Day 971 - Can You Hear Me Now (reprise)?

A version of a bible study given at Second Presbyterian Church, August 6, 2015.

Reading: John 6:24-35

The Revised Common Lectionary spends five weeks working through the sixth chapter of John. Perhaps it is because this chapter establishes a principal theme of John – faith or belief.

The great feast is over. Jesus has given the crowd and the disciples a sign that he is the Messiah and is of God. He has avoided the crowd by going up to a mountain while the disciples boat to the far shore. Jesus departs to catch them and to do a sign just for his disciples, walking on water in a wind-driven storm. Just as the disciples try to “save” Jesus as the crowd tried to make him King, they find themselves at the shore by Capernaum looking for another meal.

²⁴So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. (Questions: What has just happened after the feeding of the 5,000? Perhaps the crowd thinks there is more food, or more than just food?)

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” (This cannot be God, there must be a reasonable explanation for how he got here!)

The Greek word translated as “come here” also is the same verb that means to be begotten, or to come to be (perhaps leaving unsaid by the faithful, “on earth”).  Jesus never overlooks an opportunity for repeating his message, or self-revelation.

²⁶Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.  (Your stomach is talking, not your heart. You just do not get the message.)

²⁷Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” (Can you hear me now?)

²⁸Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God (as you do)?” (We don’t hear you.)

²⁹Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (Do you hear me know?)

If there is one word to describe the sense of salvation through Jesus in the gospel of John, it is “belief” or “faith.” The crowd believes it knows what it wants, as full belly, yet Jesus is giving them through the sign (feeding the 5,000) that the message is, he is the bread of life, the true bread, not manna.

 ³⁰So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? ³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” (Are you a prophet like Moses who fed us in the wilderness? (When are you going to feed us again, like Moses and manna in the desert? - see Deuteronomy 18:14-22. They still do not get it, or remember the way that they will know Divine speech.)

Jesus now corrects them, that God sent the manna, not Moses:

³²Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (Do you hear me now?)

³⁴They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” ³⁵Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (Do you hear me now?)

       Does the crowd really want this bread always? Do they understand they are lacking something, or is it just sustenance for the body? Is Jesus talking about cannibalism?

³⁶But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 

Jesus laments that they do not perceive his self-disclosure; namely, “Belief in me is complete food for the soul and body.” Perhaps we can encapsulate the message of Jesus in this passage: The Kingdom of God is at the hand of one believes; they will never be hungry or thirsty. If one believes, the opportunity is here now, in the present, for the enjoyment of the Kingdom of God. It is an opportunity that also points towards the future when those who heed the call by God to Him will find their reward. That is, henceforth the one who believes will never be hungry or thirsty spiritually (See v. 39).

This is the basic starting point for Christian social advocacy, living in the Kingdom of God.