22 On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone—23 however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks.
We find the setting of the discourse on the bread of life in 6:22-25. The similitude of bread is important because bread was a staple in the diet of ancient Israel. Bread related to life. Jesus asserted that He was the bread that gave eternal life.
The multitude here was a group of materialistic curiosity pursuers. They failed to own God’s ultimate values because they were stuck in their temporal values.
6:22
On the following day,
The “following day” here is the day after feeding of the 5,000. This is the day the crowd landed at Capernaum.
when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea
The people here were those who remained overnight on the northeast area of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus fed the 5,000 men. Most of the multitude walked back to the western end of the sea.
saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered,
This crowd wondered why there was no other boat there and they saw that Jesus did not go with the disciples. What happened to Jesus was strange. They still wanted to make Jesus king.
and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples,
The crowd assumed that Jesus was still on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee.
but His disciples had gone away alone—
The people saw that Jesus did not get into the boat on the eastern shore with the disciples.
6:23
however, other boats came from Tiberias,
These boats from Tiberias landed on the eastern shore near the feeding of the 5,000. The crowd in the east took the boats from Tiberias to seek Jesus in Capernaum (Jn 6:59), which was half-way westward to Tiberias. Tiberias was on the far western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks—
The boats came near to the Golan Heights on the northeast shore of the sea.
PRINCIPLE:
It is not necessary to answer questions from unbelievers based on selfish motives.
APPLICATION:
There are times when in sharing Christ we think we need to give an answer to every question non-Christians may ask. Jesus did not explain that He walked on water to save the disciples. That lesson was for His disciples alone. It is not necessary to try to explain everything about the Christian life to unbelievers.
