JOHN 6:4 ~ DID The LORD JESUS MISS "the" PASSOVER in JERUSALEM, that PASSOVER which was recorded in John 6:4 ?

Did or did NOT

The LORD JESUS miss the Passover in Jerusalem , the Passover mentioned in John 6:4 ? 

[ And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. John 6:4 ]

Only an examination of the FACTS found in Scripture will show us the truth of the matter.

Let us examine these FACTS , then .

# 1 . What exact time frame does “ was nigh” delineate ? The Greek verb actually is in the imperfect tense: was being near, or perhaps, was nearing – a  continuous action. 

Does it mean an hour or two? A day or two? A week or two ? 

In Scripture, “The Passover” is oftentimes generically used to include the Feast of UnLeavened Bread. 

So was it the hour, day, or week  of the entire feast which was in reference here ? Did  “was nigh”  mean IN the preparatory time when house cleaning began and all leaven was removed ? 

 

The Apostle John does not specify .  

This fact is missing.

Let us consider  FACT #2.

# 2. The LORD JESUS came to Tiberias FROM Jerusalem. Jerusalem was about 76 miles to the southwest of Tiberias.

We see The LORD’S healing the impotent man at the porch called Bethesda (House of Mercy) and His+ teaching in John 5 occurred in Jerusalem , on the Sabbath Day.  

That miracle caused the Judean Jews to seek to kill HIM+.

John 5:16- 19

And therefore did the Jews persecute JESUS, and sought to slay HIM+, because HE+ had done these things on the Sabbath Day.  But JESUS answered them, My+ FATHER worketh hitherto, and I+ work. 

Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill HIM+, because HE+ not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that GOD was His+ FATHER, making HIMSELF+ equal with GOD. 

Then answered JESUS and said unto them, Verily, verily, I+ say unto you, The SON+ can do nothing of HIMSELF+, but what HE+ seeth The FATHER do: for what things soever HE doeth, these also doeth The SON+ likewise. 

After The LORD explained and RE-AFFIRMED His+ Authority to the end of chapter 5,  John 6:1 opens with:

  

After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee,

which is the sea of Tiberias.

 “After these things” is a  general, non-specific time frame. All we can factually state is that “these things” referred to events in chapter 5 – the healing  of the man on the Sabbath Day and the subsequent violent anger of the Judean Jews.

Thus all we know is that The LORD went to the Tiberias area or shore of the sea of Galilee at some point in time  after His+ encounters with the impotent man and the Judean Jews in Jerusalem , as recorded in John 5. 

How can we be certain of the exact TIME frame occurring BETWEEN John 5 and John 6 ? 

Scripture does not give us this exact information, but due to the desire of the Judean Jews to KILL HIM+ after HE+ healed on the Sabbath, we might  reasonably assume HE+ quickly traveled to Galilee, for it was not yet the appointed time for HIM+ to be offered up.  

Let us consider  FACT # 3.

# 3.  After Tiberias, The LORD went to  Capernaum. John 6:16-17, 21-22 

In contrast,  the Apostle John in these four verses presents an EXACT time frame: “ . . . when even was come . . . it was now dark . . .  immediately the ship was at the land. . .  the day following…”

The night after feeding the 5,000 men, The disciples took shipping and The LORD joined them, walking on the sea, and they all went instantly ( perhaps rather breathlessly !) to Capernaum, about 8 miles to the NORTH . . . exactly the opposite direction from Jerusalem.

Let us consider  FACT #4. 

# 4. OTHER JEWS WERE PRESENT in chapter 6 who seemed to know The Law, as evident in discussions about The LORD’S words in verses 41 and 52. 

The Judean Jews were first noted in this chapter at Capernaum ( verse 41 ), but the Apostle did not tell us if the Judean Jews were also at Tiberias when The LORD JESUS spoke to the crowd and fed the 5,000 men. 

We do not know if the Judean Jews were among those who took shipping in Tiberias or if they were among the crowds coming to Capernaum seeking HIM+.  John 6:59 ends the chapter by telling us, after His+ BREAD of Life discourse: 

These things said HE+ in the synagogue,

as HE+ taught in Capernaum.

So, it seemed the Jews who questioned HIM+ could have been from Capernaum or from Tiberias or perhaps from Judea . They could have been in the multitude noted in John 6:2. 

John 6:2

And a great multitude followed HIM+, because they saw His+ miracles which HE+ did on them that were diseased.

The Judean Jews may have been among the local Jews at the synagogue in Capernaum and heard HIM+ speak His+ Words in John 6: 25-59, identifying HIMSELF+ as The TRUE BREAD of Life sent from Heaven to give Life to the world.  

Let us consider  FACT #5.

#5. Did the Jews in Capernaum talking to HIM+ miss the Passover in Jerusalem, as well ? 

Since the Jews were at Capernaum  the day following  His+ feeding the multitude in Tiberias,  the time frame “. . . the Passover was nigh” was still valid. 

Thus, we are left with a variety of possibilities: 

EITHER: They ALL MISSED the Passover – The LORD JESUS, His+ disciples,  and the Capernaum Jews plus any Judean Jews;

OR: They  KEPT the Passover, but they kept it in Capernaum, privately; 

OR: They all traveled the 3 or 4 days’ journey to Jerusalem to eat the Passover at some point AFTER HE+ spoke at the synagogue in Capernaum . . . and then quickly returned to Galilee because the Jews sought to kill HIM+. 

The Apostle does not record this information in Chapter 6.

Let us consider FACT # 6. 

# 6. Neither does Chapter 7 reveal the specific time frame for us. 

If The LORD JESUS, His+ Disciples, and the Jews in attendance at the Capernaum synagogue DID INDEED travel three or four day’s journey back to Jerusalem after His+ discourse in Capernaum synagogue. . . WHEN, then,  did John 7:1 occur ?

John 7:1 

After these things JESUS walked in Galilee:

for HE+ would not walk in Jewry,

because the Jews sought to kill HIM+.

It would seem that “after these things” refers to the events in chapter 6 at the synagogue in Capernaum.

There would have to have been about 8 days after The LORD’S teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum for HIM+ and the others to travel down to Jerusalem, observe the Passover, and return to the Galilee area. 

But, Scripture does not tell us if this occurred OR NOT. So we cannot safely affirm that The LORD did attend the Passover.

Mr. Rood himself assumed that John 6:4 MEANT that The LORD JESUS did NOT observe that Passover  because HE+ was in Galilee instead of Jerusalem at the season of that  Feast.

Indeed, Mr. Rood’s assumption is verified AS CORRECT by earlier scholars of the Scriptures.

That assumption can be found, stated in the mid-1800’s commentary by Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Volume 3, PART 1, page 393, 2^nd Column, as explained after the first verse of chapter 7. 

John 7:1

“After these things JESUS walked in Galilee:

for HE+ would not walk in Jewry,

because the Jews sought to kill HIM+.”

There, the commentary stated, verbatim:

“ . . . for he would not walk in Jewry – or Judea – because the Jews sought to kill him – as related in ch. v . 18.

 This is an exceedingly important piece of information, as we thus learned that our LORD did not attend the Passover mentioned in ch.vi. 4 – which, according to our reckoning, was the third since the opening of his public ministry.”

So, Mr. Rood’s assumption or inference about JESUS NOT ATTENDING THAT PASSOVER is substantiated by other earlier, classical and well-respected Biblical scholars: 

 As scholars agree, then, 

John 6:4 indicates that The LORD JESUS CHRIST

did NOT attend the Passover in Jerusalem that year.

However, John 6:4 [And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh]  places Mr. Rood’s Hebrew Roots theology in a bind.

The Hebrew Roots theology does NOT allow any room for The FATHER to direct The LORD to refrain from going into “Jewry” ( or more precisely, into Judea  i.e., the land of the Judean Jews). 

Hebrew Roots theology stands squarely on the premise that The LORD JESUS observed ALL the Law of Moses, including the observance of the Passover.

This is CRUCIAL to the Hebrew Roots camp because SOME declare that The LORD JESUS became the Messiah simply because HE+ followed the Law of Moses righteously. 

That is, the Hebrew Roots camp does NOT give credence to the FACT that HE+ was born the Messiah , but rather that HE+ earned it.  

[ See Hebrew Roots’ Andrew Roth’s AENT footnote at Acts 2:36, footnote 28, Mis-pagination Edition, 2008, and his explanation that Messiah Ben David ( MESSIAH+ Son of David) has not yet come, in his doctrinal appendices, pg. 908-910,  for this erroneous teaching which refutes Matthew 1:1 !

Even  at Matthew 1:1 [ The book of the genealogy of Y’SHUA+ the MASHIYACH, the son of David  ], Mr. Roth's  footnote #2 refutes the words of the Apostle Matthew: Mr. Roth calls The LORD “Mashiyach the son of Joseph” in that footnote.

If that is not confusing enough at the genealogy , Andrew Roth’s footnote #13 at John 1:29 , clearly identifies The LORD JESUS as the “Son of YHWH via Joseph and Miriam”, page 234, refuting Matthew 1:1 again. ]

Thus, the Hebrew Roots camp would NEVER agree that The LORD JESUS missed a Passover in Jerusalem, especially in the middle of His+ Ministry years.    

The Hebrew Roots doctrine of an “earned” Messiah-ship would have to be scuttled, as well as their enforcement of the keeping of the Law of Moses for followers in their groups . . . if The LORD JESUS missed that Passover in Jerusalem. 

To AVOID that conflict between Hebrew Roots doctrine and Scripture. . . .

Mr. Rood labeled, printed, published, and broadcast on the Internet that John 6:4  [And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh]  was inaccurate, spurious, and added into the Greek text at a later date.   

Without a shred of documentation or proof, Mr. Rood removed a well-documented VERSE of SCRIPTURE  -- even found intact in Papyrus 66 -- which would have corrected the errors of the Hebrew Roots camp as well as his own time-line errors.  

Unfortunately for Mr. Rood, there is but one 14^th century manuscript, MS 1634, which has John 6:4 missing.  

 However, it has the space for John 6:4 with the Greek word for “beginning” in it 

[ Gk: ἀρχῇ =   archA], 

which marks the beginning of a lectionary reading .

This word is visible on the manuscript at the Institute for New Testament Textual Research. It is quite probable that the verse was removed ( ? ) in order to place the lectionary directive.

On another late minuscule, MS 472, an asterisk stands in the margin at John 6:4 – WHICH IS FOUND INTACT – to mark the beginning of that same lectionary reading.  

So, seeing that  “And the Passover, a feast of the Jews was nigh”  IS REALLY  IN  THE GREEK MANUSCRIPTS OF JOHN,  we are left with the question: 

Did or did NOT The LORD JESUS CHRIST

 miss 

that Passover in Jerusalem ? 

According to the FACTS found in Scripture, it seems the answer is YES, HE+ missed it  . . . and so did His+ Disciples and the Jews at Capernaum.

Chapter 7 tells us WHY The FATHER re-directed HIM+ to avoid Jerusalem:

John 7: 1 -2 and verses 13, 25

7:1 After these things JESUS walked in Galilee: for HE+ would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill HIM+.

7:2 Now the Jew’s feast of tabernacles was at hand. . . .

7:13 Howbeit no man spake openly of HIM+ for fear of the Jews.

7:25 Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this HE+, Whom+ they seek to kill?

[ Keep in mind, “Jews” refers to the Judeans , in the Greek . ]

Thus we see in Chapter 5 and Chapter 7, the Judean Jews were seeking to kill HIM+ .  

 In Chapter 6, HE+ returned to Galilee and remained there for several months until the Feast of Tabernacles was held in Jerusalem in the fall. 

Now then, let us look at the English idiom used in the context of this passage, the "now" in John 7:2.  It should be read as a general transitional phrase, as " now then," ... NOT as a  specific time indicating an immediate occurrence, as "right now! "

Mr. Rood states there were 18 days ( ! ) between chapter 6 and chapter 7, based on that "now" in John 7:2.  

So, Mr. Rood DISCARDED the Passover of John 6:4 in order to maintain those 18 days of his time-line  . . . in order to establish a one-year ministry of The LORD JESUS CHRIST.  

This teaching is Gnostic, as Irenaeus ( b. 130 AD - d. 202 AD)  refuted in writing about a 3.5 year ministry of CHRIST JESUS. He quoted John 6:4 intact, even at that early age in Christendom. 

[ Perhaps in the writings of THAT ancient Christian apologist is where Eusebius found the 3.5 long ministry of CHRIST JESUS ? ]

Yes, Our LORD was the MOST RIGHTEOUS man who ever lived. His+ Righteousness was because HE+ always did those things that pleased His+ Heavenly FATHER. John 8:29

Throughout the Gospels we see that The LORD broke the Law in the eyes of the Pharisees.  HE+ told them, " My+ FATHER worketh hitherto, and I+ work."  John 5:17

HE+ moved under the total unction of the HOLY SPIRIT, in accordance with the Will of His+ Heavenly FATHER WHO sent HIM+. 

So, who is there who can DARE gainsay The FATHER'S will in directing HIS obedient SON+  to avoid Jerusalem and miss a Passover ?

Let he whose righteousness exceeds the Obedient SON+ of The FATHER  cast the first stone  !