Monday of the Second Week of Lent | John 6

Today we are in John chapter 6, as we see the disciples get into a jam over bread, and watch Jesus both attract and repel massive crowds all within a 48hr period. John 6 is long but plays out like a three-act play. For act 1, dilemma unfolds on a hill overlooking the sea as Jesus sits down with his disciples to catch a breath after a few hard days of healing his elevated vantage point giving him a glimpse of a heavy crowd of thousands winding their way towards where he's at. Verse 5, When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for all these people to eat? He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind when he was going to do.” Philip answered him, it would take more than a half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each to have a bite. Jesus hadn't been expecting company. Jesus had crossed the sea in a boat, but the crowd had followed him around the sea of Galilee and as the crowd advanced it snowballed as whispers of miracles created a movement of curiosity. As they approach Jesus pops an odd question, where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? This doesn't make sense to Phillip. His pushback is at half a year's wage would only be enough bread for each one to have a bite. Jesus’s creating a problem but not providing a solution. Perhaps he wants the disciples to solve it and that's where it starts to get a little bit scary from the 12. Verse 8, Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about 5000 men were there) Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. Wow! I don’t know how he did it, but he fed 5000 men not counting the women and children with one child's lunchbox. Verse 14, After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who's come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. You can imagine that the people were excited to discover there really is such a thing as a free lunch and Jesus can deliver, he's magic, Jesus for president! But Jesus reluctance sets his scene for act two of our three-part play. As Jesus isolates himself, he withdrew the again to a mountain by himself. He retreats from the madding crowd to ground himself in the Fathers will. A hysterical crowd wanted to make him king, but that night Jesus prayed alone to see what the Father wanted. As he prayed into the night, he sent the disciples across the lake to make a secret getaway, slipping out like Elvis leaving the building. Jesus, not having a boat to catch up to him, decides to walk it, on the water, hops into the boat and arrives at Capernaum. The next morning, the crowd where Jesus was awakes to find him gone and the disciples gone too. So, they get in their boats and follow him back to the other side. Are you ready for the third act in our story? They find Jesus in the synagogue in Capernaum, back on the other side of the lake again and ask him. Rabbi, when did you get here? Yesterday had been a great day. The disciples can feel the excitement as the crowd arrives like the air was tinged with electricity. People are coming back for more bread. Pressing in and pressing hard. They begin to wonder, had it been a mistake to feed them? These people were just hungry again. Could even Jesus perform such a huge miracle again? And would they be able to find a child's lunchbox? Verse 26, Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you're looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” Jesus knows they're not there for him, but for more free bread. Jesus wasn't the Olive Garden unlimited bread deal on two legs. They had worked hard to get there and all just for a free meal. So, Jesus tells them verse 27, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “the work of God. Is this to believe in the one he has sent.” Believe! Believing may seem easy, but it was incredibly hard for this crowd and sometimes it's hard for us. Verse 30, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” Talk about manipulating Jesus for bread. What sign will you give us? Did you catch the irony? As if he didn’t just feed thousands the day before. They even quote the Bible to him, “Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, as it is written he gave them bread from heaven.” But this was this set up Jesus was waiting for verse 32, Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who is giving you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never go thirsty. But as I told you, you've seen me and still you do not believe. “I am the bread of life.” Seven times in this book Jesus will rock the “I Am” statements. Keep in mind an I AM statement comes from the time Moses encountered God face to face for the first time and asked him, what's your name? And God replied, “I am that I am.” It's where we get our word Yahweh from in Hebrew. Jesus says, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” He's saying “I'm God” chew on that, but that's a hard bite to swallow for the crowd. Verse 41, At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I came down from heaven?” In other words, they're saying we know his mom and dad, he didn't come from heaven. But to understand their reaction, let's step back into that early first morning in Exodus when the Israelites emerge out of their tents to find bread had descended from heaven. Those Israelites were out in the desert, with no food for miles around, just like the people here in John chapter 6. Here on the ground before them instead of dew, they found a wafer-thin bread like a film covering the ground and it tasted amazing, like coriander seed mixed with honey. Bread from heaven. But their reaction to it, what is this? Or literally in Hebrew, mana. Mana means, what's this? And this is exactly how the crowd reacts to Jesus claim that he's the bread come down from heaven. What is this? The bread Jesus gave was easy to gulp down, but his words not so much. But if you think Jesus is about to rope the crowd back in, let me just say that Jesus could have written the pocket guide in these next few verses that how to disperse a crowd with a few simple words he starts in verse 43, “Stop grumbling among yourselves.” If you've ever tried to break up a crowd and send them packing, you might want to take notes from Jesus and what he's about to say. Verse 53. Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of The Son of Man and drink my blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” they're supposed to. In response to “What you talking about Willis?”, regarding eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Jesus gives here what I call the John Wayne eat my flesh drink my blood speech and not only grosses everyone out, but it also causes the penny to drop that the bakery was closed for business. They wanted bread. Jesus says, you only get me. Apparently, that wasn't enough. They didn't want him, and he didn't want crowds or bread and circuses. He wanted disciples. That day many disciples left Jesus, so turning to the 12 in verse 67, “You do not want leave too, do you?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe it, to know that you are the Holy One of God.” Lord, to whom shall we go? Peter saw himself, like the people in the middle of nowhere, hungry, with only Jesus to satisfied that hunger. Peter watches in confusion with the 12, as the other disciples walk away in disgust, as the massive crowd disperses. The largest crowd ever gathered to Jesus just as quickly gone. Had Jesus gone a phrase too far with words too hard to stomach? Or had he known exactly what he was doing? Like we were told in the beginning. What about you? Are these words too hard for you to digest or do you have nowhere else to go for the words of eternal life? Well there's a lot more words in this book, but we will stop here for now.