I was reading the account in the book of John where Jesus takes a two piece fish dinner and feeds a multitude of over 5000 people. The astonished men and women eating that day decided that since He could do such wonders, He could certainly make their lives better. They hated the indignity of being ruled by their Roman conquerors. The Romans were violent and brutal pagans who did not respect the Jewish nation. The contempt with which they treated the people was an insult only worsened by the taxes they required them to pay.
So as the people sat on the hillside with crumbs in their laps and tartar sauce on their breath, someone suggested that Jesus should be made their king. It moved quickly through the crowd, rumbling louder and louder up the hillside. Even as Jesus sent His disciples to cross the lake in the small wooden boat and headed up the incline alone to pray, the people still lingered and talked about how such a Miracle Worker could make short work of the soldiers who patrolled their streets.
The people talked long into the night before making camp on the grassy slope and falling asleep. They didn’t even notice the solitary figure walking past them in the moonlight and strolling gracefully onto the waters of the Sea of Galilee. Even though the disciples had been rowing against the wind, the waves did not pose any obstacle to Jesus as He made His way toward them. The people who were on the shore missed all that while dreaming of a new day for the nation with Jesus sitting on a throne.
As the sun rose the next morning, not only was their Candidate unready for a political campaign, but He wasn’t even there with them any more. Hurrying across the lake in any boat available, they found Jesus with His disciples and were a little indignant that He had left them and their imagined offensive against Rome. Surely, they just needed to fill Him in on their plans.
The conversation that followed did not go as the fish and loaves crowd imagined. When they thought to tell Jesus they expected Him to stay with them , He looked through their words and pinpointed their motives. As they questioned Jesus, His words were like ice water poured on their hopes.
“You’ve come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs,” Jesus chided them. (John 6:26, The Message). The text almost reads like two different conversations happening at once. Jesus admonished them to seek eternal things and quit laboring for what was temporary. They asked for bread. Jesus told them they could do the works of God by believing in Him. They still wanted bread. He told them that He was the Bread of Life sent from heaven by God. They became offended because they knew His family back in Nazareth.
Eight times in that conversation, Jesus plainly declared the purpose of God was that He would give all who believed eternal life and raise them from death on the appointed day. The people listening seemed oblivious to the revelation that Jesus was offering them. They had come to Jesus with an agenda, and when it was apparent that He was not going to agree with them, they grew offended and walked away.
Doesn’t that make you shake your head a little and wonder about how short sighted they were that day? These people were willing to forgo eternal life because they really just wanted more bread, or to see more sensational miracles, or for Jesus to blast the Romans off the planet and make their lives easier. They didn’t want Him to be King. They just wanted Him to do what they wanted.
My problem is that the mentality that drove them to scurry across the lake seems suspiciously familiar. I mean, how many times have I hurried to the place of prayer only to air my list of all I want the Lord to do for me and my loved ones? I have felt at times that the words I brought to that moment were stale and repetitive as I echoed the same requests once more. Sometimes, I have even brought Him my suggestions on how He could accomplish the results that I desired.
Can you imagine that? God sits on a throne in heaven with thunder and lightning ripping out of His presence. Burning seraphim hide their eyes from His glory and heavenly elders fall on their faces in front of Him. His voice is the engine of all creation and His words cause reality to bend and twist to His will. And I come close to Him in prayer and make suggestions on how to take care of my little problems! Do you think that makes the angels shake their heads a little about how short sighted I can be?
I have found myself wondering lately if I am missing part of the conversation in prayer–His part. What if, in all my striving to convince the Lord to do things my way, I am missing the greater revelation of what He wants to convey? I do not want to be offended if His purposes differ from mine. I do not want to forgo eternal things because His ways are not like my own. I want to follow Jesus, not just when He gives me the bread I desire, but even when His plans include a narrow path and a cross to carry.
Can you identify with my struggle today? Let me assure you that the Lord wants you to bring your needs to Him in faith. And believe me, He is not offended that you do it over and over. Only be willing to come and sit before the Lord with an open Bible and an open ear. You may get much more than an easy fix for your problems; He may just drop some truth on you.
