I've been looking through John 6 a lot lately, as it speaks to a number of issues, such as hard doctrines, non-seeker sensitive evangelism, and the value of eternal life, as opposed to a full stomach today. The first time this year I looked at it, I was thinking about sustainability, and how to encourage people to seek things that last, as opposed to things that are exciting/fulfilling/satisfying today, but not in the longer term. Today I realized that at least one uniting theme in the chapter is what people want. (These quotes are all John 6, ESV)
1. Signs 1After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.
People seek after signs. Someone does something great, and people are impressed -- which we generally like to be. This morning I noted the number of signs I saw on the way to church. One coke add said "Open happiness," with a woman in rapture opening a coke. I also saw beer, a number of cell providers, skin cream, toothpaste, and a Christmas festival -- and these were just the very large ones. The purpose of these signs is to get people to enter a store, and buy a product. If someone sat on the street and admired the sign (which some might do, especially the one with the skin cream lady on it), without later buying the product, the ad money didn't work. The point of these signs, as with all signs, is to point to something else, not to be looked at for it's own good.
So what are Jesus' signs pointing to?
Himself. After attracting them all by healing the sick, he fed them all (5,000) with five loaves of bread and a couple fish. Did they get it? Kind of... They did get that this sign meant that He was someone, but then the got tripped up on the second Thing We Want:
2. Power 14When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!" 15Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
I think we generally want power for ourselves, but watching someone else in power is a close second, especially if we feel we have some part in it, and perhaps even more so if he might help us throw off our oppressors. "Wow, this man really is from God!" is immediately followed by "Let's make him King!" But what is Jesus' response?
Humility. No thanks, I have other plans. So He slips away, and walks across the water to his disciples. The next day, the crowd realize He's given them the slip, and eventually catch up with Him. When they do, He accuses them of wanting another thing:
3. Food/Today's Requirements
25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" 26Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
Here he's saying that it wasn't even wrongly seeking signs that brought them to him, but their stomachs. In America it doesn't mean so much to feed someone, but in less prosperous places, food is relationship. We really do need things today, and giving that to me is caring for me. While we may not be seeking food itself, we certainly chase after the things relevant to today, as opposed to more longterm concerns. That this is what Jesus meant is clear by His admonition in the next verse:
27Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal."
People come to Him for more free food, and he offers them
eternal life. Given this dichotomy, the people then express another want:
4. Something to do
28Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" 29Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."
Having been told to work for eternal food, they ask what to do. I think we often are looking for a simple roadmap of what we can/should to do be good/right with God. This desire is what makes works based religion so successful. We want to do something to earn a reward, or to make things right. But what does Jesus say? "Believe in Me." With this, the people go back to wanting
5. Signs, Again 30So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"
This may be a request for another sign, or just more bread. But either way, I think it pretty amazing that one who has just healed the sick, fed them all with a few provisions, and then crossed a stormy lake without a boat, would be asked for proof of His power.
32Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
He corrects their understanding of the scripture, and points back to himself. Which, of course they don't get, so He goes on:
34They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." 35Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Wow. That is a pretty incredible claim. With the number of poor Christians I have known, I can see why this would look obsurd on the face of it. But Jesus doesn't stop there; he goes on to Election, Eternal Security, and the Incarnation:
36But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
I've heard a lot about evangelism from different perspectives, but I don't know anyone who would recommend throwing all that into a seekers' class. And His audience responds by demanding
6. (Human) Reason 41So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"
In other words, "Where is this kid getting this stuff?" It doesn't make sense; it isn't possible. A reasonable request, after a sort, but should we really expect God to always make sense to us? Do we really think we're ask smart as He is, or even in the same ballpark? His response:
43Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
This is an interesting mix of hope and further frustration for them, I imagine. They are claiming that He doesn't make sense, and is therefore wrong. He is offering them to be taught by God, the One who set this all up, and the only one who could really explain it to us, if that's what we really want. But He also says that this doesn't happen to everyone, but just the ones the Father draws. Then He claims to be greater than manna, which did not preserve life longer than a day at a time. They dispute with Him some more, and He dishes back more about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. When asked to make the Truth fit into a package small and simple enough for us to figure out, Jesus refuses. We ask to understand for ourselves, but He offers us the
Truth. Which brings them to their final want:
7. Ease
60When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?"
Wow, Jesus can make life hard some times. And He doesn't seem to make it any easier:
61But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? 62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."
Some will not come to Him, and He doesn't seem bothered by it. When they complain that it is too hard, he accepts that, and continues -- where we would be sorely tempted to make it easier. Their response?
66After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
So Jesus starts out with a crowd of some 5,000 people chasing him down, and now many leave, and what does He do?
67So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?"
He turns to His inner circle, and challenges them as well, offering them the door. He doesn't seem bothered by the drop in numbers, because He knows who's in control. Rather, He continues to drive the point home. The classic response is very well known, but it bears repeating, and looking at in the relationship to these wants: 68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."
Peter knows that what Jesus offers cannot be found elsewhere, and that this is what he truly needs. When asked for ease, Jesus returns with the Truth, which can be hard at times. And those that have given up everything else to follow the Truth, stick around.
We want signs, power, daily needs, something to do, a way to understand it, and for it all to be easy. And Jesus, in return, offers us Himself, in all His glorious complexity, difficulty, eternity, and beauty. And apparently we can't have it all; it's either chase the other stuff, or stick to Him. The question now before us, is which one do we want more?
