"after this a Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberius. And a large crowd was following him, and because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick"
John 6:1-2
I have heard it preached that the miracle in this story was that people were moved to share their lunch with each other. Now, these same people who preach this sermon deny that people are inherently bad (marked by original sin). This makes absolutely no sense. If people were not by nature self-serving it would be no miracle that they shared! Would God (and many, many people who canonized the Scriptures as we know them) have seen fit to put a nice moral story int the Bible?
So what really happened, what is Jesus saying? Life is so much more that food (See Mt 5ff), don't worry about what you are going to eat God will provide and he can create and indeed work miracles.
If the church believed this, what would happen? Is this the message we are preaching? Why not? Psalm 89:4 gives us some insight. "I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations". History tells us that David did not always have an offspring on the throne. They had suffered much under the hands of others. The intertestimental period (the 400 plus years between the Old and the New Testament) God sent no prophets. It is no wonder that many have a hard time believing that God "will" indeed supply our needs. But there's the problem, we want God to supply our perceived needs. God will and does indeed supply our needs.
When we read Psalm 89:4 in light of the Resurrection we see that God did indeed establish the Seed from the line of David to sit upon the throne forever. The crowds wanted everything in the here and now; food and a king. Jesus slipped away. The King will be back. And we will be given bread forever.
What are you waiting for?
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