Jesus: The Misunderstood Miracle
"Why is Jesus avoiding us? We tried to proclaim him king yesterday, but he disappeared while we were getting it organized."
It was close to the time of the ceremonial feast in Jerusalem, thousands of people walking to Jerusalem had made a detour when they heard that Jesus was teaching on the east side of the lake, they had listened eagerly all day and at the end of the day Jesus had taken five loaves and two fishes, blessed them, and, as they multiplied in his hands (and perhaps the hand's of his disciples) distributed them to five thousand hungry men, plus women and children. They all had sufficient and there was a lot left over. That's why they wanted to make him king by acclamation, instead Jesus had walked up a mountain path and they had not been able to find him.
They waited for him on the following day, sure that he would be there; because his boat had left without him and only that boat had been seen. He was not there; in the dusk of the evening he had walked across the water to join his disciples in their boat.
Now, after borrowing boats and walking around the edge of the lake they find him, at last, on the west side of the lake and ask 'When did you get here?" Jesus is not very welcoming. He does not praise them for their determind search. In fact you can almost hear him sighing. "You are not here because you understood the miracle-message but because you want free bread."
It was true, the meaning of the miraculous multiplying of the bread had been totally lost to them, but bread they understood. Long ago, way back in the beginning of their national history when a man called Moses was their leader, they had been miraculously supplied with bread from heaven. Here was a man who could repeat that miracle, but he seemed unwilling. Jesus did the very thing that annoyed them most; while they were still seeking an answer to their hunger and poverty he started talking about God! It still annoys people who have their feet firmly planted on the ground. Angrily they asked if he was requiring some act from them before he re-introduced the golden days of bread and birds from heaven. All he asked for was the one thing they neither wanted to do, nor felt capable of doing. "Believe in the person God has sent."
These same people, who had eaten of the miraculously multiplied bread and fishes, these same people who suspected Jesus had crossed the lake by some miraculous way, demanded, "What sign will you do?" They went on to remind Jesus that Moses gave them miracle bread every day, not just one day.
The people complaining to Jesus that day, had little use for God, they scarcely cared. They lived by agriculture and fishing, feared the Romans, and fought poverty daily. What use did they have for God, unless by some ritualistic performance they could manipulate his favor. There, in that setting, Jesus elevates the conversation to spiritual levels, and the people grow more and more impatient with him. It happens today, although God desires to bless every person his way of doing that is to bring them into a close and true relationship with himself. Most people aren't interested in that, they just want a blessing. People will sprinkle holy water, accept the ashes as a mark of death, bow before an alter, even send seven copies of a manipulative e-mail about blessing. But if getting the blessing requires that they stop, and become closely related to God himself. They just aren't interested. People find it comfortable and even think it religious, to believe that God is some vaguely benevolent cloud of goodness who can be induced to rain on them by some magic rain dance.
"Don't labour for the bread that perishes," said Jesus, "labour for the bread that endures for eternal life." The people were mystified, they knew of no such bread.
How hard it is to find your own soul. In the midst of recession, unemployment, mounting debt, conflicting needs and increasing responsibilities, a person's soul gets lost to them. They labor away, paying bills, devising ways to get out of debt, seeking distractions from their worries. Their feet are so firmly on the ground that in fact they feel stuck there. They have lost their souls, but God hasn't, he knows every one. His Spirit hovers over them, the way it did in the day when the sea rolled back from the earth and life sprang into being. Jesus grieves, God plans. Some time, some day, his Spirit will visit someone who is totally occupied by money and bread. There will be an sense of invitation maybe a flash of light. "Join me." an invitation or a command, to live.
Will it be you? When if happens, it may be happening now, will you turn away because you need bread and money or will you trust God enough to believe that he is what you need to find yourself again, to be made over again.
To-day is shrove Tuesday. Go get the ashes applied to your forehead to remind you that bodies die, just don't misunderstand the meaning of the sign. The sign is that because we have broken unity with God, who is the source of all life, we will all die. On Easter Sunday celebrate with joy, but understand the sign - the sign is that because Jesus overcame death those who believe in him will live again.
It was close to the time of the ceremonial feast in Jerusalem, thousands of people walking to Jerusalem had made a detour when they heard that Jesus was teaching on the east side of the lake, they had listened eagerly all day and at the end of the day Jesus had taken five loaves and two fishes, blessed them, and, as they multiplied in his hands (and perhaps the hand's of his disciples) distributed them to five thousand hungry men, plus women and children. They all had sufficient and there was a lot left over. That's why they wanted to make him king by acclamation, instead Jesus had walked up a mountain path and they had not been able to find him.
They waited for him on the following day, sure that he would be there; because his boat had left without him and only that boat had been seen. He was not there; in the dusk of the evening he had walked across the water to join his disciples in their boat.
Now, after borrowing boats and walking around the edge of the lake they find him, at last, on the west side of the lake and ask 'When did you get here?" Jesus is not very welcoming. He does not praise them for their determind search. In fact you can almost hear him sighing. "You are not here because you understood the miracle-message but because you want free bread."
It was true, the meaning of the miraculous multiplying of the bread had been totally lost to them, but bread they understood. Long ago, way back in the beginning of their national history when a man called Moses was their leader, they had been miraculously supplied with bread from heaven. Here was a man who could repeat that miracle, but he seemed unwilling. Jesus did the very thing that annoyed them most; while they were still seeking an answer to their hunger and poverty he started talking about God! It still annoys people who have their feet firmly planted on the ground. Angrily they asked if he was requiring some act from them before he re-introduced the golden days of bread and birds from heaven. All he asked for was the one thing they neither wanted to do, nor felt capable of doing. "Believe in the person God has sent."
These same people, who had eaten of the miraculously multiplied bread and fishes, these same people who suspected Jesus had crossed the lake by some miraculous way, demanded, "What sign will you do?" They went on to remind Jesus that Moses gave them miracle bread every day, not just one day.
The people complaining to Jesus that day, had little use for God, they scarcely cared. They lived by agriculture and fishing, feared the Romans, and fought poverty daily. What use did they have for God, unless by some ritualistic performance they could manipulate his favor. There, in that setting, Jesus elevates the conversation to spiritual levels, and the people grow more and more impatient with him. It happens today, although God desires to bless every person his way of doing that is to bring them into a close and true relationship with himself. Most people aren't interested in that, they just want a blessing. People will sprinkle holy water, accept the ashes as a mark of death, bow before an alter, even send seven copies of a manipulative e-mail about blessing. But if getting the blessing requires that they stop, and become closely related to God himself. They just aren't interested. People find it comfortable and even think it religious, to believe that God is some vaguely benevolent cloud of goodness who can be induced to rain on them by some magic rain dance.
"Don't labour for the bread that perishes," said Jesus, "labour for the bread that endures for eternal life." The people were mystified, they knew of no such bread.
How hard it is to find your own soul. In the midst of recession, unemployment, mounting debt, conflicting needs and increasing responsibilities, a person's soul gets lost to them. They labor away, paying bills, devising ways to get out of debt, seeking distractions from their worries. Their feet are so firmly on the ground that in fact they feel stuck there. They have lost their souls, but God hasn't, he knows every one. His Spirit hovers over them, the way it did in the day when the sea rolled back from the earth and life sprang into being. Jesus grieves, God plans. Some time, some day, his Spirit will visit someone who is totally occupied by money and bread. There will be an sense of invitation maybe a flash of light. "Join me." an invitation or a command, to live.
Will it be you? When if happens, it may be happening now, will you turn away because you need bread and money or will you trust God enough to believe that he is what you need to find yourself again, to be made over again.
I will give you bread says Jesus, I will give my body (the body which he had entered into in order to bring God's message to us) for the life of the world.
Life of the world. Can this sick world live? Little corners prosper but most places hunger and fight. Even in the corners where people prosper, the managining and spending of money has preoccupied them so that God is no longer believed. Can there be life, not only for the individual but for the world?
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of this world is my flesh.
The Gospel of John chapter six, verses 26-51To-day is shrove Tuesday. Go get the ashes applied to your forehead to remind you that bodies die, just don't misunderstand the meaning of the sign. The sign is that because we have broken unity with God, who is the source of all life, we will all die. On Easter Sunday celebrate with joy, but understand the sign - the sign is that because Jesus overcame death those who believe in him will live again.
posted by Jessie Coates at 4:06 PM
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