Why we follow Jesus

Genesis 9:1-7         Leviticus 17:10-12             John 6:41-71

Why we follow Jesus

On March 8, 1548 the English church announced that communion was to be in both kinds…that is both bread and wine…thus breaking with the medieval custom of communion in one kind (bread) practiced by the Roman church since at least the 12th century when the doctrine of transubstantiation (a term first used by Hildebert de Lavardin, Archbishop of Tours, in the 11th century) became the official teaching of the church. This was reversed by Bloody Mary during whose reign several Protestant clergymen, including Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, and Nicholas Ridley, were burned at the stake because they refused to accept the Roman view of the presence of Christ in Communion. It was later reinstated under Elizabeth I in 1558.

Interestingly, long before Cranmer, Luther, and Calvin, Johannes (Jan) Huss, a Czech theologian, philosopher, and important figure in the Bohemian Reformation, was burned at the stake on July 6, 1415, because he called for the restoration of the cup to the laity and for the restoration of the Early Church practice of infant participation in Communion (what theologians call paedocommunion). Now, unlike the other Reformers, John Calvin denied that John 6 had anything to do with Holy Communion. Nevertheless, the words used by Jesus in this passage have been the cause for some of the fiercest ecclesiastical battles concerning the presence of Jesus at the table. Eat my flesh, Jesus said. Drink my blood. The interpretation of these two injunctions will determine our belief and practice with regard to the communion service.

So, let’s look at what Jesus said in this historically controversial chapter and unpack his statements in the light of the immediate context as well as in the light of the greater Scriptural context. 

The first context to be aware of as we walk though this passage is that of the Exodus. As we have seen before, John 6 reflects many images from the Exodus such as the Passover, the crossing of a body of water, the multitude of Jews in a wilderness area, teaching from a mountain, the miraculous provision of bread in the wilderness, and so on. Also, as we saw last week, the Israelites in the Exodus did not believe despite the many signs and the provision of food along the way and in John 6 Jesus said the same thing about the crowd. So, it is helpful for us to note right from the start that the teaching of Jesus is firmly set in the context of one of the major narratives of Israel, namely their divine deliverance from bondage. 

As we saw earlier, John began his account of the feeding of the multitude with a seemingly passing reference to the Passover in verse 4.  The institution of this foremost festival of Israel is outlined in Exodus 12, where the Israelites were instructed to slaughter a spotless lamb, daub its blood on the doorposts of their home, roast the lamb, and then, while they were eating the flesh of the lamb as a family inside their homes, the angel of death would pass over them when he saw the blood of the lamb on their doors. Only members of the people of God were allowed to partake of this lamb…a practice later adopted by the church as to who could partake of the bread and the wine in the communion service. For Israel the sign of membership in the covenant community was circumcision, and for the Church the sign of membership was baptism. That’s why Paul equates the one with the other in Colossians 2:11-12.

But the glaring difference between the Passover Lamb in Exodus 12 and the “Passover Lamb” in John 6 is, of course, the way the blood of the lamb was used. In Exodus, the blood was sprinkled on the doorposts, but not consumed. In John 6, Jesus tells us to drink his blood, an act clearly forbidden in the Levitical law, hence the negative reaction of the crowd. 

So, what’s going on here in John 6? The prohibition to eat the flesh of an animal with the blood still in it, whether sacrificial or not, is clearly stated at the time of two major deliverances – the Flood in Genesis 9 and the Exodus in Leviticus 17 (and also in Deuteronomy 12). In both instances, the people of God are told explicitly not to eat flesh with the blood in it. The reason given is because the blood is the life of the creature, and they were not to eat the life with the meat…and because the blood was given to make atonement on the altar. 

It is clear from various texts in the New Testament, that the Early Church believed that the blood of Jesus was shed to provide atonement for sin. They believed that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin because without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins. This is because they believed that Jesus is the fulfilment or the reality of what the Passover Lamb (as well as all other blood sacrifices) signified and, as he is the true and only source of life, drinking his blood is not only permissible, but necessary. Jesus is the life…and we need that life in us. 

But what exactly does that mean? For the later Roman Catholic Church, it meant that the bread and the wine in Holy Communion had to change in substance…it had to become the body and blood of Jesus. This is called transubstantiation. For Luther, it meant something similar, but only when the elements were consumed by a believer. This is called consubstantiation. For other reformers, the elements were symbols of a spiritual reality. For instance, in Article 28 of the 39 Articles of the Church of England we read that “the body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten only in a heavenly or spiritual manner, and faith is the means by which the body of Christ is received and eaten in the supper”. 

In the New Testament, Jesus is portrayed as a type of many things. He is a type of Word…he is a type of Passover Lamb…he is a type of prophet like Moses…he a type of manna or bread from heaven…he is a type of life-giving water…he is a type of vine…Paul called him a type of Adam or the 2nd Adam…but…and this is important…while Jesus may be a type of all these things and more, he is not any one of those things literally. Jesus is not the Bible. Jesus is not a sheep. Jesus is not a fountain or a well or a bucket of water. Jesus is not a plant. And, we can say with equal conviction that Jesus is not the bread nor is he the wine. While he may be truly present at the table (as he is most certainly not absent), he is not physically in nor under nor with the elements.

In many ways, the one big difference between the testaments is that in the Old Testament everything was external and in the New Testament everything is internal. In the new covenant the Law is internalised, written on our hearts. God is internalised as he comes to make his dwelling within us. And so, because Jesus is the ultimate substitutionary sacrifice, who sheds his blood for the atonement of sin, he must be internalised as well. We must abide in him and he must abide in us.  

Now, it is interesting to note that the term “eating flesh” has a symbolic meaning of its own.  It was a well know Hebraic figure of speech indicating the violence done to the people of God by their enemies. For instance, as the Psalmist says in Psalm 27:2, “When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell.” (See also Micah 3:1-3) We know that the pagan nations that attacked Israel were not cannibals, so the eating of flesh is not meant to be taken literally here. 

Blood in the Old Testament, as we have already seen, was a symbol of life. So in keeping with these Hebraic figures of speech, we could say that our life, as believers, comes through the blood of Jesus shed by his enemies through his violent murder on the cross. 

Be that as it may, I do believe that what Jesus was teaching his disciples in this passage, using well-known Hebraic symbols associated with sacrifice, especially the Passover sacrifice,  was that his death (the giving of his body and the shedding of his blood on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice) secured for us eternal life (remember the life is in the blood), but that life can only be ours once we are in him and he in us. Therefore, Jesus used the images of food and drink, inextricably linked to the Exodus narrative…physical sustenance…eating and drinking in the context of liberation…to illustrate the spiritual reality of life in and through his sacrifice of himself. 

As such, Holy Communion can be likened to a covenant renewal ceremony…a memorial service…a remembrance along the lines of the Passover Festival, that takes place in the presence of our Lord. It is a time when we remember the reality of who Jesus is and what he has done for us and to what end. It is a time when we present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service. 

The bottom-line is simply this: We are what we eat. As we are called to walk as Jesus walked…to live as Jesus lived…to love as Jesus loved…we must be like him…we must be conformed to his image. And therefore, the image of eating and drinking him in a dynamic spiritual sense seems clear.

Jesus ended this admittedly complex instruction in a way that presents us with a bit of a challenge. We so desperately want to grow our churches numerically…or we so desperately want to be “liked” or “honoured” by the world…that we are oftentimes willing to compromise or soft peddle the truth. But Jesus never did that. 

It is quite instructive to see that in verses 61 through 64, He appears to add offence. “Does this offend you?” he asked. “Well, then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?” This is a reference to a messianic prophecy in Daniel 7 and a clear claim to deity. (Remember, it was this statement that cause the High Priest to tear his robes and accuse Jesus of blasphemy at this so-called trial.) By this time, Jesus was done speaking of his atoning sacrifice of himself on the cross…now he turned to his vindication in which God not only raised him from the dead, but also crowned him with glory and honour and seated him at his right hand…all things that proved that Jesus had triumphed over death, over sin, over Satan and all his minions. 

And then once again, Jesus showed us that salvation can only be achieved through the merciful and gracious intervention of the Father. “No one can come to me,” he said, “except the Father has enabled them.” No one seeks after God, the Scriptures tell us. In fact, it is exact opposite: God seeks after us…he calls…he always initiates the relationship. The same was true with Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi… flesh and blood had not revealed the truth about Jesus to him…he received it from the Father. Likewise, our response to God is only possible through divine revelation. 

Now, it is interesting to note that the whole passage is framed by the reason for believing and following Jesus. In verses 2 and 26 we are told that the crowds followed Jesus for the wrong reasons. In verses 68-69, when Jesus asked his disciples if they also wanted to leave with the crowds, Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy one of God.” 

Notice that while there are two key words repeated by Peter in this statement, namely ‘word’ and ‘life’, he added a title used by the prophet Isaiah as his main title for God. He called Jesus the ‘Holy One’…the one who not only lives in “a high and holy place,” but also the one who is with those who are contrite and lowly in spirit” (Isaiah 57:15). Jesus was God incarnate…God tabernacled in the midst of his people.

This is why we follow Jesus. We follow Jesus because he has come and revealed to us WHO he is. He is the way the truth and the life…he is the word of life, the water of life, the bread of life…he is the Holy One of God. There is no god but him. There is no point in following anything else because there is nothing else. He is the beginning of everything and the end of everything.

Unlike the crowds that had eaten the food that spoils, the disciples were feasting on the bread that endures to eternal life. In Jesus, God has given us true bread from heaven to eat…in Jesus, he has provided life through his blood. So, feed and inwardly digest the Word of life as if your life depended on it…because it does.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023

Why do you follow Jesus?

Psalm 78:17-32                  Exodus 16:1-5                   Isaiah 55:1-13                    John 6:22-40

Why do you follow Jesus?

From the Garden of Eden until now, humanity has sought to reshape God in their own image. Modern revisionists with their demands for the Church to conform to their philosophical ideals are no different from the ancient pagans whose gods reflected their cultural values and their societal aspirations, not to mention their all-too human tendencies and appetites. But, if we are honest, we will admit that this is true for all of us…we all tend to think of God in terms of what we want him to be. 

Now, as we have seen a couple of times already, John expected his readers to thoughtfully review numerous texts from the Old Testament and, perhaps, even the other Gospels, while they were reading his Gospel. For instance, last Sunday, we saw how the text was peppered with allusions to several Exodus passages…Passover, the crossing of a sea, the wilderness, the miraculous provision of bread, and so on…as well as a possible passing reference to Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness where he was offered the throne without the cross. 

This is equally true of the passage we read from today, with added references to the writings and the prophets. For John and his first century readers, this intertextual comparing and contrasting exercise was easier as they not only understood and applied the practice, but they had also either memorized the texts or at least knew them well enough as they had heard them read repeatedly during synagogue services and the various festivals. We, sadly, must do a little more homework as it is no longer our custom to commit large portions of Scripture to memory. 

But let it be said that extensive memorization, by itself, does not prevent us from misinterpreting and misapplying the Scriptures. Most of the adults in this crowd knew the Torah by heart and thus correctly connected Jesus with the prophet mentioned by Moses in Deuteronomy 18. But they failed to understand what that passage meant. In their minds, if Jesus was supposed to be a prophet like Moses, he ought to have been like Moses, miraculously providing free bread every day. Pretty basic misapplied theology. 

This misunderstanding was more than likely because they had already decided that Jesus was a provider of the good life. Remember in verse two of this chapter, John told us that the crowd was following Jesus because of the miraculous healings…they followed him for their own benefit…for what they could get out of him. 

In verses twenty-two through twenty-five we see that nothing had changed. And so we conclude that their presuppositions shaped their conclusions. For them, Jesus was their Santa Claus…the ultimate gift-giver…and so, if he wanted them to follow him, he had to continue to supply their endless demands. 

But self-centred theology is the exact opposite to what Scripture teaches. We are not to pursue perishable and corruptible things…treasures that can be eaten by moths and destroyed by rust…food that spoils. No, Jesus said, the food that satisfies comes through obedience…from listening, learning, believing, trusting, and following him. The hardest work for sinful man to do is to submit to God in dependence and trust. So, seek first the kingdom…and the things you truly need will be supplied…not the other way around. 

Following Jesus always requires redirection and a fixed commitment to press on to take hold of that for which Jesus already took hold of us! And so, Jesus corrected them on two levels. Comparing him to a prophet like Moses was partly correct, but it was not Moses who supplied the manna…it was God. And the manna was simply a sign of a far greater reality…the true bread from heaven that gives and sustains life is Jesus.

The critical and crucial central core of the entire passage is found in verse 35. “I AM the bread of Life,” Jesus said. Here Jesus likened himself to that which sustained the Israelites from their deliverance from bondage to their arrival in the Promised Land. 

Now, Jewish tradition likened the Torah to bread. “Where there is no bread,” they said, “there is no Torah; where there is no Torah, there is no bread.”  This is no doubt a reference to Deuteronomy 8: “(God) humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna…to teach you that man does not live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” So, by stating that “the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world,” Jesus was declaring himself to be both the Word and the Bread. 

Jesus is the Word of Life. When John said Jesus was the Word, he didn’t mean that he was the impersonal divine reason behind the ordering the universe that gave all things form and meaning. No, John was using a well-known Hebraic image to show that Jesus was not only the very same Word who spoke all things into existence, and the Word of power who upholds all things, but also the Word who revealed his Person in and through the Scriptures. Withdraw Jesus from the equation and everything implodes…without Jesus, you can’t have life. 

But John also says here that Jesus is the Bread of Life. As such he is compared to the most basic reality of existence…the eating and absorption of food to live. Jesus defined salvation in terms of taking in what had been given to the world by God. Elsewhere Jesus spoke of believers abiding in him and him abiding in them. This is the most intimate description of what it means to believe…to become part of…to absorb…Jesus must become an integral part of who we are. To take in the very Word of God…that which is the very essence of existence…so that we might be sustained by it along the journey of life.

But in verse 36 Jesus says quite a shocking thing. “But, as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.” Keep in mind that he was speaking to those who followed him so zealously that they forgot to pack their own lunches. And don’t forget, these were people who wanted to make Jesus their king! How did they not believe? 

I think it is because what they were following was not the real Jesus. They were following something of their own invention. Jesus was their healer. Jesus was their supplier. But he was not their God. I want you to feel the full impact of Jesus’ statement here. “…you have seen me and still you do not believe.” 

To the ecclesiastical elite in Jerusalem Jesus had said that they diligently searched the Scriptures but had not recognised the one whom the Scriptures revealed. To this crowd Jesus said that they followed him for the wrong reasons…they had seen him and yet not believed in him. It boggles the mind, doesn’t it? How is it possible that someone can call Jesus ‘Lord’ and yet not do what he commands? Why even bother with the pretence?

I remember as a baby believer hearing a regular church goer publicly state that she had no need for God in her life. She had all the money she needed, a wonderful husband, and two healthy sons, a big farm, and a large circle of friends. What did she need Jesus for? At the time, I simply could not understand why she attended church, sang the hymns, said the prayers, took communion…and yet did not believe in Jesus. To be honest, I still can’t understand that. Obviously, ‘God’ was simply part of some acceptable social concept. It was just what you did as a good member of the Church of England. 

But I must hasten to add that when I took Louise to the place where this happened 40 odd years later, all these things this woman prized so highly were gone. The church building stood empty used only for special functions. We must not be deceived, dearest beloved brethren. God will not be mocked. Whatever a person sows, they will reap in return.

So, who are those who believe…how does Jesus define them? I think it might be helpful to return to the question the crowd asked Jesus in verse 28. “What work must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus replied that the work of God was to believe in the one he had sent. Keeping this in mind then, the statement in verse 37 makes better sense. “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” 

Any response to the free offer of salvation in Jesus must come as a gracious gift from God. There is no other way. We are dead in trespasses and sins the Scriptures tell us. No one seeks after God. All fall short of the glory of God. If God did not step in and initiate the relationship, we would never know him. Right from the Garden, it has always been God who comes, God who seeks, God who calls, God who makes a way for reconciliation to be achieved. 

All purely human attempts to “do the work God requires” will fail as they are birthed in death. As we read through the Old Testament and examine history in general, we see that when religion begins in the human psyche, the god they claim to follow is an imaginary construct…a god shaped in the image of whoever created it. 

As Jesus is the Word of Life…the Word that created all that exists…the Word that sustains all that exists…the Word that reveals who God is…as the Word of Life, Jesus is the one who defines life…how to obtain life and how to sustain life. There is no other way because all that exists is his by design and ownership. To rebel against this, demanding that God must be what we want him to be, borders on the insane. 

And so, Jesus gave them a real-life example of what this work of God looks like. “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” In other words, the desire of Jesus was the desire of God. He came to be the one through whom God would set the world right side up as promised in Genesis 3:15. In this passage, we saw Jesus refusing to be made king by popular demand, or as in the temptation in the wilderness, to be made king by worshipping Satan. Earlier on, we saw him refuse to conform to the misinterpretations of the ecclesiastical leaders. He came to do the will, or, one could say, the work of the Father. But by refusing to submit to the will of humanity, Jesus resolutely set his face to the cross. You see, when you refuse to bow to the demands of society, they will crucify you one way or another. 

Here in the wilderness, Jesus miraculously fed the multitudes, but they did not believe. In Psalm 78, the Psalmist tells us that despite all that God did for the Israelites, they “sinned even more against him by rebelling against him the in the wilderness. And they tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their fancy.” Why? “Because they did not believe in God and did not trust in his salvation.”

God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. God opened the sea before them. God supplied them with water and God sustained them with food in the desert. Likewise, salvation begins and ends with him, not us. God’s will is the source, the foundation, and the standard of redemption. We cannot change that willy-nilly and expect God to be pleased with it. If we choose to call him Lord, we must obey his Word. You simply cannot separate God from what he has spoken. There can be no “I will follow you if…” 

So, it is a question we must ask ourselves, dearest beloved brethren. Why do we follow Jesus? Are we sure we are following the Jesus revealed to us in Scripture or are we maybe following a Jesus we have created for our own purposes? Unfortunately, it is much easier to the see the splinter in the eyes of others, while neglecting to see the log in our own eyes, isn’t it? 

So, let us turn to the one to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden, and let us ask him to come and search us…to help us know our hearts…to expose our anxious thoughts…our unbelief or misbelief…to see if there is any hurtful and harmful and hypocritical way in us…to test us and reveal to us if we are really truly surrendered to him. Have we seen him, called him Lord, claimed to have followed him, and yet not known him? Why do you follow Jesus?

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023

Dining in the Wilderness

Exodus 24:1-11                             John 6:1-21

Dining in the Wilderness

As a young high school student, I really struggled to understand the antiquated language of Shakespeare’s plays, much to the frustration of our English teacher. Then in a moment of inspired desperation, our teacher decided to show us a movie of Macbeth and suddenly the play, that had been impenetrable and indecipherable, came to life revealing to us the beauty and the grandeur of the tragedy. 

Years later, when the tables were turned and I was the teacher trying to open the magnificent genius of the Bard, I too used film to unlock the minds of my pupils. Interestingly, while most of my students were enthralled with the visual productions of the plays, there were a few who, for reasons of their own, remained unimpressed and, as a result, they did not gain much from this exercise. For them it was just too much of a hard slog. 

Those who decided that these works of art could and should be understood, and who were a little more determined to unlock the treasure trove of brilliance in these works, delving deep into the meaning of words and images long since lost in the evolution of the English language, they were rewarded with a richness that has served them well over the years. 

Now I think the same could be said about many parts of holy Scripture. We tend to struggle with the language, especially idiomatic speech like metaphors, similes, ironies, personifications, antithesis, alliterations, puns, and word plays, as well as descriptive pictures that were firmly anchored in that particular culture at that particular time, like fantastical creatures such as dragons and multiheaded beasts, but also more simple things like bread and wine, the movements or collapse of the sun, moon, and stars, and, in this case, flesh and blood. While the narrative bits seem easy enough to understand, even the best of us sometimes find ourselves bewildered with words and images so foreign to our own modern thought and culture that we are tempted to simply skip over those bits. And then there’s the problem of trying to describe the infinite and divine in terms of the finite and non-divine…

Now, I think our Gospel text for today is one of those hard to comprehend passages. Jesus wanted to communicate something so far beyond the level of our ability to comprehend that he resorted to using an object lesson to explain what theologians have named a glorious mystery. Once again, we have many levels in John’s retelling of this story that provide biblical depth and a contextual connection with the whole divine drama of God’s dealing with his people. We must always remember that the Bible is one story that provides an internal interpretive grid by which we make sense of the whole. 

Much in John’s Gospel requires a familiarity with Old Testament terminology, a fair knowledge of the Exodus, and an ability to engage in a bit of intertextual cross-referencing. This specific chapter is no different. The passage itself ought to be studied as a whole, but for the sake of brevity and clarity, we will examine it in sections. 

Now, the whole of Jesus’ life appears to have been a re-enactment of the life of Israel, such as his beginning in the Promised Land, his sojourn in and return from Egypt, his crossing of or baptism in the river Jordan, his testing in the wilderness, and so on. And as the Exodus was one of the primary features of Israel’s narrative, we should not be surprised to see several references and allusions to that event in this story about the feeding of the multitude. (Please note here that the text says there were about five thousand men present, indicating that if one counted the women and the children as well, the number of people would be far higher…hence my reluctance to call this the feeding of the five thousand.) 

John tells us in the opening verse that Jesus had moved from Judah (where we last saw him confronting the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem) back to Galilee, where he crossed over to the north-eastern shore of the Sea, somewhere across from Capernaum, probably close to Bethsaida. John indicated that by this time Jesus had quite an impressive following, but that their following was based on the miracles Jesus had performed, not necessarily his teaching. Maybe not the best of reasons to follow Jesus. 

As we have seen before, Jesus was not a people pleaser, and he was not impressed with crowds. No, rather he was impressed with conviction and commitment…something Church growth specialists ought to learn from him. At times it seems like Jesus made it especially difficult for people to follow him, and we will see him do that once again in this story. 

In the previous passage, the leaders turned against Jesus because he declared that their religion was not based on the Scriptures, but rather on their own extra-biblical traditions and misinterpretations and misapplications of the Scriptures. In this passage, Jesus was once again revealing his deity, but this time to a crowd of people who were so thunderstruck by what they saw that they seemed oblivious to their own spiritual needs. 

But this crowd appeared to be more of a challenge to Jesus than the leaders. Indeed, this story demonstrates that it is sometimes easier to deal with those who are clearly against you than those who are convinced that you are both walking in the same direction when, in fact, you are not. The leaders wanted to kill Jesus while this crowd wanted to crown him King, but both were not prepared to submit to the requirements for entry into the Kingdom. 

In verse three, John tells us that Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down with his disciples. Now I think the whole passage is shot through with Exodus imagery…the Passover, crossing a sea, the wilderness, the miraculous provision of bread, going up a mountain, and so on…but here I believe John was wanting his readers to recall the meeting of God with Moses and the elders on Mount Sinai in Exodus 24. While the rest of the Israelites remained at the foot of the mountain, verse 11 of Exodus 24 tells us that Moses and the elders wne thalf way up the mountain where they “saw God, and they ate and drank”. This was just prior to the inscribing of the Law on the tablets of stone. Up until this point in the story of the Exodus, the people were following the pillar of cloud and of fire mainly because of the miracles...the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the provision of water, manna, and quail…but throughout this epic adventure, when the going got tough, they complained and wanted to turn back. John informs us that this crowd in John 6 was also following Jesus because of the miracles, but, as the story unfolds, they too complained and, indeed, as we shall see later, they did turn back…like many of the Israelites during the wilderness wanderings.

The miracle of the feeding of the multitude in the wilderness shows that Jesus is the same God who fed the wandering Israelites in the desert. However, it is this miracle that, once interpreted by Jesus (we will look at this in the Sundays ahead), would serve as a watershed in his ministry. From this time on the crowds began to fade away and the true followers of Jesus began to emerge. 

Like the crowds, there are still many disillusioned people who follow Jesus for a time…perhaps because of what they saw or because of what they experienced…but when they are left with nothing but his word, they turn back. “I tried Jesus once,” they might say, “but he didn’t work for me.”

Every relationship has its trials…the times when we must reassess our commitment to the cause. And our relationship with God is no different. When life throws us a curve ball do we trust him to take us through the darkness even though we might not have the strength to take one step further? When the promises of Scripture don’t line up with what is happening in our lives do we choose to focus on God’s never-changing character rather than on what we may perceive to be indifference, callousness, heartlessness, or even a betrayal? 

We know this story so well that we sometimes don’t stop to think about what a test this must have been for the disciples. What would you say if you were Philip and Jesus asked you to feed a multitude? Of course, Jesus wasn’t looking for some mathematical equation. You can’t calculate something only God can do. No, he was looking for simple trust and dependency. You see, we are all dependent on God…your very next breath is not guaranteed…but we are all too reluctant to admit that, aren’t we? And the disciples were no different. Like Andrew, our contributions seem laughable. Five small barley loaves and two small fishes commandeered from one small boy. And yet, it is when we give what we can to our God that we are confronted with the fact that nothing is impossible for him. The whole point of this “test”, if you will, is for the disciples (and us) to come face to face with our own inadequacy. 

It is also interesting to note that Jesus used those who at first had expressed grave doubt in the possibility of the fulfilment of his request to distribute the multiplying loaves and fishes. As such, they became the instruments through which the miracle was realised. This is such a great image for us who have been called to make disciples of all nations. The Great Commission has always appeared to be formidable and impossible…how can so few, reach so many? 

Well, as in this story, the key is to know who is with you, isn’t it? While it is true that God has chosen to work out his purposes with and through us, we must never forget that he achieves his goals because he is God…he does what he does despite our frailty and our failure. This was a lesson the Israelites largely failed to learn in the wilderness…they repeatedly missed the divine possibilities because they focussed on human improbabilities. And it is possible that in his recording of this story, John wanted us to see that we are, in many ways, still wandering around in the wasteland of this world, struggling to believe that God can provide a table in the wilderness and that he can use us to reconcile the world to himself. 

This miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes caused the crowd to make the right connection. “This is truly the Prophet,” they said, “who is come into the world.” As you no doubt know, this is an allusion to the prophecy of Moses in Deuteronomy 18 concerning the coming Messiah. But what they did next revealed that while they made the right connection, they failed to come to the right conclusion, basically because they saw Jesus as little more than their personal cash cow. The only reason they followed Jesus was because of what they got out of the relationship. And they wanted more. 

It is so easy, at this point, to scoff at this crowd, isn’t it? But can you remember the last time God didn’t give you want you asked for? How did you respond? 

But before their rude awakening, they wanted to make him their King…a king who, like so many world leaders today, would be voted in for what he could do for the people or, conversely, voted out should he prove not to live up to their expectations. Of course, if they had understood who the Messiah was, they would have realised that Jesus was a King, but a King of far more than what they wanted to make him. 

But Jesus will not be a King of a company of leeches. He is the King of those who, like him, are humble and selfless servants. He is the King of those who love him for who he is, not for what he can give. And so, he turned away from these fickle would be subjects and retreated to the mountain to commune with the Father. Just as an aside, it is interesting to read this account alongside the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness where bread, signs, and authority at also present. The temptation for Jesus to take a “short cut” to his enthronement is evident in both passages. 

Be that as it may, at this point I think it might be helpful for us to slip on the disciples’ sandals for a moment as we watch Jesus walk away from what we thought he would have wanted…or, at least, what we wanted him to want. Who is this man who works such great miracles and yet refuses to be enthroned? Bewildered and confused, we get into the boat, and we start to row back home. But then, to add insult to injury, a storm suddenly comes up and we find ourselves, in that dark night, tossed about physically, mentally, and spiritually. Keep in mind that they had just seen him lose the support of both the leaders and these would-be followers. 

Who is this man? What happened in Jerusalem and what happened here in the wilderness? Are we following the right man? Should we continue to follow him? Sure, he does pretty awesome things, but he always seems to mess things up too. Why offend the leaders? Why reject the crowds? And where was he anyway? 

Now, we know that the disciples had only acted out part of the play and that they had not, as yet, read the final act, but they did not know that…and so they rowed against the wind in turmoil. Until, out of the darkness, Jesus appeared once more…walking on the very water that was threatening to drown them…and once more, the revelation of God in the Exodus story came crashing back into their lives. The words “It is I” in some translations is, in the original Greek, simply “I AM”. The same words first spoken to Moses at a time when the great prophet was hesitant, if not reluctant, to obey God’s call on his life. “I AM, do not be afraid.”

Moses faced impossible tasks. The disciples faced impossible tasks. We face impossible tasks. Like them, we also struggle to understand. Sometimes God seems to ask us to do the inconceivable. Sometimes God seems to act differently to the way we would think he ought to act. Sometimes God seems to be absent when the storms of life threaten to pull us down into the depths. Sometimes God seems to expect us to go on nothing more than promises…nothing more than a belief that, if he did it before, he can do it again…nothing more than an assurance built on the sure foundation of trust in his Person and not on the crumbling ruins of reason.

The first half of the play had ended…but half a play is unsatisfactory. The stage had been set, the characters introduced, the plot began to unfold, but the story remained incomplete and thus incomprehensible. The disciples needed the closing act…but that would only come the following day. For one night, they would be left to ponder these things on their own, and once they had reached the end of their finite reasoning skills, they would be ready for the final unveiling of the truth. 

Who is this one who steadfastly resisted compromise at all costs? He would not submit to the misinterpretations of the elders to gain the respect of the authorities. He would not submit to being elevated to a position of leadership by popular demand. What does this mean for us who claim to follow him? How does this change our relationship with him? Does he do our bidding, or do we do his? Must he conform to our image, or must we conform to his? 

As we will see in the weeks ahead, the crowd walked away once they realised that he was not about to do what they wanted him to do…once they realised that he was not about to be what they wanted him to be. Yes, his Word may at times be as difficult to understand as a Shakespearean play, but if we truly believe that he has the words of eternal life…if we truly believe that he is the holy one of God…then we too will press on and follow him even though we might not always grasp the plot or anticipate the conclusion. 

Holy Communion reminds us that Jesus has made for us a highway in the wilderness…it reminds us that as the sacrificial Passover Lamb of God, he has invited us to dine with him at a table of spiritual sufficiency and to drink from an overflowing chalice…it reminds us that the great I Am is always with us…it reminds us that there is no cause for fear when the one who can cause molecules to multiply, who can walk across a storm tossed lake and who can calmly bring the vessel to its destination…there is no cause for fear, when he is with us. 

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023