Spoiler Alert

“Well, what do we do then to get in on God’s works?”
John 6:28 MSG

Confession: I don’t like surprises. I do like movie spoilers, and I’ve been known to read the last chapter of a book first. (Stay with me--I promise I’m still a good person!)

Not knowing anything about the movie I’m about to see, book I’m about to read, or social situation I’m about to step into is distracting enough that I often can’t focus on the actual book/movie/person I’m interacting with. I don’t need the entire plot line or a person’s entire life story (though I’m always interested in hearing it!); a few key details are enough to help me form some sort of context for what I’m about to walk into, and that results in a sense of control on my part.

Jesus was the relatively new kid on the block when he miraculously fed five thousand people using only two small fish and five small loaves of bread. Afterward the people followed him, and they had questions. “When did you get here?” (v25) “Well, what do we do then to get in on God’s works?” (v28) Implied in those questions are, “What do we know about this guy?” and “What are we supposed to do with him now?”

The crowd of people in John 6 knew Jesus was a teacher and that he had performed some miraculous signs--including feeding a lot of people with very little food--but they didn’t really know who he was or what he was about. In caring for their physical needs Jesus began pointing them toward the source of Eternal Sustenance! They didn’t know how to orient themselves around the man who just performed something miraculous in their midst, and like me without my spoiler alerts: they felt out of control.

Jesus gave them signs of who he was the entire time, but the answer to, “What are we supposed to do now?” was decidedly less complicated than what the crowd was looking for. They didn’t have to work for the food multiplied and given them before; they needed only to sit down, listen to Jesus, and receive what he offered them. The Twelve had been with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry, so they had had more time to work through what the crowd was hearing for the first time. Perhaps the difference between “being a disciple” and being part of “the crowd” is knowing when and how to sit at His feet, and being able to do just that. 

Spoiler alert: we already know how this story ends! We also know that God requires us to simply sit down and listen; to believe in the one He sent. It’s easier for some of us to “just” sit than others, but that’s a story for another day. 

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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