Todays readings.. 2 Chronicles 3&4, Ezekiel 39, John 6
What a fascinating chapter is John 6, but what caught our attention today was how, when the people did not get the answers and actions they requested from Jesus, so many turned away. The first 15 verses describe the miracle of feeding the 5,000. It excited the crowd and they were annoyed when they found he had slipped away from them.
The disciples also were on their own and they experienced a storm on the lake and saw Jesus walking on the water in the storm “and they were frightened” [v.19] and he said, “It is I” and “they were glad to take him into the boat and immediately the boat was at the land” [v.21]
Is there a potential comparison with his return to earth: time when we are frightened by the chaos and “storms” in our lives in a world that descends into chaos? We noted “it was now dark” [v.17] as the disciples desperately rowed. Will anxious believers in this world’s darkness be immediately certain the return of Jesus is actually happening? Let us listen for his voice.
The crowds catch up with Jesus and he says to them, “you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the fill of the loaves” [v.26]. They ask, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” [v.28]. They are more interested in doing miracles themselves and to have more miraculous “loaves and fishes” than listening to his words and “the food (for thought and action) that endures to eternal life.” [v.27]
They turn away from his comment, “This is the work of God that you believe in him whom God has sent.” [v.29]. Real belief leads to actions to show acceptance of that belief! The people then were not prepared to think through what he means – and the same happens today.
Jesus says, “I am the bread of life … whoever believes in me shall never thirst …you have seen me and yet you do not believe” [v.36] Later “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” [v.66] On Monday we will read how Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth …” [8 v.31]. Let us abide (live) with the words of Jesus and God in our hearts directing our actions.
