Sunday 02 August 2009

Background

This passage is woven around three questions. Each gives us aninsight into the mind of the crowd, their motivation and desire. Bycontrast, Jesus' answers both provoke and demand a response at alevel the crowd are not anticipating.

It is not surprising then that these questions provide a way intothe passage.

• First, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" (verse 25). The settingis carefully laid out to indicate just how persistent the crowd wasin their pursuit of Jesus. When they had sought to make him king heretreated. Now they track him to Capernaum. Why?
  
  
• The second question of the crowd, "What must we do to performthe works of God?" (verse 28) follows on from the answer given byJesus to the above question. The crowd believe they have understoodenough about Jesus' message and purpose that they want to pushJesus into telling them how they can do the same - ie God's work.Jesus' reply is intriguing: instead of doing 'works' the crowds aredirected to 'believe' in Jesus as the one sent by God. This is notwhat they expected.
  
  
• The third question, "What sign will you show us that we maybelieve?" (verse 30) follows on, not surprisingly, from theunexpected answer given by Jesus. Here we start to see the truemind of the crowd. Their desire was not to find a saviour, or eventhe bread of heaven; theirs was for a 'magician' - someone whowould show signs and wonders. In truth they had failed to see thesign in front of them. Their desire was to be fed daily in amiraculous way - in the same way that their ancestors were fedmanna in the wilderness - and they quote "He gave them bread fromheaven to eat" (Exodus 16:4-31).They had not really understood Jesus, or his message, at all.

What stands out from this passage is the difficulty offaith and the barriers that can stand in the way of believing. Thebarriers are both ancient and modern. But the difficulties can beovercome through grace, and a willingness to receive the true'Bread of Heaven'.

To Ponder

What prevents you from believing?

What sign are you waiting for in order to takethe next step of faith?