John 6. This chapter is a roller-coaster ride, from the heights of two famous miracles at the beginning to the depths of people deserting Jesus at the end.
I think in both miracles--the feeding of the multitude and Jesus walking on water--we see a playful side to Jesus. Just as he turned water into wine in chapter 2, Jesus is performing miracles in situations where there isn't necessarily a dire need. I can see him looking at this crowd of 10,000+ people and saying to himself, "this is going to be a fun night." He asks Philip what he thinks they should do, already knowing what he had in mind, just to mess with him before he performs this miracle. And again, we see real significance in a shared meal and hanging out: Jesus miraculously creates the world's largest fish fry.
Jesus' miraculous feeding of the multitude actually sets up the conflict and becomes his opportunity to clarify his mission. He's drawing huge crowds by now; or more accurately, his miracles are drawing huge crowds. The multiplying of the bread and fish only seems to exacerbate the problem: Jesus has to escape to the mountainside before a mob tries to make him king by force, and his disciples sneak away by boat during the night to avoid the mob. Jesus is starting to be seen as a free meal ticket, kind of an upside-down politician: he doesn't promise everything but actually seems to be able to deliver it.
So Jesus does something surprising: he offers a teaching so difficult to accept that only the most devoted will accept it. He calls himself the bread of life, and says that everyone must eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to live. These words, while still shocking, are less radical to us because we view them through the lens of the crucifixion, but his listeners would not have been thinking that way. So, as you might expect, it seems that just about everyone except the twelve turn to go home.
Jesus blows up his own fan club. What do you make of that? While he clearly wanted everyone to find life in him, he wasn't willing to draw a crowd of half-hearted followers or spectators. If they weren't truly devoted to him--if they could not say, as Simon Peter did, "where else could we go?"--then he wasn't interested. This episode sets up a pattern in Jesus' ministry where he attracted large groups, and then seemed to sift them out with challenges and hard teachings that only the most devoted will accept. Jesus states for the record that he isn't interested in creating a gallery of spectators or half-hearted followers.
v65 in The Message reads, "This is why I told you earlier that no one is capable of coming to me on his own. You get to me only as a gift from the Father."
ReplyDeleteThis one verse could radically change the way we associate with our "neighbors." When reading this I realize a couple of things: first, I can't do anything to make somebody follow Jesus. My understanding is clear: I believe all people are loved by God and need Jesus Christ as their Savior. From that point, I sacrificially and unconditionally love and forgive others. I am not responsible for changing my neighbors, that's God's part of the plan. My part is to love God and love them...in so doing let my works shine in a way that they may glorify my Father in heaven.
This verse is also incredibly freeing because God takes the responsibility of bringing others to himself. I can't convict people of sin, I can't convert people to following Christ, but I can love them. And isn't that really what I'm called to do anyway?