Editor’s note: This is the eighth of many scheduled Lectionary Living columns to be written by clergy in the Diocese of Central Florida.
Reflection for Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018
The Gospel Lesson for August 12, 2018 * Proper 14B * John 6: 35, 41-51
The Jewish people began to grumble about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” John 6:41-42
People were always getting mad at Jesus.
Usually it was NOT because of who He was or what He said or did, but because of who they THOUGHT He was, or what they thought He ought to say or do.
That’s what’s going on here. Jesus fed 5,000 people the day before, and now the crowd has followed and found Him on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
They’re hungry, Jesus gave them fish and bread yesterday, and they want more today.
But rather than give them what they WANT; Jesus offers them what they NEED: not bread for their bellies, but sustenance for their souls.
And they grumble: “Who does this guy think he is? He’s just Jesus – you know: Joe and Mary’s kid. Why is he wasting our time talking about ‘bread from heaven,’ when what we need is more bread from the oven?”
They’re mad because they think they know who Jesus is, and He isn’t doing what they think he ought to do, nor is he saying what they think he ought to say.
Hmmm. Isn’t that why WE get mad at Jesus? Or at his Father?
We have something we want God to do – heal us or someone we love, clean up a mess in our life, reconcile a relationship, meet a need, help us out, etc. – but instead of doing what we ask, He does something else.
And we grumble: “Who does he think he is? If he were REALLY God, he’d know I NEED Him to (fill in the blank with whatever it is we want him to do).”
Or we don’t like what He says: “I know the Bible says THAT, but surely it doesn’t really mean it. That’s too hard, inconvenient, old-fashioned, painful, unpleasant, expensive, time-consuming, or unreasonable.” (Pick one!)
The problem is usually not with who Jesus is, or what He says, or what He does.
The problem is: He’s not who WE think He is – or rather who we want Him to be – and He doesn’t say or do what we think He ought to.
But then, if He did, we’d be God instead of Him.
People were always getting mad at Jesus in the Bible.
Sometimes we do, too… and usually for the very same reasons.
Perhaps we’d be wiser to get to know Jesus as He actually is rather than who we wish He were, and to pay attention to what He really said and did, rather than what we wish He had.
The Rev. Tom Rutherford
Rector of the Church of the Messiah, Winter Garden