Year 2, Day 254: John 6

God Sometimes Loves The Absurd

John 6 is one of the beloved Bible stories.  We love to think of this story as an ultimate sign of God’s grace, love, mercy, and compassion.  But the feeding of the 5,000 has a dark side.  It has a side we would rather prefer to ignore.  So for now, let’s do just that.

A large crowd follows Jesus.  He looks out upon them.  He recognizes that they need to be feed, so He begins to ask His disciples for some ideas.  Philip doesn’t have a clue, but he knows for certain that they don’t have near enough money to even buy bread for this crowd.  Andrew, on the other hand, is at least willing to try.  He knows that it is a humble beginning, but he mentions that he knows a boy who has a few fish and some small barley cakes. 

For the record, the loaves of barley that Andrew is talking about were one of the lowest forms of food that you could find.  Barley was cheap, easy to grow, and didn’t taste all that good.  But you could make it into nutritious cakes very easily and sell them cheaply, so although they were a low form of food, people – especially the poor – ate them regularly.

Jesus takes Andrew’s suggestion and runs with it.  I love this part of the story.  It’s like God looks to Andrew and says, “You weren’t afraid to bring up even the most absurd idea.  Because you weren’t afraid, I’m going take your idea and show you what God can do with people who are unafraid.”  I love that God doesn’t require us to understand, He simply requires us to believe that He can do.  I think that is one of my favorite aspects of this story.

Jesus and the Crowd

But then we get to the dark side of the story.  How do the people respond?  Well, they started out by following Jesus simply because of the things He did.  They were looking for the show.  They wanted to follow the spectacle.  Sure, Lord willing some of the people genuinely found truth and faith instead of the motivation to watch the show.  But this passage doesn’t give us a tremendous amount of hope for that interpretation. 

How does verse 15 begin?  “Perceiving that they were about to come and take Him by force in order to make Him king…”  Jesus knew the heart of the crowd.  They weren’t looking to follow.  They were looking to satisfy their own desires and free themselves of the Roman Empire.  They weren’t interested in the bigger picture – freeing themselves from sin – at all.  They wanted to be free from the Romans.

Let’s skip the walking on water story for just a second so that we can interact a little more with Jesus’ perception of the crowd.  Verse 24 tells us that Jesus wasn’t going to get away that easy.  The crowds were still seeking Jesus.  Jesus accuses them of as much in verses 26-27.  Jesus accuses them of chasing after their own desires – specifically the desire to be able to eat free of oppression or having to work for their food.  Then, Jesus invites them to believe.

What is the response of the crowd?  They ask Him what sign He is going to perform.

*Face-palm*

Are you kidding me?  Jesus just fed 5,000 people with an incredible source of food.  Not only do they miss the boat and seek after their own desires instead of falling into the line of genuine discipleship, but now they have the gall to ask for a sign?  Another sign?  No wonder Jesus prayed a lot.

Bread From Heaven

Jesus talks about Himself being the bread from heaven.  He talks about Himself as being the one in whom we believe in order to receive eternal life.  He tells the whole plan to these people!  But here is the scary part.  The Jewish leaders didn’t get it a chapter ago when Jesus told them.  Now the crowd starts to grumble against Jesus as well.  The leaders have their chances.  The crowd has their chances.

How does this chapter end?  Many turn around and stop following Jesus.  Note that word.  Many.  A great deal of people.  The majority.  People abandon Christ because they don’t want to hear what He has to say.  They don’t want to follow anyone’s desires but their own.  This is the dark side of this story.  We like to remember the feeding of the five thousand as this wonderful story of God’s miraculous grace.  It is that.  But it is also a horrible story that begins the revelation of the dark side of humanity.  Even in spite of God’s miracles, we still turn our backs to God and follow our own desires.  That is humbling for me to write.

But there is hope.  There is a shining glimmer.  Jesus turns to His disciples and asks if they will go.  Peter gives us this incredible response: “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  Peter sees what the crowds cannot see.  Peter knows that even if he doesn’t understand it all, following Jesus without grasping everything is better than returning to self-mongerism.  Following Jesus’ hard teaching is far superior than trying to do the impossible and satisfy the desires of our own heart.  It is scary to follow Jesus.  But it is impossible to satisfy ourselves.

The disciples learned the lesson of the boat that I passed over earlier.  When we are afraid because we do not understand what is going to happen to us, we should heed Jesus’ words.  “Do not be afraid.  It is I.”

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