NOTES for Joh 6:1-15

What an interesting situation: Jesus crosses to the other side of the lake, and a crowd of people follows Him. To put it in ordinary human terms, these people tagged along after Him to see something interesting. One might say: they chose to tag along; Jesus did not invite them, so why on earth should He worry about feeding them? Let them go to the nearest villages or, in the end, sort things out for themselves however they wish. They should have thought ahead before setting out to who knows where; they could have taken care of their own food. But Jesus apparently does not frame the question this way at all. He sees people who have followed Him and, for some reason, considers it necessary to provide them with food. Why? Did He invite them? Did they ask Him to give them food? No. But they followed Him, and for Him this is the main reason to care for them... On the one hand, this is a lesson for us—a lesson about responsibility for those “whom we have tamed.” On the other hand, it is a great consolation: if He is so merciful, then He is just as open to our needs when we turn to Him for help.