The Passover Connection

Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. (John 6:4)

I have been looking around to see why this verse was included in this passage. There is always a good reason – and particularly in John – whenever something is put into the text. Generally nothing was written just for filler; there are links all throughout these passages connected to other places either in the passage itself, somewhere else in the book or even further in the rest of the Bible. Following these connections can uncover amazing discoveries, insights and life-transforming realities many times.

I looked up the word Passover and where it was used anytime in the New Testament and found that there are four Passovers mentioned in connection with the life of Jesus. One is mentioned in Luke where it tells the story of when Jesus' parents took Him to His first Passover when He was twelve years old. The other gospels only mention Passover in the context of the last weekend of Jesus' life on earth, but in the book of John there are three Passovers mentioned during the ministry period of Jesus' life.

Interestingly, the first time in John that Passover was mentioned is worded nearly identical to the above verse. The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. (John 2:13) This appears from the context to refer to a series of events that occurred around the time of the first Passover after Jesus went public with His ministry. Some of these events would have occurred roughly around six months after His baptism since the total period of His ministry was 3½ years. Interestingly a very similar experience happened during that first Passover that happened just before His last Passover – a dramatic cleansing of the temple.

As I look at the links between these references to Passover in the book of John, I notice that while the first and last Passover was connected by a temple cleansing, the one mentioned in this chapter is linked to the last Passover by references to making Jesus King of Israel. In this instance Jesus refuses to allow the people to make Him king but in the last occurrence Jesus did allow and even encouraged the people to surround Him with the activities and symbols that accompanied the entrance of a new king.

The introduction that John uses for the last Passover in Jesus' life is also worded very similarly to the previous two. Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. (John 11:55)

Now as I continue to look at these three Passover records together, I see something else very interesting. Closely associated with the first story of Passover is the miracle of turning water into wine at a wedding – the first public miracle that was designed to begin drawing people's attention to His ministry.

The second mention of an approaching Passover in John is closely linked to the story here in chapter six of multiplying bread and fish for people to eat. In the very next verse after the mention of Passover, Jesus asks Philip where they might find bread to feed all the people. I find this very significant given the strong context in the book of John where Jesus portrays Himself particularly as the bread of life. Here it appears that Jesus is beginning to draw people's attention to thinking about the true meaning of the Passover and that the only real source of satisfaction is when we look to Jesus Himself as our true source of nourishment and provision.

Closely linked to the last Passover we see Jesus expressing His passionate desire to eat that Passover with His disciples. And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." (Luke 22:15) At this Passover event Jesus brings into the picture both the bread and the wine. That would connect this Passover, at least from my perspective, to both of the previous Passovers mentioned above in some significant ways. Some time before the first Passover He turned plain water into an abundance of wine. Around the time of the second Passover during His time of ministry He multiplies bread for people to eat. During the last Passover He connects all of the dots and tries to make plain what kind of kingdom He has come to set up on this earth.

When I read further in this story in John 6, I notice some striking similarities between expressions describing how He multiplies the food in this story with descriptions of what He did during the last Passover meal with His disciples in the upper room.

Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. (John 6:11)

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." (Matthew 26:26)

While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is My body." (Mark 14:22)

And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood." (Luke 22:19-20)

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." (1 Corinthians 11:23-25)

I sense from these verses that there may well be some significant links between the fish and the wine here, but I have not yet explored that more thoroughly. But quite clearly from comparing these stories, the language is so similar in what Jesus does that it would appear that in a sense, the feeding of the multitude in this story was a precursor or foretaste of the communion table that now has so much significance to Christians today.

I see another connection between the last two accounts of the Passover that contain potential insights beyond what I currently perceive. In the story here in John six Jesus sits down with His disciples on the mountain and then later has the disciples speak to everyone else to sit down in preparation for being fed. In the story of the last Passover we again see Jesus sitting down with His disciples. However, this time Jesus gets up and goes around to each of His disciples and washes their feet as an example of the kind of kingdom that He had come to establish.

All throughout these stories it becomes clear that there is an ongoing clash between the assumptions that religious people have about the kingdom of heaven and the true nature of that kingdom as demonstrated and taught by Jesus. God's kingdom is focused on selfless service for others; on the other hand, human desires for power and control over others motivates them to want others to serve them at the expense of diminishing the apparent worth of the people serving them.

It seems that this mistaken notion of the kingdom of heaven is still just as prevalent today as it has ever been. Today's popular scenarios of what might take place when Jesus returns are often replete with ideas of brute power full of control and force. It appears that many believe that though Jesus demonstrated a life of humility and meekness when He was here on earth the first time, for some reason He is going to change His tactics and employ force and intimidation and fear to get His way the second time He comes to this earth. This fits well with the 'angry lamb' perception that shows up in those who are finally lost. (see Revelation 6:16,17)

Whether people believe in a literal return of Jesus to take His loved ones home with Him for a thousand years as taught by Scripture, or whether they believe ideas of a rapture, a time of tribulation and other such doctrines designed for the counter-reformation and initiated by the Catholic Jesuits, all of these predictions seem to be filled with assumptions that Jesus will abandon His original methods in favor of adopting methods and attitudes closer to what we prefer to see happen. They assume that the descriptions of power and great glory that will be experienced at the second coming mean that God has given up on His original demonstrations of love and meekness and compassion and will resort to force and anger to finish the job He started.

But these beliefs obscure the true nature of God's real power. They actually reinforce the lies of the enemy who asserts that love is not enough to overcome the force and malignity of sin or to produce obedience. But far from being inadequate to meet the challenge, God's love is actually the only element in the universe capable of drawing us and finishing the job of vindicating the reputation of God through the testimony and lives of those who are saved. The problem is not that love is inadequate but that we do not appreciate the subtleness of the real power in love.

We think too much like sinners have been induced to think all through the history of this world. It is very easy to believe that while it might be nice to demonstrate meekness and compassion and kindness for awhile, at some point that tactic has to be abandoned for stronger measures to intimidate people through more forceful means to accept the truth. But these ideas destroy the very essence of what Jesus came to reveal about the Father. The introduction of force, fear and coercion undermines the very foundation of the government that Jesus came to set up in the hearts of all who would embrace His provisions and submit to His authority.

Just as most people have mistaken ideas about what took place at the very first Passover in Egypt, so too they have confused ideas about what took place at the last Passover when Jesus fulfilled all the symbolic representations woven throughout the whole Old Testament system of feasts and rituals. Far from resorting to force and intimidation, God's methods are designed to reveal that His original way of doing things and of governing the universe is perfectly adequate to meet any crisis or opposition or counterfeit. As we have an open mind to allow the Word to speak for itself, we shall begin to see the incredible beauty and attractiveness of God instead of inventing scenarios based on our own twisted desires.

When God Asks Questions

Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?" This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. (John 6:5-6)

I have noticed something about the way that Jesus related to people that is different than leaders usually relate to people today. Jesus used the technique of questions to make a point rather than simply spelling out plainly what He wanted to convey. This has the effect of engaging others and causing them to stop and challenge their assumptions or at least to begin using their own minds and hearts more than they typically are used to doing.

This reminds me of the special benefits I have observed whenever people discover the wonderful advantages of inductive Bible study. Instead of being spoon-fed with pre-thought-out conclusions that have been broken down into what are termed 'Bible studies', a person is taught to use a simple format of study that requires them to think for themselves as well as learn to listen to the Spirit of God in ways they likely have never experienced before.

This method of Bible study can many times be viewed as a threat by mainstream religion because it undermines the control that religious institutions have over the minds of their millions of followers. It tends to put people much more directly in touch with God personally and stimulates thinking outside the normal boundaries laid down by tradition and church dogma. Because it seems to cause disunity it is often viewed with great suspicion by leadership. But the unity that they are usually trying to maintain is really more along the lines of uniformity through rigid control by human authority rather than the unity of spirit that will be seen among the true followers of Jesus Christ.

As with pretty much everything in God's kingdom, questioning can be extremely beneficial but it also has its counterfeit in Satan's schemes to lead us into deception. The key factor between true devotion in spiritual life and counterfeit ideas that appear very religious and pious is the state of a person's spirit in their personal relationship with God. In this second instance, questions are used to reinforce doubt and produce unbelief instead of to uncover exciting truths and fresh revelations of God that will increase faith and deepen a person's connection with heaven.

Jesus' questions very often were designed to stimulate people to begin to use their own minds and lead them to realize the dissonance between their intellectual beliefs and their heart beliefs many times. Here in this instance Jesus started out with the assumptions that most of us would start with even though the writer clearly states that Jesus already knew what He planned to do. He started where His disciples would likely be thinking in order to engage them with Him so that when He did reveal heaven's perspective and plans they could be part of what He was doing instead of just outside observers.

I noticed something about this question that Jesus posed to Philip that I find interesting. Jesus asked Philip where they might find food to feed all of these people who were coming to hear Jesus, but Philip in his answer gravitated to thinking about how much it would cost to feed them all, not where to find the food.

I find this difference significant. How often we become so stuck in a certain mode of thinking that we miss the simple questions that God may pose for us to ponder and instead rush to dwell on what we consider the greatness of our difficulties.

Did Jesus intend for Philip to become overwhelmed with the difficulty of the situation that was developing in front of them? I'm not sure about that. But I do believe that it may be important at times for us to be aware of the enormity and impossibility of our circumstances before we are able to appreciate God's provisions and His love and grace in providing for us. When we think that our problems can be solved by ourselves with a little assistance from God, it is very easy for us to think that we have contributed something of value to His solutions in ways that deceive us as to how God has provided our salvation.

But when God allows us to come into situations where it finally becomes obvious that our resources are totally inadequate to deal with our problems, we may find ourselves moving into the interesting emotion of hopeless despair which may be just where God wants us to be. We may be stepping into the very incubator of faith itself.

Hopeless despair is one of the big six emotions that have been identified as emotions that need to be experienced as part of our maturing process. But this particular emotion is one that many people are very afraid to experience because inside they are sure they may become stuck there and might never be able to return. Or they may think that hopeless despair may somehow dishonor God or make them look like inferior Christians with no faith, so that emotion must be avoided at all costs.

But in reality, to grow into a healthy maturity each person must at some point in their lives learn to return to a state of joy and peace from every one of these six major emotions that all of us have to face from time to time. When we fail to learn how to emotionally recover from any one of them we become almost paranoid of even getting close to those emotions because we may get stuck in them and not know how to ever escape. We also remain stuck in levels of immaturity that dishonors our heavenly Parent.

God does not want to leave us in immaturity for all of our lives. It is one thing to be immature because we have not yet had time to grow up enough, to have a chance to learn recovery from all of these emotions. But it is another thing to become stunted because we refuse to cooperate with God's leading in our life and to be mentored into greater maturity through various circumstances designed to challenge us. Hopeless despair is one of those emotions that is often the last that people are willing to face and learn to grow through instead of running away from each time.

When properly understood, hopeless despair is actually one of the most exciting emotions that we might ever face in our lives. I know this may sound absurd at first, but when we are facing situations that push us toward this intimidating emotion, we are actually getting very close to the front seat where we may be positioned strategically to view some of the most awesome revelations of God's power and glory that can be seen anywhere. But the best view can only be experienced when we allow ourselves to be seated in the front row of hopeless despair.

In essence, Jesus was inviting Philip here to take a seat on the front row and sit down with Him in hopeless despair to enjoy the best vantage point in the theater. Jesus already had learned the wonderful benefits of this seat and had developed His own maturity through obedience throughout His growing up years. Now He was engaged in the process of mentoring His disciples by introducing to them the skills and lessons needed to grow them into greater maturity. At this point it was time to learn how to trust God whenever circumstances appear totally impossible, and so He engaged Philip with this question to give him the first option of participating with Him in learning how God does things as opposed to how humans usually do things.