It was inevitable that a crisis should arise in the ministry of Jesus. What the people wanted just did not match where Jesus was headed. They looked for the Lion of the tribe of Judah to vanquish their enemies: he came as the Lamb of God.
John had died
The crisis happened as Jesus’ work moved into its final year. It was Passover time, not more than a week or two since the tragic death of John the Baptist. This man had given the people so much hope that his humiliating end must have brought great discouragement to those who still followed him. They now came to their only other source of hope, like lost sheep in search of a shepherd.
They combined with those already pressing in around Jesus to create a great and anxious crowd. Even when Jesus attempted to get away for some private time, this crowd persisted and followed him when he sought to be alone with the twelve. When Jesus saw them gather again, he was deeply moved by their plight. In his compassion, he healed them and taught them and when at last they would not leave him, he fed them, more than 5,000 at one time.
They wanted Jesus to be king
The death of John followed by this astonishing miracle was more than the people could bear. “This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world!” The very thought electrified the multitude: “Here is our king! Let us anoint him now!”
“When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone” (Jn. 6:15). Matthew tells us that “he went up…to pray” (Matt. 14:23). The pressures on Jesus to succumb to this old temptation were immense! There was no other place he could go except to his Father at a time like this.
The disciples too
The pressure on his little band of disciples was even greater. Why else were they following him, if he was not their heaven-sent King and Redeemer? And what better moment than this to have their master enter into his kingly glory? Were not the multitudes of the people totally behind him? Who on earth could resist this man who could command even the physical elements to obey him? It was no light expression used by Matthew when years later by the Spirit he would describe that frightening moment: “and straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship…” (Matt. 14:22). These twelve faithful men were in much danger of being carried away by the same false expectations; accordingly, Jesus compelled them to leave with an urgency they had probably not before seen in him.
It was without doubt a deeply troubled set of men who reluctantly launched their boat that evening. The dark tossing sea was an apt mirror of their own tumultuous thoughts. Why had he refused the crown? Was he, or was he not, the king they looked for?
When he came to them that night, they found reassurance in his presence, but not peace. All they had ever thought about him now seemed disrupted; on the morrow, it would be shattered!
The turning point
The next day he spoke words of eternal life to many of the 5,000 and later to the people in the Capernaum synagogue. These had been among the crowd which, on the prior day, had clamored for his anointing. Now, when they heard the true bread from heaven and the necessity of participating in the sacrifice of Christ, they stumbled: “Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying, who can hear it?” (Jn. 6:60).
Was Judas one of these? Did he, with these others, feel deceived by Jesus? Misled? Betrayed because Jesus was refusing to be the one they thought he should be?
“When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth this offend you?…But there are some of you that believe not.” From the beginning, Jesus knew that Judas lacked one fundamental thing: an unreserved commitment to trust him fully and to follow his master wherever he led.
At this critical moment, the contrast between Peter and Judas could not have been greater. “Will ye also go away?”
Peter, despite his doubts, saw no other choice but to believe: “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the son of the living God” (Jn. 6:68,69).
Yet Judas, because of his doubts, could not believe: “Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.”
The decision
“From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him” (6:66).
In all probability, this was the turning point for Judas. He, too, had seen enough to know that Jesus did not fit the Messianic mold he wanted or expected. While Judas did not leave with the others, no doubt his heart did. Why didn’t he go? What did he expect to accomplish by staying? Was he afraid of the ridicule? Or was there some other motive now coming to birth in the hidden recesses of his mind?
Was it now that he began to turn his thoughts toward the bag in his possession?
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One