They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. (John 6:28-35)People love a good show. And after a while, Jesus became a good show. He fed people and healed t hem. Wherever he went, interesting things happened. People followed him around because he did interesting things.
The problem was, Jesus didn’t come to do interesting things. He came to bring us back to God. The interesting things were nothing more than authentication of his connection to God.
The people who followed him had difficulty separating the stuff given from the person giving. In their minds, they had a long rich history of being given food. Moses had given the Jews food for a short forty year period 1300 years before. Even though they had never personally eaten any manna, they had read all about it.
Their picture of the Messiah was one who came and gave them food and shelter and they no longer had to work for it. The fact that they Israelites were wandering for forty years in the desert because of disobedience never occurred to them. They just wanted the stuff Jesus had to offer.
We want to do miracles, too, they said. How do we do it? Jesus told them that the only work God really wants of them was to believe.
Their next comment was so typical. Okay, show us a miracle to prove it. He had only shown them a number, but they wanted one more. In fact, what they wanted was miracles on demand. A divine side show of miracles just for them. After all, they figured, Moses gave them manna.
Jesus’ reply: Moses didn’t give you anything. God did. And he is giving you stuff now, if you would only see it.
Still, they didn’t or wouldn’t understand. They went into humble mode and said, “Give us that bread every day.”
Jesus looked at them and said, “I am that bread of life.”
God gives us things that we do not recognize as from him. We are looking for more and do not see what he gave us.
Life in Jesus is not one miracle after another, it is life in him. It is he who we seek and when we find him, we are blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment
To comment, post your comment and click the anonymous button. It would be nice if you signed it so I could know who you are.
You are welcome to say anything you want as long as it is nice. If I don't like it, or it is ugly, I will take it off, place it into the garbage disposal, grind it up, and allow it to be flushed into the Gulf of Mexico where it will be eaten by a fish and then excreted where it will lie on the bottom of the ocean until it is covered up by other comments.