Faith

 Do you remember how Jesus settled the disciples? Calming their fears after a busy day, showing them his power?   Today we start a long passage John 6:22-59, I doubt I’ll get through all 32 verses but time will tell eh?

22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus 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. 27 Do not work 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.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So 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.’” 32 Jesus 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. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And 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. 40 For 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.”
41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They 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’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It 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— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your 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. 51 I 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.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

HEAVENS!   But I am amazed at the persistence of people.

22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.  They see that Jesus has left, and his disciples had taken the boat, so they used their deduction and decided they’d head off to Capernaum to find Jesus. 

And you know what Jesus did when they found him again?  He rewarded their persistence by giving them thinking food.  Words that are food to a brain, making them think.    He told them why they looked for him (cause he filled their bellies) but he wants them to look deeper. He wants them looking for food that will last forever that they can get from the Son of Man.  He uses the food metaphor as a bridge you know? A way to say, you filled your bellies last night, now search for a food that will fill you forever. You can find that food through the Son of Man.  God “set his seal” on the Son of Man.

That lines makes me think of a book I was shelving this week.  It had been embossed with a seal (I can’t remember what anymore) but it made the book more important you know?  It had been noticed by someone and marked.  It was therefore claimed as important by the one setting the seal.  That’s what God does for Jesus.  Jesus is the important one to find this food through. 

Let me just stop for a moment so I can get the questions and answers straight:

Question one:  “Rabbi, when did you come here?”
Jesus answered  “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work 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.”

Question Two:  “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Question three: “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.’”
Jesus then said  “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. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Their response: “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And 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. 40 For 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.”

Don’t you just love question and answer two?   Belief in God.  That’s what we must do.  That is our big work of God. Belief in him.   Easy enough eh?  And yet… hard. But the work we do is just to believe in him. 

And then in question three… Jesus points them back to God.  Yes Moses was the vehicle, but it was God who did the work.  Jesus helps them see God more clearly.  Isn’t that the best thing ever?  No.. not really, the best thing is that Jesus points out that God gives them the true bread from heaven. God’s bread is the one who came down from heaven giving life to the world.  (in other words Jesus) This is the best thing you know… being able to see the life that Jesus gives.  Knowing that belief is what is needed to attain it. 

Their response eh?   WE WANT IT!   Give it to us so it’s ours forever! 

I need to remuniate on the rest another time.  I have an antsy boy and have been sitting here long enough I think.  🙂  But Just think… Jesus, the bread of the world, showing us God at work, teaching us what our work is.. belief in God. It’s a good thing eh?

The last time we met we saw how Jesus fed the 5000 men with their families, and then, knowing the hearts of the people, quietly walked away afterwards.  Today we see him walking on the water in John 6:16-21. 

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 frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

Sometimes I forget this aspect of the story in the feeding of the 5,000.  The crowds response to Jesus was they wanted to force him to be king, but Jesus’ response was to quietly leave. Perceiving 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 tend to assume, since Jesus went everywhere with his disciples, that they would have noticed his disappearance and headed off to be with him.  But that’s not what the passage says.  It says that he withdrew to the mountain by himself. Jesus left them (the disciples) behind.

He left them collecting the leftover food and that large crowd milling about.  The disciples are left to their own devices, therefore when evening came they knew what to do.  Not hang about on a mountain side all night, they decided to head back to the safety of Capernaum for the night.  They got a boat and headed across the sea.  

A strong wind came up making the sea rough.  They were experienced fishermen for the most part though, so I doubt that alarmed them over much.  As they rowed they got to about 3-4 miles out, and I don’t know how they noticed him, but they did.  They saw Jesus approaching them, walking on the water, and it kinda freaked them out. Admittedly I would have been freaked out too, seeing a guy I knew walking on the water.  Knowing there was nothing there except water.. they are almost four miles from land!  Not like there would be stepping stones out that far!   Jesus, oh, do you see how he settles them.  He just says “it is I, do not be afraid”.  

It’s makes me think to when my lad was young and something would alarm him and all I’d have to do is say “relax lad, I’m here.  Nothing is going to happen.” The most remarkable thing was … he settled every single time.  He didn’t stand and argue with me, he just settled. The disciples did the same thing.  He said Don’t be afraid, it’s just me and the disciples settled.  They welcomed him into their boat.

NOW GET THIS!  Jesus gets into their boat and “immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.”  I have no idea of how many times I have read this passage and not really seen this line.  Can you imagine it?  The seas are rough, the men are rowing (and rowing a boat is not for the faint of heart). It’s hard work and when the seas are rough?  Even harder. Jesus gets into the boat and boom…they arrive.  Blows my mind.

Jesus gets into the boat and boom.. they arrive. Blows my mind. Share on X

Probably did for the disciples to.  Yet another thing to further their faith in him.  First they saw him feed this huge crowd of people, they notice him slip off not wanting to be a king, they see him walk on water, and now suddenly they at the shore line.  

Oh.. don’t you just want to be there?  to be able to ask questions of how they thought, to see their surprise and wonder?  I do.  It’s just an amazing thing to me.

I have a hard time you know, looking at my life and being able to point out the amazing things the Lord has done that strengthen my faith in him.   It’s not like I’ve ever seen him walk on water you know?  I have felt him move in the quietness of my heart, I’ve known what I call “God-moments” (when things happen just so you know it’s God at work), I’ve seen answers to prayer.   I suppose that’s why it’s called faith eh?  Cause I can’t always see God, but I know he’s there in the quietness.  He settles my spirit, telling me “it is I, do not be afraid”.  Isn’t it good to hear that?  To have him settle your spirit?   I find it amazing every time it does it.  🙂