(There was no blog entry for last week because... I had a vacation day!)
John 6:1-21
1 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea
of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A large crowd kept following
him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. 3 Jesus went up
the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the
festival of the Jews, was near. 5 When he looked up and saw a large crowd
coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for
these people to eat?" 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what
he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not
buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." 8 One of his
disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 9 "There is a boy
here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many
people?" 10 Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there
was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand
in all. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he
distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they
wanted. 12 When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the
fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." 13 So they gathered
them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who
had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. 14 When the people saw the sign that he
had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come
into the world." 15 When Jesus realized that they were about to come and
take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by
himself. 16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into
a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had
not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was
blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus
walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. 20 But he
said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." 21 Then they wanted to
take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which
they were going.
When Jesus realized
that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he
withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
·
We might
think that this passage from the Gospel of John would be the perfect one to
illuminate and accompany a service of Holy Communion. You might well be right.
Still there’s plenty of time for that since we’ll be reading this section of
John for about the next five weeks.
·
The
multiplication of the loaves and fishes is a well-known miracle story. It’s
oddly joined by the young boy’s offer of sharing his simple lunch of bread and
fish – which Jesus is able to use to feed a large crowd – and the sighting of
Jesus walking on water while his disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee – which
leads to the disciples arriving at their destination almost instantly.
·
There are
hints of a comparison of Moses and Jesus here, in the teaching on the
mountainside, in the feeding of the five thousand with a miraculous food, and
in the collection of the left-over bread in twelve baskets, twelve being a
number signifying fullness or completion as well as the number of the tribes of
Israel.
·
There is
also a big mistake involved in the story. The people eat their fill of bread
and fish and have more to spare. They talk together and come up with the idea
of taking Jesus by force
and make him king. Jesus then withdrew
again to the mountain by himself. Many scripture scholars say that
he did this because he did not want to be a “bread king”, simply filling the
bellies of the crowd, day after day. The crowd appears to want this, but who
knows how long bread and fish would satisfy them? The crowd was notoriously
fickle.
·
Would the
next request be for quail (like the quail that accompanied the manna in the
desert)? Lamb? Falafel? Unlimited wine? The restoration of the Kingdom of
Israel? The Romans would never have allowed that last one, and the people would
have suffered greatly. No, Jesus would not be that sort of king, and so he went
off to the mountain alone to escape the crowd. Maybe he was tempted; we’ll
never know. What we do know is that this sort of kingship was not what Jesus
wanted.
·
The crowd
mistook the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, a sign of the Kingdom, for
the Kingdom itself. Such miracles are signs of the Kingdom, but they are not
the Kingdom itself. As Paul later wrote in his Letter to the Romans: For the kingdom of God is not food and
drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
(Romans 14:17)
·
What about
us? Do we ever make the same mistakes or assumptions? Do we expect – or even
demand - that the Kingdom of God take on some form we’d like to have? (One humorist said that God created us in
the image of God, and we’ve been returning the favour ever since.) Do we
want Jesus to be our “bread king”, fulfilling all our needs and desires like
some genie from a lamp? Are we willing to let Jesus set the agenda for us? Are
we willing to be open to God’s Kingdom as it is revealed in and around our
lives daily? Are we willing to be members of that Kingdom and to pay the cost
the Kingdom of God involves?
·
Those are
questions we each have to answer for ourselves.
·
This
passage has overtones of Holy Communion and that is a worthwhile line of study
and meditation. However, another very real direction of this passage is the
unveiling of who Jesus really is. After all, who among us can multiply loaves
and fish in this way?
·
Beyond this
multiplication of the loaves and fish, there is the narrative of Jesus walking
on water and telling the disciples It
is I; do not be afraid. In its own way, these few verses are
important and revealing.
·
However we
come to a not-so-uncommon problem: the translation into English is a bit
faulty. When Jesus calls out to the disciples in the boat, what he says is not
so much “It is I.”… but “I AM.” There is a greater layer of
meaning here and this is a very important identification for John. Jesus uses
this answer in a number of places in the Gospel of John, such as when speaking
to the Samaritan woman. The use of the phrase “I AM” is not simply a question
of identifying himself, but of revealing his true identity. After all, “I AM”
is the name God revealed to Moses when Moses encountered the burning bush in
the desert: Moses said to
God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your ancestors
has sent me to you”, and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to
them?’ 14God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’* He said
further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I am has sent me to
you.” ’ (Exodus 2:13-14) In telling the disciples It is I; do not be afraid., Jesus both identifies
himself to his friends in the boat, and overlays a special meaning to their
encountering him walking on the water.
·
Who Jesus
is to each of us is a vital question. Our answer will show us his place in our
lives. Will he be our King or our Bread King? Will he be a historical footnote
or a real living person in our lives?
·
Maybe when
we answered that question, we’ll have a better idea of just who we are. Then we
might take comfort hearing his voice say It
is I; do not be afraid. And knowing him to be with us in the same
boat.
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