The Path

John 6:⁴ “(It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.)”

When you look at the event of things, it was approximately six months exist between John 5 and John 6. It was almost time for the Jewish Passover celebration. Remember, in John 2, Jesus went from Capernaum to Jerusalem for the Passover, which was the first Passover of Jesus’ ministry. Why are all these dates important? They are important because you and I need to be grounded in the Word of God. The second Passover is the one in John 6 and the third Passover is the one in John 11, the day before Jesus was crucified. The Passover in John 6 was about a year before Jesus’ death on the cross. Jesus knew that He was the Passover Lamb for God’s people. And so every time there is a Passover celebration, it was a reminder that He was going to lay His life down for the people. Imagine the emotions He would have been feeling.

If you knew you were going to die a day after the Passover celebrations, every time it is Passover, how would you feel? You would be reminded of what is to come. That is the emotion that Jesus was battling at that time and He needed time away so, He crossed over to the other side. Many of us cannot relate to the fact that Jesus would battle such emotions because He is Jesus, how can He worry about such things? Did you know that when John the Baptist was killed, Jesus was troubled and so He went away to the desert for a while? John the Baptist was His cousin, the one who went before Him. When things happen to us and we need time away, it is actually fine to take some time off. Take the time you need. It was time for another Passover celebration and Jesus was again reminded that in about a year He was going to the cross. If you think the cross was easy for Jesus, then read about Gethsemane [please read Mark 14 and Matt.26]. Jesus went to Gethsemane to negotiate a release from heaven. He said, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me….” In other words, ‘this is hard, Father, let it pass.’

John 6:⁵ “Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” (emphasis added). Why did He turn to Phillip and not Peter, Bartholomew, John, or James? The answer I found is, Phillip was from Bethsaida and Phillip was a local boy. It is just like Jesus passing through your village and you are there and He says to you, ‘Where can we buy food in this place?’ He is not going to ask me if I am not from your village. He is going to ask you. What is the significance of that? If Jesus, the all-knowing God needs local knowledge to function, you need local knowledge. There are people in the terrain you want to do business, go, and talk to them, ask questions. Sometimes we mix up the real purpose of spirituality. We think being spiritual means that we cannot get value from anything earthly. We think that once we can pray, we will have all our answers. But God will hide that answer in somebody that is local. Remember the story of David in 1 Sam.30? Please read it.

Prayer: Father, I ask for Your grace to help me manoeuvre as I ought, in Jesus Name. Amen!