Golden Goose or ... ?

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.  Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (John 6:26-27).

Who doesn’t want miracles?  Jesus heals sick and broken bodies with a word, with a touch – who doesn’t want that?  Jesus feeds a massive crowd by multiplying “nothing,” just five small loaves and two small fish – who doesn’t want that?  Jesus catches up with the storm-tossed boat of his disciples by walking on water and, once he’s aboard, they immediately reach their destination – who doesn’t want that?  No wonder some who witnessed these things wanted to make him king by force – who doesn’t want the Ultimate Golden Goose on the throne?

Yet Jesus tells them, “Actually, you want the bread more than the signs.”  John’s Gospel uses signs (but never miracles) to describe Jesus’ works.  Signs point towards something beyond the sign itself.  Jesus is telling the crowd, “You think you want constantly amazing things to happen, but what you really want is a steady, dependable supply of bread.”

Do you see it?  The crowd, having eaten their fill of the bread Jesus gave them want to make him king by force. Who wouldn’t want a Golden Goose as king?  He deflects that impulse.  Now, they head after the same goal from a different angle: “What must we do to do the works God requires?” they ask.  In other words, “Okay, Jesus, we get it: what do we need to do in order to have you as our never-failing Golden Goose-King?  We want (and need) bread, we want (and need) healing, we want (and need) all these good things you have this uncanny ability to provide.  So what’s the deal, how do we keep this good thing of you providing and us enjoying going?”

No deal, Jesus says; I am not here to make deals, I have come that you might have eternal life – that you might get in on the life of God, which comes to you entirely as a gift, which comes to you entirely, fully, completely and finally through me.  The miraculous signs are pointing you to me, not towards healing or bread.

Because you need something more than healings and bread.  You need God, and here God is, standing before you.  True bread is me, genuine light is me, the door to God’s sheepfold is me, the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23 has shown up, in person: me.

God’s Kingdom is coming, his will is being done and through me.  But the way of that kingdom, the doing of that will, is like nothing you think or know.  It doesn’t happen by the manipulation of power, by king-making, by your performance of works, but by my performance of The Work, the Work that will be thorn-crowned and cross-shaped, the Work that is Death-defeating and Life-unleashing.

Because healing, bread, miracles: they’re all about avoiding death: never hunger or thirst, never experience sickness or weakness, always be safe and secure.

What if there is another way?  Why labor only for bread that spoils, for healings that cannot last forever, for miracles that may or may not happen?  (After all, if we could ‘produce’ miracles on command, they wouldn’t truly be miracles, right?  “Dependable” miracles = Golden Goose thinking).

What if there is a better way?  Harder, more difficult in many ways, because it is the cruciform way, the way of the cross … but what if it is a better way?  What if there are different kinds of miracles?

We should pray for healing, for provision for people’s basic needs, that God would miraculously intervene in seemingly desperate, hopeless situations.  But as we face these situations, could there be a deeper kind of ‘ask’ that we include in our prayers?  What might that be for you and what you’re facing?

If you’d like to read or re-read the overview/summary of this week’s passage, you can find it here.

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