John Calvin Commentary John 6:16

"And when evening came, his disciples went down unto the sea;" — John 6:16 (ASV)

His disciples went down. Christ undoubtedly intended to conceal himself until the crowd should disperse. We know how difficult it is to calm a popular tumult. Now, if they had openly attempted to do what they had intended, it would have been no easy matter afterwards to remove the stain that had once been fixed on him.

Meanwhile, he spent all that time in prayer, as the other Evangelists (Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46) relate, probably so that God the Father might repress that folly of the people. As for his crossing the lake in a miraculous manner, it was intended to benefit his disciples by again confirming their faith.

The advantage extended still further; for the next day all the people would easily see that he had not been brought there by a boat or ship, but that he had come by his own power; for they blockaded the shore from which he had to set out, and would scarcely have been drawn away from it, if they had not seen the disciples cross to a different place.