Jesus has been preaching the Gospel to them, perhaps not as clearly as we might expect, he’s not directly talking about the cross, it’s slightly veiled, it’s still to come. But nevertheless, it’s the Gospel. And what happens as he reaches the end of the discussion? Some of his disciples say ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’
I wonder what your first thought was as I read todays Gospel. Did your mind wander to what we’re doing a little later in this service, connect flesh and blood with bread and wine. It’s not a difficult link to make is it. But if we make that leap too hastily we do so at our peril. To connect too quickly and too closely this part of John 6 with the Eucharist will ignore what we’ve been looking at before, and will lead to us putting the cart before the horse. So let’s tread carefully.
In our lives, in our faith, do we want Jesus? Or do we want the benefits that he brings?
The crowds have once again followed Jesus to the next place he has gone to. Except now we find the mood has shifted, things have grown more serious. As the crowds gather Jesus tells them; You’re not here because you recognised the signs, what the miracles point to, you’re here because you had a good meal, you were filled, satisfied, and perhaps you’re hoping it happens again.
As I said last week, Jesus has fed them, he doesn’t hesitate, but whilst his concern and love for them includes their practical needs, it goes wider too. The miraculous provision of bread and fish will satisfy them for now, but soon enough they’ll be hungry again, it won’t satisfy eternally.
What John wants us to see in this passage are heavy overtones of the Exodus and wilderness wanderings of God’s people. Jesus and his disciples have headed through the water and, as Mark notes, they’re in a deserted place. And great crowds are following them.
Think Moses and the people of God, entering the wilderness through the parted Red Sea.
And what we find, and what Jesus has recognised in them, is that they’re hungry. Not for physical food (although that happens in the middle of these passages), but for spiritual food, spiritual sustenance. They’re not being cared for, not being fed. To the point that they will race a boat around a lake to ensure they get more, to keep hearing more of what Jesus has to say. And he is moved with compassion. Moved to do something about their state. And so he begins to feed them. Not with bread, but with his teaching. Here are a people who are spiritually starving, and so he feeds them. As Mark records; he begins to teach them many things.
Is that us?