John 6:15 – Then Jesus, knowing that they meant to come and seize Him that they might make Him king, withdrew again to the hillside by Himself alone.
Jesus was not like other leaders, He had no earthly ambitions, His sights were set only on the eternal kingdom of God. When Jesus provided bread and fish for thousands of people the multitudes saw it as a sure sign of the restoration of the earthly kingdom of Israel. The people actually tried to take Jesus by force and make Him king. What did Jesus do? He simply escaped. The scriptures didn’t say how but He wasn’t here to become an earthly king so He just got away. Jesus came to establish a different kingdom and He would be a different kind of king. Here is how Augustine describes this moment.
“But why is it said, He escaped? For He could not be held against His will, nor seized against His will, since He could not be recognized against His will. But that you may know that this was done mystically, not of necessity, but of express purpose, you will presently see in the following: that He appeared to the same multitudes that sought Him, said many things in speaking with them, and discoursed much about the bread of heaven; when discoursing about bread, was He not with the same people from whom He had escaped test He should be held of them? Then, could He not have so acted at that time that He should not be seized by them, just as afterwards when He was speaking with them? Something, therefore, was meant by His escaping. What means, He escaped? His loftiness could not be understood. For of anything which thou hast not understood thou sayest, “It has escaped me.” Wherefore, “He escaped again unto the mountain alone, — the first-begotten from the dead, ascending above all heavens, and interceding for us.”
Jesus escaped to His place of prayer on the mountain up above. This was a picture of His heavenly ministry as our Intercessor and High Priest in heaven. Rather than take an earthly throne with only earthly benefits His heart was set on the heavenly throne with all of the heavenly benefits. He came to give more than bread and fish for our bellies, He came to satisfy our hearts with the bread from heaven. That was the whole point of the miracle that day, He Himself is the Bread from heaven. If you eat this bread you will never hunger, this is the benefit of the kingdom of God.
