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Lesson 12 Slide 2 To help us look to Jesus Christ as the bread of life, the source of everlasting life Slide 3 Jesus heals the crippled man at the Pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath. The Jewish leaders seek to kill Jesus because of his declaration that he is the Son of God. (John 5) Jesus miraculously feeds more than 5,000 people. (John 6:114; Mark 6:3044) Jesus walks on the Sea of Galilee, invites Peter to come to him, and calms the winds. (John 6:1521; Matthew 14:2233) Jesus declares that he is the bread of life and that those who believe in him will have everlasting life. Many reject this teaching, but Peter and the other Apostles remain with Jesus. (John 6:2271) Slide 4 Capernaum was the place where Peter, Andrew, James, and John were called as Apostles. Slide 5 Just before these events: The people who had been following Jesus had tried to make him their political king. Additionally, the disciples told Jesus that John the Baptist had been killed by Herod. Slide 6 1.Jesus went to a solitary place, possibly to grieve for John the Baptist. People followed. 2.Gennesaret ValleyPossible location of feeding of the 5,000 3.After feeding everyone, Jesus sent the people away and told his apostles to take a boat to Capernaum. He went up the mountain to pray. 4.A storm hit, and the apostles boat was driven back. This is when the Lord walked on the water. 5.The next morning, they went by boat to Capernaum. People looked for him in Bethsaida, then followed to Capernaum, where Jesus gave his sermon on the Bread of Life. 1 2/3 4 Approximate Locations and Timeline Slide 7 People followed Him everywhere, and He saw through their reasons for doing sothey wanted free food again. So He taught them about being filled by the Bread of Life. He declared a number of times that He was the Son of Godhow would you have reacted to someone who made such claims, especially if you knew Him as the son of people you knew? He talks about how they should eat His flesh and drink His blood. Most of them got up and left after that, because they didnt understand, and it sounded strange to them. Also, since He wasnt going to agree to be their political king and overthrow the Romans, they also lost interest. Jesus said to them, Doth this offend you? And He basically said, Im telling you that I came down from heaven. Would you believe me if I ascended back up to where I came from in front of your eyes? And then he taught them that it is the Spirit that quickeneth, or testifies of truth. Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. Slide 8 https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/i-am- the-bread-of-life?lang=eng Slide 9 He taught them that it is the Spirit that quickeneth, or testifies of truth. Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. How would you have reacted to someone who claimed to be the Son of God, especially if He was the son of people you knew? Would you have been someone who would have let the Spirit witness to you? What does this teach us about how to teach the principles of the Gospel to people such as our children, nonmembers, less active members, or even ourselves? Slide 10 In that little story is something of the danger in our day. It is that in our contemporary success and sophistication we too may walk away from the vitally crucial bread of eternal life; we may actually choose to be spiritually malnourished, willfully indulging in a kind of spiritual anorexia. Like those childish Galileans of old, we may turn up our noses when divine sustenance is placed before us. Slide 11 We invite you to join in the adventure of the earliest disciples of Christ who also yearned for the bread of lifethose who did not go back but who came to Him, stayed with Him, and who recognized that for safety and salvation there was no other to whom they could ever go [see John 6:68] (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, He Hath Filled the Hungry with Good Things, Ensign, Nov. 1997, 65). Slide 12 Elder Neal A. Maxwell (19262004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote about why people abandoned Jesus and why we must be willing to accept the hard doctrines of the gospel, even when they are unpopular with the world: When Jesus first began to preach strong doctrines (the scriptures refer to these as hard sayings), many of those who followed Him went back, and walked no more with him. (John 6:66.) Once His doctrines really began to make demands of people, it was too much for many. Slide 13 There are equivalent hard sayings about our secular societies that one hesitates to utter but which need to be heard. They are not popular. A truth may touch us, bore us, or merely make us uncomfortable. But those are reactions to truth, and reactions do not alter the reality of truth itself. Hard sayings when pondered, may make it easier to let go of the world. Nephi lamented the fact that so many people will not understand great knowledge. (2 Nephi 32:7.) Complexity is scarcely the cause, for the gospel is so plain and simple. Rather, the failure to comprehend seems to be rooted in a resolute refusal to let go of the world long enough to ponder the precious truths in the message of the Master (Wherefore, Ye Must Press Forward [1977], 67, 22). Slide 14 68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. How could you use Peters response to help someone who is struggling with a hard saying of the gospel? Slide 15 22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. 23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. 24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. 27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. Slide 16 28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? 32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. 33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. Slide 17 I know that [the Lords] tender mercies and His miracles, large and small, are real. They come in His way and on His timetable. Sometimes it is not until we have reached our extremity. Jesuss disciples on the Sea of Galilee had to toil in rowing against a contrary wind all through the night before Jesus finally came to their aid. He did not come until the fourth watch, meaning near dawn. Yet He did come. (See Mark 6:4551.) My testimony is that miracles do come, though sometimes not until the fourth watch (Susan W. Tanner, My Soul Delighteth in the Things of the Lord, Ensign, May 2008, 83). Slide 18 This scriptural account reminds us that the first step in coming to Christor his coming to usmay fill us with something very much like sheer terror. It shouldnt, but it sometimes does. One of the grand ironies of the gospel is that the very source of help and safety being offered us is the thing from which we may, in our mortal shortsightedness, flee. For whatever the reason, I have seen investigators run from baptism, I have seen elders run from a mission call, I have seen sweethearts run from marriage, and I have seen young couples run from the fear of families and the future. Too often too many of us run from the very things that will bless us and save us and soothe us. Too often we see gospel commitments and commandments as something to be feared and forsaken (Come unto Me [Brigham Young University fireside, Mar. 2, 1997], 8). Slide 19 Peter sprang over the vessels side and into the troubled waves, and while his eyes were fixed upon the Lord, the wind might toss his hair and the spray might drench his robes, but all was well. Only when with wavering faith he removed his glance from the Master to look at the furious waves and the black gulf beneath him, only then did he begin to sink. Again, like most of us, he cried, Lord, save me. Nor did Jesus fail him. He stretched out his hand and grasped the drowning disciple with the gentle rebuke, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? (Adapted from [Frederic W.] Farrar, The Life of Christ, pp. 31013; see Matt. 14:2233.) Slide 20 It is my firm belief that if as individual people, as families, communities, and nations, we could, like Peter, fix our eyes on Jesus, we too might walk triumphantly over the swelling waves of disbelief and remain unterrified amid the rising winds of doubt. But if we turn away our eyes from him in whom we must believe, as it is so easy to do and the world is so much tempted to do, if we look to the power and fury of those terrible and destructive elements around us rather than to him who can help and save us, then we shall inevitably sink in a sea of conflict and sorrow and despair. At such times when we feel the floods are threatening to drown us and the deep is going to swallow up the tossed vessel of our faith, I pray we may always hear amid the storm and the darkness that sweet utterance of the Savior of the world: Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. (Matt. 14:27.) (The Beacon in the Harbor of Peace, Ensign, Nov. 1992, 19). Slide 21 Slide 22 Jesus and his Apostles had withdrawn to a solitary place, perhaps to mourn the death of his cousin John the Baptist, perhaps just to have some respite from the crowds who clamored after him for healing, perhaps simply to meditate and pray. The crowds followed. Even though Jesus probably had a heavy heart due to Johns death, he had compassion on the people. Slide 23 Slide 24 1. The Savior gave a commandment beyond the disciples present ability: Give ye them to eat (Mark 6:37). The impossibility of this task is reflected in the disciples response, found only in Mark. 2. The Savior asked the disciples what they could provide: How many loaves have ye? (Mark 6:38). 3. The Savior instructed, Bring them hither to me (Matthew 14:18). 4. The disciples gave the Savior what they had. 5. The Savior blessed and multiplied what the disciples were able to provide, miraculously meeting and surpassing what was needed. Slide 25 This sequence mirrors a pattern in our relationship with the Savior. On our own, we fall far short of the perfection and glory of God (see Matthew 5:48; Romans 3:23). But when we offer our whole souls to the Savior, the abundant power and grace of His Atonement will more than compensate for our shortcomings (see 2 Nephi 25:23; Omni 1:26; Moroni 10:3233). Slide 26