DAILY TEXT, Friday, March 27, 2026. His heart remained closed, unable to understand (Mark 6:52).

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Friday, March 27, 2026

His heart remained closed, unable to understand (Mark 6:52).

After feeding a multitude, Jesus told his apostles to return to Capernaum by boat and withdrew to the mountain to avoid being made king (John 6:16-20). During the boat trip, a storm arose with strong winds and waves. Jesus then came to them, walking on the water, and told the apostle Peter to do the same (Matt. 14:22-31). When Jesus got into the boat, the wind calmed down. Filled with amazement, the disciples said: “You really are the Son of God” (Matt. 14:33). Even so, they still did not see the connection between this miracle and what had happened earlier with the multitude. Mark adds the detail that the apostles’ amazement was immense because “they had not grasped the meaning of the miracle of the loaves” (Mark 6:50-52). Indeed, they could not comprehend the full power that Jehovah had given Jesus to perform miracles. w24.12 5 par. 7

Why did the crowd go looking for Jesus? (John 6:26, 27).

The crowd that Jesus fed was most interested in satisfying their physical needs and desires. It is true that the next day, when they saw that Jesus and his apostles had left, they got into other boats that had come from Tiberias and headed toward Capernaum to look for Jesus (John 6:22-24). But did they do this primarily to hear him speak more about the Kingdom? Clearly not. Their main interest was satisfying their need for bread. How do we know this?

Let us consider what happened when the crowd met Jesus near Capernaum. Jesus clearly told them that their priority was to satisfy their physical needs. He indicated that they “ate their fill of the loaves” with “food that spoils.” And he encouraged them instead to work for “the food that endures and leads to eternal life.” (Read John 6:26, 27.) He also told them that it would be his Father who would provide that food. The idea that food could lead to eternal life must have seemed astonishing to them. But what kind of food would that be, and how could they obtain it?

What “work of God” did people have to perform to gain eternal life?

It appears that those Jews believed they had to perform some kind of work to receive that food. They may have been thinking of the “works” of the Mosaic Law. However, Jesus told them: “This is the work of God: that you demonstrate faith in the one he sent” (John 6:28, 29). To have “eternal life,” it is necessary to demonstrate faith in God’s representative. In fact, Jesus had already spoken about this earlier (John 3:16-18, 36). And later he would speak again about what we must do to have eternal life (John 17:3).

How did the Jews demonstrate that they were still thinking of being satisfied with literal bread? (Psalm 78:24, 25)

Those Jews did not accept what Jesus taught them about this new “work of God.” So they asked him: “What miracle are you going to perform so that we may see it and believe you?” (John 6:30). Then they mentioned that their forefathers in the days of Moses had received manna, which could be likened to bread (Neh. 9:15; read Psalm 78:24, 25). Clearly, they were still focused on being satisfied with literal bread. Hence, they did not ask Jesus for an explanation when he immediately afterward spoke to them about “the true bread from heaven,” which was like life-giving manna from heaven (John 6:32). They were so focused on their physical needs that they missed the spiritual truths Jesus was trying to teach them. What can we learn from this account?

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