Jesus had just miraculously fed over five thousand people from a boy's
lunch of five barley loaves and two cooked fish. This along with his miracles of healing John
calls, in his Gospel, "signs."
They were signs of the presence of God's Kingdom coming into the world
in the person of the Jesus Christ. As
such they were pointers to his deity and to his work as God's appointed
Messiah.
That work was to establish in fallen and rebellious humanity the Gospel of
God's grace of salvation. This salvation
is salvation from the just and holy wrath of God due to human sin and rebellion
against God. To be under the wrath of
God due to our sinful guilt means that we are also estranged from God and cut
off from the source of life, hence we are spiritually dead, we will experience
physical death and we will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction. Jesus came to save us from this and restore
us under God's rightful reign so that we would by the Holy Spirit be given the
grace to live as obedient citizens of His kingdom.
The miraculous signs that Jesus did pointed to Him as God's appointed
Deliverer and King. Yet his Kingdom was
not of this world. After the crowd had
eaten and was thoroughly satisfied they respond to the sign by declaring that
Jesus was indeed the Prophet who was to come into the world. Yet, they completely misunderstood what this
Prophet (expected Messiah) was to do in the world. They had a completely earthly, temporal and
this-life-agenda through which they interpreted the sign. They were indeed enamored with Jesus. They really liked what he had done for
them. Yet, they did not see beyond their
stomachs. The party ended when Jesus
perceiving that they were going to "take him by force to make him
king" sent his disciples back to Capernaum by boat and withdrew to the
mountain by himself.
The next day when the crowd awoke and did not find Jesus (he had walked on
the Sea of Galilee, catching up with his disciples who had rowed in the storm
three to four miles and they all arrived in Capernaum) they hurried to find
Him. The text states that they were
seeking Jesus (6:24). They were really
interested in Him, more particularly they were really interested in what they
believed he could do for them. Upon
finding Him Jesus says something that seems to contradict what John stated in
6:14: "when the people saw the sign (feeding over five thousand people
from a few loaves of bread and some fish) that he had done." In 6:26 Jesus is recorded as saying to them:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw the
sign." So which is it? Did they see the sign or did they not see
it? Yes and no. They saw it on one level yet on another
level they were completely blind to the design of the sign. It was as though they got stuck on looking at
the sign and failed to see where it pointed them. They were seeing the sign only with their
stomachs and not with hearts of faith.
The reason they did not really seeing the sign was this:
"You are seeking me not because you saw the sign but because you ate your
fill of the loaves."
It is so important that you really come to understand what Jesus is
teaching in John chapter six. You need
to be clear on what exactly it is that Jesus has come to do and what he offers
you based on his work. The bread with
which He miraculously fed the five thousand was real bread, it was earthly,
tangible, filling-one's-empty-stomach bread.
Jesus was moved due to their physical hunger to perform this miracle and
to sustain them but in doing this He was also pointing them to a more necessary
kind of bread, what he calls the true bread.
They got all preoccupied with the sign that they did not see where the
sign pointed them. Not one of them was
so overwhelmed by the miraculous provision that they became more drawn to Jesus
than to the bread. They liked what
Jesus did for them so much that they completely missed who Jesus is! That is the point. That is the danger we all face even
today.
Jesus will go on in the chapter to teach about the nature of the true bread
which he is and how only those who by faith feed on him will experience real
life in this age and the age to come.
In this way Jesus sets up a contrast for us between the bread of this
life (earthly necessities and niceties, both things we need and things we want)
and Himself as the true bread. Jesus is
stressing that He must have the priority over our heart's desires. He is the one who, as our sovereign Lord,
provides us with what we need to live in this age, yet these gifts must not
become our reasons for looking to him.
Jesus alone must be the end our faith and not the means to the bread of
this life.
What Jesus is calling you to do is to continue to feed on Him (6:54-58) by
believing the Gospel. That is believing who he is for you
(Savior and Lord) and what he has done for you (saved your from the wrath of
God, secured your justification and reconciliation with God) supplies you with
the true sustenance you need. These
realities feed your soul and give you joy, encouragement, life, hope and peace. You are not seeking Jesus for earthly bread:
money, prosperity, health, good self-esteem or even "your best life
now." You are seeking Jesus for
Jesus - he is enough! Then you are
taking steps to respond to your circumstances (good or bad, hard or easy) and
to the people in your life in a righteous, loving and God-glorifying way. Feasting on the Bread that is Jesus enables
you to live as a disciple of Jesus by calling him Lord and then doing what he
says, while trusting that your heavenly Father does in fact know your earthly and daily needs.
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