Scripture: John 6:24-35
Like many of you, I frequent the I-80 corridor between Kearney and Lincoln. There are usually a lot of signs pointing us to one place or another. Signs that tell us when we’re nearing an exit for a town. Signs that tell us about interesting places to visit.
I think Pioneer Village starts their signs not too far out of Lincoln, telling you how many hundred miles you have to go still to get to Minden.
For those who are managers or bosses, when you have a project due from one of your subordinates, you usually like to see some “sign” that something has been done to work on it. Some evidence that they’re not just waiting until the last minute to put together some half-brained piece of work.
We too tend to look for signs that God is at work in our world today. Some evidence that he’s actually there. Huge debates exist about whether that evidence and those signs are present or merely conjured up by human imagination.
This was what the people who were climbing into their boats seeking Jesus out were doing. They wanted to see another sign. More evidence. More proof. He’d just performed the great miracle of managing to feed five thousand people with only a few loaves of bread and some fish… and that was great and all…
But they want more. They weren’t satisfied with that.
They want more bread. More food. Jesus is handing out free food. Let’s go get us some more of that!
Jesus, let’s see another sign - because we’re hungry again.
The problem is… the people are missing the fact that it is indeed – just a sign. It’s suggesting the presence and existence of something else. Jesus points this out to them.
They came not because they recognized the bread as being a sign of God in their midst, but because they simply – want more bread. They want more food. The miracle in and of itself becomes the focus as opposed to what the point of the miracle was.
They miss what the sign – the bread - is pointing them toward. But they want more of it. Every day. And they’re kind of demanding about it, too. “Give us this bread always.”
Though how harsh can we be on these people of Galilee? How often are our demands for a sign self-motivated? How often do we want God to do something to prove to us he’s actually listening and paying attention? Just give us a sign. Just help me get a good grade on this test. Just give me a sign this is what I’m supposed to be doing. Cure my illness.
Send me a sign. That one wasn’t good enough. Send me another sign. And another. And another. Give us these signs constantly so that we can be sure of our faith.
It isn’t that some requests aren’t more deeply felt than others – but like the Galileeans, we need to remember what the point of the signs are that Jesus gives. The signs result in questions – but the questions aren’t representative of a proper understanding of what it means.
You’ll notice that when the crowd asks questions – Jesus gives them rather… incongruous… answers. The crowd wants to know something, and Jesus answers with a different type of information.
Question: When did Jesus arrive at the other side of the lake?
Jesus’ answer dissolves into some point about working for the food that endures for life.
OK, what can they do to do God’s work?
Jesus: Believe.
OK, give us a sign so we can believe.
Jesus says God gives them the bread of life.
The crowd then demands, doesn’t ask for, this bread. Still equating the literal bread with that which what will sustain them and that which will endure. Jesus corrects them and says, “I am that bread.”
There’s a faulty understanding on the part of the people when they try to connect Jesus with these miracles. The people aren’t even asking the right questions, so Jesus tries to point them to where he wants to go with the conversation rather than where they want to go. The crowd did not interpret the event of feeding the multitude the way he wanted them to.
For instance, we many times ask “why” something has happened. Perhaps that’s not the right question. Instead of why did it happen, maybe the right question is where is God leading us? What is God doing in and through this? Sometimes we become so focused on an event or a problem, that we miss where God is at work in the midst of that event or problem.
Here, the people have become so focused on the sign, the miracle of the bread in and of itself, they’ve lost the meaning behind the miracle. They don’t see where the sign is pointing them. They see the bread. They want the bread. They want full stomachs. They want immediate satisfaction for their hunger and their cravings.
Give us some bread that will never run out.
They’ve missed the point of the miracle. It was never about the bread. It was never about the food that was being produced. The point was to create faith.
To point the people not to the miracle for the sake of the miracle, but to the one who made it possible. To the one who provides us with REAL life, eternal life, not just comfort and satisfaction in this life. Not with just the momentary satisfaction of getting what they need or want.
It’s like you’re driving along I-80 and you stop and just stand in front of the sign. Not travelling any further to get where the sign is pointing you toward.
Jesus gave bread not for the sake of bread. It’s not so people will have full stomachs. It’s about who Jesus is. He gave it so people might have faith and believe in him.
Jesus says, “No more signs. I give you myself.” He’s no longer giving us the things that point to some far off God in the heavenly realms that is unknowable and unfathomable.
God gives us His Son. He gives us Himself. Believe in me. I am the bread of life. God’s greatest miracle is Jesus Himself. God made flesh.
But for those who have faith – signs are not necessary. When you stand in the midst of Pioneer Village, you don’t need signs to tell you where Pioneer Village is. You’re there. You’ve arrived.
Through faith, we arrive already into the presence of the living God. Signs and miracles are not necessary for those who already have faith. Because we’ve already arrived.
Why doesn’t God perform great signs and wonders to prove himself anymore? To prove that he is still active and working in the world?
Because Jesus has arrived. All the signs and wonders that were performed all point to one thing – Christ coming into the world. Faith in Christ therefore requires no more signs and wonders. Christ IS the wonder. Christ IS the miracle. God’s kingdom has come near in Him. The people wanted bread – Jesus gave them himself.
Healing, food, water into wine, raising the dead… all were signs of the coming Kingdom of God. Jesus was the Kingdom. It had come and arrived in him.
We are sustained not by the physical food that comes and goes, but by the spiritual food we find in Jesus. That even though we may die – we live in and through him.
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