaps In fact, the period of time between chapter 5 and chapter 6 is probably getting on for a year, because the apostle John in this Gospel does not follow most of the events of the so-called great Galilean ministry of Christ, which lasted for some 16 months. He records the first miracle, and some details accompanying it, and subsequently in chapter 6 he records the last miracle of the Galilean ministry – the first and the last – and then proceeds to the final period of Christ’s ministry. There is a reason for that. The Gospel of John is not a detailed historical record of the life of Christ. Matthew, Mark and Luke have much more of the Galilean ministry, much more of the details. The Gospel of John picks out certain great events, and then follows the latter part of the ministry of Christ, to show more his glory and his work and his great spiritual statement. By recording just the first and the last miracle of the 16 month Galilean ministry, and then going straight into Judaea, we get a very vivid picture of the rejection of Christ, both in Galilee and in Judaea. This is the last of the Gospels. John constantly assumes that we know the details; that we have the record of the other three Gospels, and there are many clues with regard to that in the Gospel of John.‘After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.’ He is travelling from west to east, and he goes by sea.