John 6:3 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.

NIV: Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples.

NASB: But Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.

CSB: Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with his disciples.

NLT: Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him.

KJV: And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.

NKJV: And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.

In this part of the gospel of John, Jesus' miracles have attracted a great deal of attention. This has caused a large crowd to follow Him. But they are following for supernatural spectacle, not spiritual truth. What happens next will stir these admirers into a frenzy, but not for long. The vast majority will misunderstand the purpose behind Jesus' miraculous feeding of thousands of people (John 6:9–14, 26). As soon as Christ attempts to explain the spiritual truth behind His ministry, most of the crowd will disappear.

The region described here is near the shores of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. This can lead to some confusion regarding the English word "mountain." The Greek term oros can mean a rise, a hill, a mountain, or a mount. Culture and geography greatly influence what a person defines as a "mountain." Those living on the western shores of South America or in Nepal might not consider the landscape of Galilee to contain any mountains. A native of the North American plains, on the other hand, certainly would.

The "mountain" Jesus stops at here is not a rocky, sheer cliff, but rather a steep hill. This would have been a natural place to address a crowd, much as with the Sermon on the Mount.

John 6:1–15 describes the fourth of the gospel's seven ''signs'' of Christ's divinity. This is the only miracle recorded in all four of the gospel accounts. When the crowd complains of hunger, the disciples each react in unique ways. Starting with only a tiny meal of bread and fish, Jesus miraculously divides the food, filling everyone, and leaving more left over than they had to begin with. The people are astounded and immediately react by proclaiming Jesus as ''the Prophet'' who has been promised. Jesus, however, is not yet ready to be publicly announced. He also knows the true motivations of this crowd and will attempt to explain the real importance of the miracle to them the following day.

In chapter 6, Jesus feeds thousands of people who had been following Him. He does this by miraculously dividing the contents of a small meal, leaving more left over than He had to begin with. At first, the crowd is amazed and they enthusiastically praise Jesus. After sending the disciples across the Sea of Galilee and rescuing them from a storm by walking on the water, Jesus once again addresses the crowd. This time, He emphasizes the spiritual lesson behind His prior miracle. In response, most of those who had been praising Jesus turn away in disappointment.

John chapter 6 occurs some months after the events of chapter 5, bringing the narrative to about one year prior to Jesus' crucifixion. As with the rest of the gospel of John, the purpose is not to repeat information from the other three Gospels, but to focus on Jesus' status as God incarnate. This chapter continues to expand the list of Jesus' miraculous signs and the witnesses to His divine nature. Here, Jesus also gives the first of seven ''I am'' statements found in this gospel. Chapter 7 will once again skip ahead to a major public step in Jesus' path to the cross.

The disciple John wrote the gospel of John decades after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls "signs"— to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.