It's Not (Only) About Earthly Bread

In reading the Gospel according to John through, day by day, it becomes clear that the signs that Jesus does are consistently misunderstood. Ever since I was first taught about it, I've resonated with the idea that John 1-11 is called "The Book of Signs", as this (roughly) first half of John's Gospel account records for us many signs that Jesus does. But was's sticking out to me this time through is the consistent earthly response of people to these signs.

I went back in my last posts to summarize so I won't do it again, but since that very first sign in John 2, we hear about people only thinking in earthly ways, even after they've witnessed the signs happening. And so now we find ourselves in John 6, and the Twelve, having been with Jesus from that first sign, still respond to the feeding of the (many more than) 5,000 in earthly ways.

John gives us a bit less detail than the other writers, but the event is the same. Jesus asks the disciples to provide for the multitudes, and to them it can't be done due to cost and availability. Seems reasonable to anyone. But Jesus knows what He's going to do, and He was giving His disciples an opportunity to exercise their faith. Once again, they fail to realize that they have the Bread of Life in their midst, and so Jesus graciously takes what they do have (which is essentially nothing) and performs another sign for them.

Again He demonstrates His grace and patience with the Twelve, providing for the many thousands and at the same time continuing to teach His chosen Apostles: take Him at His Word. It really is that simple, and yet it always seems to be a challenge.

And it continues to be a challenge for us too. When Jesus tells us as His disciples to provide, we often try to rustle something up that's within our means. But what Jesus is ultimately calling us to provide is something that's beyond price and of infinite supply: Himself. Sure, we do run up against earthly limits when it comes to being able to provide earthly bread. But what Jesus is doing isn't ultimately about earthly bread; it's about what He's soon to say directly: He's the Bread of Life.