Read John 6. This is the famous passage where Jesus feeds over five thousand people by multiplying five barley loaves and two fish which one person possessed. Jesus produced such an abundance through this miracle that after the feast Jesus’ disciples collected twelve baskets full of broken fragments of food. As the story begins John recounts that the people followed Jesus “because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.” After performing this miracle John says, “”When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, `This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!'” (John 6:14)

I do not yet understand the full meaning of this historical parable, so I will leave that interpretation to another time. Today let us begin to consider what Jesus meant when he said, “I am the Bread of Life” in verses 35 and 48.

First, recall what Jesus did when he realized that the people who saw him multiply the bread and fish now wanted to forcefully make him their king. “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” (vs. 15) Jesus refused to be exalted by them into some worldly position. Then, in the middle of the night, he sneaked away from the multitude and walked across the stormy sea of Tiberias. He came to the boat of his startled disciples in the midst of that sea and then miraculously transported them all to Capernaum.

The next day all the people who had eaten that miraculous bread and fish looked for Jesus, found he was no longer on their side of the sea, and traveled in boats to Capernaum seeking him. When they found him they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly , I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” What? First of all Jesus does not even answer the peoples’ specific question. Second, when he does answer, he says exactly opposite what John had stated twice was the reason the people followed Jesus? What is happening here?

Like today the people in Jesus’ time followed him for merely carnal or fleshly reasons. They saw that he healed sickness. They wanted to be well. They saw that he miraculously created food; they wanted to eat. They saw that Jesus literally did miracles before their eyes and therefore they wanted to make him their king. How similar we are today. Many of the mega-ministries of the past came into being because the ministry’s leader did supernatural miracles like healing. People flocked to those leaders and they built million-dollar empires to their greatness. Oral Roberts University comes to mind. Pat Robertson’s CBN and Regent University come to mind. Jesus told us if someone comes in his own name that we will accept him, but warned us that we would not accept him (Jesus) because he came in the name of his Father instead of in his own name. He came to teach us spiritual authority and submission. He came to show us the way to his spiritual kingdom; he did not come to build a worldly kingdom. “The Kingdom of God does not come by observation,” he said. He meant that we would not see the Kingdom of God manifest in this earth, at least not for a long, long time. Instead, he said, “The Kingdom of God is within you.” I had a good Bible teacher at St. Louis Christian College long ago, Keith McCaslin, I think, who said, “The Kingdom of God is already, but not yet.” The “already” is the Kingdom of God within you. The “not yet” is the physical manifestation of that kingdom.

John said the people followed Jesus because they saw the signs. Jesus said they did not follow him because of the signs. God fills his word with this type of seeming contradictions. Unbelievers say the contradictions prove that the Bible is not really inspired by God. Believers gloss over them because they cannot understand them. When we notice them, we need to stop and consider them, ruminate over them like an ox (one of the clean animals) and ask God to reveal the meaning. That’s what I did this morning and had this new blog to write.

Christians continue to take most of the Bible literally and build their theology and eschatology on their literal interpretations. But, Jesus always spoke in parables. God gave John the Book of Revelation in pictures which similarly speak in parables to us. We will not see a dragon rise from the sea; we will not see four literal horseman; we will not see a harlot ride a beast; we will not see the apostles turned into gems or stones and become part of the foundation of New Jerusalem. The words that God speaks are Spirit and they are life.

Jesus told the people following him that they did not seek him for the signs; they sought him for what they could get! Then he began a discourse that all but wiped out this new megachurch of his. He said they must eat his flesh and drink his blood if they wanted to live! Gross. Gross. Gross. “Are you a cannibal” they wondered in their inner hearts. “You must eat my flesh and drink my blood,” he said, “or you have no life in you.” Gross. Gross. Gross. “We excommunicate you from our Church, Jesus,” they must have thought.

But Jesus did not want the people to take his words literally. After they left him he told his disciples, “It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63 KJ2000)

This is the entire point John desires to make in this chapter. Quit approaching Jesus in the natural. Quit looking at him as that big Santa Clause in the sky. Understand that his words, yes his very words, bring LIFE! ETERNAL LIFE!

But he knew that almost all the people would desert him, so he said to his disciples, “Will you leave me also?” Then Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? you have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68 KJ2000)

Understand, then, that we live in a similar time. We do not know see physical manifestations of God’s Kingdom. We do not (usually or often) see true miracles even though many of us travel the globe seeking them. But to you Jesus would say, “You do not seek me because you saw miracles.” In other words, “You do not seek me because you truly seek the source of the miracle you have seen. You seek me for your own carnal reasons. You must begin to seek me for the right reason, for truth and holiness. For I am, yes I truly am, the Christ, the holy one of God. You must eat my flesh and drink my blood or you have not life in you.” (John 6:69) Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus is. Jesus is God. No one comes to the Father unless he comes through Jesus. No one has eternal life until he begins to feed on true food which is his (spiritual) flesh and his (spiritual) blood.