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PER170
The reaction of the crowd
After the multiplication of the loaves, the crowd recognizes Jesus as the prophet announced by Moses and wants to crown him king. Only John reports this episode. Jesus withdraws to the mountain, refusing a political kingship. This passage reveals the tension between popular messianic expectations and the spiritual mission of the Messiah, who refuses to conform to the nationalist hopes of his time.
John 6.14-15 (King James Version) :Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.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.King James Version (1769), domaine public — texte : eBible.org