The shocking 24 hours when Jesus’ miracles didn’t matter

Adapted from a video you can watch here.

This post will be about the most shocking 24 hours of Jesus’ ministry. I’m not talking about the day He died or the day He rose, but about three incidents that took place over two days.

Two of those incidents were two of the most astounding, spectacular miracles He performed. However, it’s what took place after them that makes this shocking.

What we’re going to see messes with what a lot of Christians believe about miracles, but it will show us the power of the word of God.

Feeding the multitude

The first story is the only one of Jesus’ miracles that’s in all four gospels (aside from the resurrection, of course) — the feeding of the 5,000. It was likely well over 10,000 people, maybe 20,000, counting women and children.

We’re going to start in Mark’s version of the story, chapter 6:

34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.

Matthew and Luke say that Jesus also healed sick people who were among them, and John 6:2 says that’s why they were there:

Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.

Luke shows the order here, and it’s significant: Jesus spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and then healed those who had need of healing. Even though Jesus was a miracle worker, His primary ministry was teaching. Whatever miracles this multitude wanted, what they needed the most was His words. Remember this when we get to where this chain of events is going.

Continuing in John 6:

5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” 6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.

This whole day was no accident; Jesus wasn’t caught by surprise (He never is). Everything about this — the remote location, the crowds, the lack of food — was His sovereign orchestration.

You know the story: A boy brings five loaves of bread and two fish. And then, as we know, Jesus did the impossible. Back to Mark 6:

41 And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. 42 So they all ate and were filled.

When Jesus said the blessing, it was probably the traditional Jewish blessing of bread, called the hamotzi. The English translation is “Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth.” Every bite of bread in the world has been brought forth by God, the King of the universe. Every atom of all matter in the universe has been brought forth by God, the Creator. And now, the Creator is here, among them, doing a creative miracle.

The First Law of Thermodynamics says energy or matter cannot be created from nothing, but Jesus does just that. He brings forth bread from the basket just like God brought forth bread from the earth. He’s doing something that only God can do. Anyone who’s seeing this has to know that either Jesus is God, or at least He’s God’s anointed One — especially the disciples, who are handing out supernaturally created bread.

But they ain’t seen nothing yet.

Walking on the sea

Let’s go over to Matthew, chapter 14:

22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.

This is that night, just hours after the feeding of the multitude. Notice Jesus sends the disciples ahead, and He stays behind. Once again, He’s orchestrating what’s about to happen.

25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.

27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

It’s easy to say that Jesus walked on water, but we can’t imagine how astonishing this was to witness. It would be like seeing a man fly. We would freak out, just like the disciples did here. They are terrified out of their minds.

We shouldn’t miss the Christological significance of this. In the book of Job chapter 9, Job is talking about God; verse 8 says,

He alone spreads out the heavens,
And treads on the waves of the sea

Once again, Jesus is doing what only God can do. And when Jesus says “It is I,” that can also be translated “I AM.” This is another demonstration of the deity of Christ, the second one in a matter of hours. I’ve never heard of anyone else who has ever walked on a stormy sea — except Peter, which we see next:

28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

The magnitude of this miracle leads the disciples to worship Jesus as God. If you can’t wrap your head around seeing someone walk on water, you’ll never begin to imagine doing it yourself.

It is very significant that it was Peter who did it, because he figures prominently in the third story we’re going to look at, which took place the next day. Remember that we’ve seen supernatural creation, we’ve seen walking on water — but now we’re getting to the climax.

The abandonment

According to John 6, the people who ate the bread that Jesus created the previous day go to the other side of the sea, looking for Him. The Lord knows what they want:

26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

That launches Jesus’ teaching that He is the Bread of Life, given by God. He contrasts that to the bread that He gave them the day before, in the wilderness, reminiscent of when God gave the Israelites manna after the exodus from Egypt. That will come up in this conversation.

Just look at how everything ties together — there’s not just typology, but also foreshadowing. Another detail that John gives us, in verse 4, is that the Passover was near. This is one year before Jesus died — one year before He gave His body. Jesus talks about that in verse 51:

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

That leads into the much-debated section where He talks about eating His flesh and drinking His blood — which is not about communion. He does not mean it literally; it’s a metaphor for faith. We know that because four times in the passage, He uses the verb “believe” or “believes.” Compare verse 55 (“My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed”) with verse 35: “He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (emphasis mine). That’s what He means by eating and drinking. Believing in Jesus is partaking of Him; it’s receiving Him internally. (Also, it’s not the first time in John that Jesus used food as a metaphor; see 4:32.)

However, the people are who hearing this make the mistake of taking it literally, and it freaks them out: “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” And it wasn’t just the people, but also Jesus’ disciples: “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”

Remember that Jesus had many more disciples than just the twelve. At one point in His ministry, He sent out 70 of them. These are people who have joined Him along the way. And there are even more people there on this day because of the feeding of the multitude, as we saw earlier. So these are people who have witnessed His signs and wonders, including a spectacular, undeniable, creative miracle just the day before.

And what do they do now? The tragic verse 66:

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

Jesus preached a message that was so confusing and offensive that He lost most of His following. How can this be after what they’ve seen? Back in chapter 2, John wrote:

23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

Jesus did not trust those who believed in Him only because of His miracles, and this is why. The incredible signs and wonders they saw did not keep them.

Related: A parable of Jesus blows up beliefs about healing, miracles

Then Jesus turned to the twelve and asked them, “Do you also want to go away?” And who answers Him? Peter. Does Peter say, “No, Lord, we handed out miracle bread yesterday! And I just walked on water last night! Of course we’re staying!” No. But he does give a reason:

68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

What kept the twelve? Not His miracles; His words. They received His words. They were kept by the living and powerful word of God.

Related: The gospel does not need miracles to be effective

John 6:68 is my life verse. The Lord has kept me with that verse. Where else would I go? He has the words of eternal life.

The word is more powerful than any miracle, including multiplying bread, walking on the sea, even rising from the dead. Today, we can hold that power right in our hands. We can hold the words of eternal life. We can hear them, we can read them, just as if we were there that day.

Related: God’s power is in His word 

In the next verse, Peter said, “Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus is the Son of God. Out of His great love and mercy, God sent His beloved Son to the cross to take our place. He took our sins upon Him, and He died in our place, and then He rose from the dead. He calls us to turn from our sin and from our own righteousness and trust in Him alone to be saved, through faith alone, so that our sins can be forgiven and we can have eternal life.

That’s the climax of these 24 glorious hours — the good news of everlasting life. The greatest miracle of all.