Chapter 5 to 6 Transition

Chapter 5 closes with Jesus scorching the religious leaders in Jerusalem regarding their unbelief. Chapter 6 opens up with the temporal clause “after these things” and Jesus apparently crossing to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Or is He? I believe what John is saying in referring to the “other side” of the Sea of Galilee is that Jesus went away to the Tiberias side of the Sea of Galilee from Jerusalem. I think John uses the “other side” terminology because he was from Capernaum. Therefore, to John, the “other side” of the Sea of Galilee was the Tiberias side. As in, the “other side” from which they were accustomed to being since they lived on the Capernaum side. After these things, then, refers to Jesus scorching the religious leaders in Jerusalem about their unbelief. So, after Jesus finished scorching the religous leaders, He went away to Tiberias side of the Sea of Galilee.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

Verse 1 Greek Text

6:1Μετὰ ταῦτα ἀπῆλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης τῆς Γαλιλαίας τῆς Τιβεριάδος.

Verse 1 Sentence Flow

Μετὰ + accusative = after
ταῦτα - Accustaive, Neuter, Plural, Near Demonstrative = these things
ἀπῆλθεν - VAAI3S = he went away
  Subject = ὁ Ἰησοῦς
  πέραν - locative preposition = to the other side
    τῆς θαλάσσης - object of the preposition = of the sea
      τῆς Γαλιλαίας - descriptive genitive = of Galilee
        τῆς Τιβεριάδος - descriptive genetivie = of Tiberias

Verse 1 Translation Rationale

Μετὰ is translated as “after” since it’s followed by the accusative “ταῦτα. “ταῦτα” is the plural near demonstrative and it’s in the accusative case and translated “these things”. “ὁ Ἰησοῦς” is the subject of the verb “ἀπῆλθεν.” “ἀπῆλθεν” is adverbially modified by the prepositional phrase “πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης τῆς Γαλιλαίας τῆς Τιβεριάδος,” indicating the place to which Jesus “went away.” It is pretty common to take Tiberias as being in apposition to Sea of Galilee. The problem with doing so is that it creates a large geography problem between chapter 5 and chapter 6. It also creates the notion that Jesus is crossing the Sea of Galilee when in the apparent context that can’t be supported. This is even more clear when we get to verse 17 and we see that the disciples are headed across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum. It stands to reason that Tiberias is actually John showing us the location to which Jesus “went away” from Jerusalem. In verse 17, from Tiberias, the disciples would head across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum. Back home, in a sense.

Verse 1 English Translation

After these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee or Tiberias.

Verse 1 Interpretive Questions

1. What are “these things?”
2. To what location did Jesus “go away?”
3. If you take τῆς Τιβεριάδος as appositional, how do you make sense of the geography gap created between chapter 5 and chapter 6? A popular thing in scholarship is to say that John has been redacted in some way. I think there’s a better explanation.