The Seven Signs of Jesus -4
Hungry? Ever gone to the refrigerator to get something to eat even when you weren't really hungry for food, but just felt like you needed something that would take the edge off of that vague "unsatisfied" feeling? Could be stress, anxiety, boredom, or any one of a number of things that awaken our search for something that makes us feel satisfied. Have you discovered yet that, at moments like this, the food in the frig is rarely what actually satisfies? It's not that food is not necessary, but that it is neither sufficient or ultimate. It is all too easy to find our attention misdirected.
What kind of things do you tend to turn to satisfy those "hungry" feelings? Perhaps more importantly, what is it that we are really hungry for, that really nourishes and satisfies? Where do we look? What do we see when we do? This is what we are invited to consider as Pastor Jon invites us to reflect on another of the "signs" of Jesus - in the context of the story of the Feeding of the 5,000 - particularly how in our looking for the "signs" we often miss the real "Sign." If you would like to listen to the sermon again, or hear it for the first time, you can click here to access our sermon library.
As you reflect on the sermon and the scripture passage to right, a few of the usual things we often notice in the story are:
How Jesus involved Philip and Andrew in the process of meeting the needs of the people, even though He already knew what He planned to do - And the insight this gives us into how Jesus was interacting with His disciples . . .
How Jesus used the resources on hand to meet the needs of the people, and the difference between how Jesus viewed them and how the disciples viewed them.
How, once things pass through the hands of Jesus, there is more at the end than at the beginning . . . even after every other need is cared for.
But even more, this time through the story, there are some addition things to notice here as well . . .
How John draws from the imagery of Moses and the Exodus to try to help them see that it is Jesus Himself Who is the "Sign" they are looking for (going up to the mountain, manna and the bread of life, etc.)
So then . . .
As you reflect on the response of people to Jesus and what He is trying to share with them, what are the ways in which they continue to miss what it is that Jesus is trying to share? Why is that? In what ways do we fall into the same trap?
When you are done reading this passage, are you thinking more about the bread and fish or about how it is Jesus that satisfies and is the "true Sign"? (if you answered the former, take comfort in knowing that many of the people who were present for this reacted in a similar way - however, we would suggest you start over and read it all again, watching for what the real Sign actually is - it's worth the extra time through).
Some of the more traditional meanings we draw from this story are expressed below . . . but see how they sound, and how the picture changes and fills out in rich ways, in the light of Jesus being the Real Sign, the Real Bread of life, not just fish and bread:
John 6:1-15 (TNIV)
1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, “It would take almost a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 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.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
Video Version of the Scripture Passage
Notice how the conversation continues in Chapter 6:
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All whom the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 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’? Click here to keep on reading . . .
