John 6:14

It doesn’t take long for the people to react to the miracle Jesus has just performed. “This man is surely a prophet!” they begin to say to one another, “In fact, he must be the Prophet sent to us from heaven.” John 6:14 EFP

Well, now things are beginning to take an interesting spin.  Not surprising, really.  People living in this time in history are people who live a mostly subsistent life.  They work hard to scratch out a living.  The rich are in a category all their own, but there is a wide chasm between the “haves” and the “have-nots.”  The people who flock to Jesus are mostly the “have-nots.”  They have just witnessed a miracle not seen in their lifetimes.  Food miraculously multiplied by a stranger who is also able to heal their sick—their lame, their blind, their deaf, even the demon-possessed.

The rumblings begin.  This is perhaps a prophet.  This is a prophet.  Perhaps this is the prophet.  This is certainly the Prophet.  God sent the Prophet to us!  Moses had written the words spoken to him by God who said, “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you…”  Even in the land on the east side of the Jordan people are descendants of the tribes that had settled that land and were later taken into captivity.  They are almost forgotten, but even they longed for the day when Israel would be restored by the Messiah—the Prophet promised by God to Moses.  But there is something very unsettling about placing their expectations on Jesus, who has no interest in establishing an earthly kingdom.  There is more to the miracle just witnessed than food.  But food is their focus.  How sad that, like me, they miss the point—they focus on the tangible and temporary while overlooking the spiritual and eternal.  I guess we all do it in one way or another.