Sunday 05 August 2012

Background

Prayer life in a nutshell! You ask the Lord what seem to beperfectly sensible questions, and instead of answering them hetakes you off into totally new ways of thinking. Sometimes you endup with bigger questions than when you started!

In the earlier parts of John 6, Jesus has fed 5,00 people in thewilderness at the start of the Passover season (John6:1-14). That has made them remember the first Passover (Exodus12) when God saved his people from the oppressive circumstancesin which they were living, and fed them as they journeyed throughthe wilderness under the leadership of Moses (Exodus16). So they think of Jesus as being a 'prophet like Moses',but then assume that that means that they must force him into beingan earthly type of king. To avoid that, Jesus goes away alone (John6:15). His disciples set off in a boat, but find it difficultto get on with things without him (John6:16-21). Jesus comes moving over the face of the waters likethe Spirit of God in Genesis (Genesis 1:1-2). As soon as he is with themagain, they reach dry land.

Then the crowds come looking for Jesus. They know he did notleave with the disciples. They want to know when and how he gotacross the lake. But they again reduce everything to banalities andmiss the real point. Jesus puts them straight. Being God's peopleis not about running after miracles that will make our daily life abit easier (verses 26-27). It is not about fulfilling a set ofrequirements in order to gain those miracles as a reward (verse28). It is about coming to Jesus and having faith in him. Jesus isnot just the one who teaches the truth about God and God's ways. Heis the embodiment of God's wisdom and as we relate to him we arenourished into living wisely and being the people of God in thisworld and the next (verse 35).

To ponder

• When we pray "Give us this day our daily bread", to what extentdo you just want a repeated miracle to make life easier, like thecrowds do in this story?

• How have you experienced being nurtured by God's wisdom throughknowing Jesus?

• When have you felt led from your questions into new ways ofthinking? What happened?