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-21Pray
Miracles
Pray
2 very familiar stories.
The 1st, the feeding of the 5,000, is told in all 4 of the Gospels.
The 2nd, Jesus walking on water is told in 3 of the 4. The challenge for many of us is simply this: we have heard these stories so many times, we are apt to skim them because we know them.
Yet, we say we believe what Paul told Timothy that “all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching and reproof and rebuke.”
Then we think, but I have already learned all there is to know about these.
And the author of Hebrews says, “The Word of God is living and active…” Just because you have heard it before, does not mean the Spirit can’t use a familiar story to instruct you more.
So, I am asking you to do what I had to do this week.
Put every lesson I’ve been taught from these stories on the back burner and tune my ears to a fresh word from God.
And the question that kept occurring to me as I re-read these verses many times was this, “If Jesus were to come to earth today and do these same miracles, would the response be any different?”
There was a time when I read the Scriptures and thought, “How could they miss Jesus so badly?”
But as I have grown in the faith that question has changed a bit in my mind to “How could WE CONTINUE to miss Jesus so badly?”
So, as we work through these 2 very familiar stories, I want you to see how they missed Jesus and ask yourself how much different they were from us.
I’ll remind you that I am preaching this series through the Gospel of John.
It is the one Gospel that is very much different from the other 3.
While Matthew, Mark, and Luke were about telling the events of Jesus’ life in order, John wrote with a different purpose in mind.
You see, John is writing to convince us that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Messiah, the one promised throughout the Prophets and that He is the Son of God.
And John doesn’t want us to just give a nod that these things are true.
He wants us to truly BELIEVE that they are true.
And when we BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, we will have life in His name.
Last week at the end of Chapter 5 of this Gospel, we saw 4 witnesses that Jesus is exactly who He claimed to be, namely, His Father in Heaven, John the Baptist, the works that Jesus was doing, and the Scriptures.
Now, John is going to kind of turn his attention, in a way to people like us.
We may know the stories of Jesus, but do we truly BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God?
Or are we no different from those ancient people who wanted what they could get from Jesus, but they did not necessarily want to truly follow Him.
In reality, the 2 stories before us today will simply introduce the idea that Jesus should not be followed simply for what we can get from Him.
Next week, we will see how Jesus addresses this attitude directly.
But, today, we will simply see that attitude being played out.
Miracles
You see, John is writing to convince us that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Messiah, the one promised throughout the Prophets and that He is the Son of God.
And John doesn’t want us to just give a nod that these things are true.
He wants us to truly BELIEVE that they are true.
And when we BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, we will have life in His name.
Last week at the end of Chapter 5 of this Gospel, we saw 4 witnesses that Jesus is exactly who He claimed to be, namely, His Father in Heaven, John the Baptist, the works that Jesus was doing, and the Scriptures.
Now, John is going to kind of turn his attention, in a way to people like us.
We may know the stories of Jesus, but do we truly BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God?
Or are we no different from those ancient people who wanted what they could get from Jesus, but they did not necessarily want to truly follow Him.
In reality, the 2 stories before us today will simply introduce the idea that Jesus should not be followed simply for what we can get from Him.
Next week, we will see how Jesus addresses this attitude directly.
But, today, we will simply see that attitude being played out.
Let’s dive right in to the stories to see how they missed Jesus.
1.
They wanted healing
1.
They wanted healing
1.
They wanted healing
The crowd wanted more
1.1.
Before we get to the crowd, I want you to understand where we are.
Last week, Jesus was in Jerusalem as He confronted the Jewish leaders.
But remember, John is not necessarily interested in the order of events, but rather that we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
So, verse 1 of Chapter 6 tells us that Jesus probably returned to Capernaum where He did much ministry and sets out from Capernaum to go down and across to Tiberias.
Tiberias is a much larger city than Capernaum.
So, it follows that there was a much larger crowd there.
1.2.
And notice that the crowd was following Jesus because they saw the signs He was doing on the sick.
Jesus was miraculously healing people.
Remember, before all the teaching at the end of Chapter 5, the last story we read was Jesus healing the 1 lame man at the pool of Bethesda.
And right before that at the end of Chapter 4, Jesus had healed the official’s son in Cana in Galilee.
John doesn’t tell us for sure, but I think it is safe to assume that some Jesus had healed some folks in Tiberias as well.
A large crowd is following Jesus throughout the region because of the signs that Jesus was doing on the sick.
1.3.
Now think about that for just a moment.
Would there be any difference today if a man was healing sick people?
Wouldn’t there be a mass of people following him?
Think about it.
Why do the so-called health-and-wealth, or prosperity, preachers get such huge crowds at their meetings?
Isn’t it because people either want to be healed themselves or because they want to see someone healed with their own eyes?
So, really, is there any difference today from that large crowd that was following Jesus?
Let’s move on.
The Disciples were not convinced
2. The Disciples were not convinced
The Disciples were not convinced
2.1.
Jesus goes up into the mountains away from town.
Many assumptions are made as to why Jesus took His Apostles up into these particular mountains, but John does not give us a reason, so neither will I.
All we know is that Jesus went up into the mountains and sat down with His disciples.
Then, John tells us that it was near the time of the Passover, which is another feast of the Jews.
When Jesus went to Jerusalem in Chapter 5, it was because it was time for a feast of the Jews.
Now, John tells us that it is nearly time for the Passover, another feast of the Jews.
This is simply to show us that the 2 events are separated by time.
John doesn’t tell us how much time.
Again, John’s purpose it convince the reader to believe in Jesus, not give a chronological telling of His life.
2.2.
As they are seated, Jesus looks sees this large crowd coming to see if He is going to perform more signs on the sick.
And John shifts our focus from the large crowd, to the disciples, those closest to Jesus.
Jesus asks Philip where a bread store is so they can get food for all these people.
2.3.
But don’t skip verse 6, Jesus asked Philip this question because Jesus knew what He was about to do.
So, John tells us that our focus needs to be on Philip for the moment.
Jesus is still doing what His Father in heaven has told Him to do.
Jesus knows the answer to the question He asks.
But Philip doesn’t know.
So Philip gives a quick estimate that 200 denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough to feed that many people.
A denarii is one day’s wages for a day-laborer.
Philip guesstimates that it would take more than 200 days labor to get enough money to buy bread for this many people.
The assumption is that there is just no way Jesus or his disciples could buy enough bread to feed all these people.
Philip just doesn’t understand who it is that asked him the question.
Philip just isn’t sure about this man Jesus.
2.4.
Andrew finds out that a boy is in the crowd who has 5 barely loaves and 2 fish, but that’s not enough either.
Philip answered Jesus question about buying enough food.
Andrew finds food, but he knows it is still not enough.
Neither of them really understand who Jesus is.
Neither of them can begin to understand even an little bit of what Jesus could do.
And I’ll ask the question again, are we really any different?
Don’t we “do the math” and determine what Jesus can do?
Don’t we think that whatever we have is too small, too paltry to be of any use in God’s Kingdom?
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