John 6:1-15

February 9, 2008

Finally I’m on to chapter 6…one of my favorite chapters in all the gospels.  This opening passage is the familiar account of Jesus feeding 5,000, a story that is told in all four gospels.  As I read I prayed for God to show me some fresh insight, or to marvel anew at something already familiar.   In my own devotional life, I would not say that ‘familiarity breeds contempt,’ but it does tend to breed a lack of expectation for God to show me something great about Himself.  I prayed that God would help me to read this story as if for the first time.

As I read, I found much to admire about Jesus.  There is His awesome power, to be able to take a small lunch and turn it into a feast with leftovers for thousands of people.  There is His compassion in caring for basic needs of this great crowd, and not leaving them to find their own provision.

But what stood out to me most in this particular reading was something that I had also noted in chapter 5: Jesus withdrawing from the crowd after performing His miraculous sign (cf. 5:13).  In chapter 6, John writes,

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. 

What I found amazing is that Jesus rightly deserved to be made King, yet He resisted the crowd that wanted to give Him what He rightly deserved.  It was His rightful honor, but it was not yet time to be crowned as King.  Before His anointing as King, He had a cross to bear, and He knew it.  Not all the zeal of this great crowd could compel Jesus to abandon the eternal plan to lay down His life as a ransom for His sheep.

As I read these words, I was so grateful to Jesus for refusing to take the crown before first taking the cup of His Father’s wrath that was meant for me and all of God’s people.  I desire to follow Him down the Calvary Road, and to forsake earthly comforts and rights in order to make others more glad in Jesus.

Posted by Larry | Filed Under Gospel of John, Seeking Him 

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