Verse 4
Evidently John identified the nearness of the Passover because of Jesus’ later references to Himself as the Bread of Life (John 6:33; John 6:35; John 6:51), the fulfillment of what the Passover bread typified.
"The people were thinking in terms of blood, flesh, lambs, and unleavened bread. They longed for a new Moses who would deliver them from Roman bondage." [Note: Blum, p. 293.]
This was John’s second reference to a Passover feast during Jesus’ ministry (cf. John 2:13; John 2:23; John 11:55; John 13:1). Evidently this event happened two years after Jesus’ first cleansing of the temple and one year before He died on the cross. It would have taken place in April of A.D. 32. [Note: See Hoehner, pp. 55-59, 61, 143.]
"The movement from the miracle to the discourse, from Moses to Jesus (John 6:32-35, cf. John 1:17), and, above all, from bread to flesh, is almost unintelligible unless the reference in John 6:4 to the Passover picks up i. 29, 36, anticipates xix. 36 (Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12), and governs the whole narrative." [Note: Hoskyns, p. 281.]
The Passover was an intensely nationalistic celebration in Israel. This accounts for the extreme zeal that many of the Jews demonstrated when they sought to draft Jesus as their political deliverer (John 6:15).
Be the first to react on this!
