John 6:22-40

“Notice what you notice.” Today’s reading is one that is always special to me. After the initial conversation between Jesus and the townspeople, we get to Jesus speaking in John 6:37-40, repeated here in full: All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.

This section of Scripture leapt off the pages at me when I first read them. Here’s the story. I was born again in May, 1975. In June of 1976 I attended a month-long Campus Crusade “Bible camp” in Fort Collins, Colorado. After about a week there I was called into the office in the middle of the afternoon to take a person-to-person phone call. It was my sister telling me that our mother (stepmother) had been killed in a car-train accident. She was not your iconic “stepmother”; she had been “Mom” for 21 years and we had a good relationship. The leaders at the camp took care immediately to get me plane reservations and take me to the airport; they also arranged for my family to pick me up (in St. Louis). My younger brother had been in the car with Mom and was in the hospital with broken ribs, a punctured lung, and burns over 25% of his body. He survived and is alive today – but that’s another story.

I stayed home (Illinois) for a week or so until things had settled down a bit. Since I had driven out to Colorado, I had to go back, at a minimum to retrieve my car. Depending on my feelings and my reception back at the camp, I would either finish out the camp or come right back home. So I got a bus ticket and headed back to Colorado on July 4, 1976 – our nation’s Bicentennial birthday. Since I was not yet certain as to whether I would be staying at the camp or coming back home, I decided to catch up on my reading of the Gospel of John – one of the courses I was taking. It was on this bus ride that the verses above jumped off the page at me.

I had been raised in a strong Catholic faith. Now I was involved in this more Protestant born-again environment. On hearing the news of her death I had wondered if my mother was in heaven or hell. I voiced that concern to the camp leaders as we drove to the airport. As I recounted my family’s faith, they assured me that Mom was in heaven. While it was reassuring to hear that from them, I still wondered. Then those verses…!! All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. … This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. Those verses told me that my mother was in heaven. Moreover, they told me that my brother was not killed because he was not yet ready to die. As I said above, that’s another story. He, too, is now born again.

So, bottom line, folks. God is at work in our lives and in the lives of everyone we know. And He will not bring us to our end until He is certain that we are either devoted to Him or that we have a full, complete rejection of Him. I remember reading a conversation between God and someone on earth in a simple little book, The Singer by Calvin Miller. The person asked God, “How can you condemn people to hell for all eternity?” And God responds, “I don’t condemn them, Pilgrim, I can’t keep them out!” So that unbeliever in your life – keep praying and sharing!

Slava Bohu!

Mark 6:53-56

“Notice what you notice.” Mark on Jesus landing at Gennesaret… Whenever we have passages in double or triple tradition, I try not to read ahead in the readings schedule, except to read notes from my Study Bible from all the writers. Following that pattern yesterday, I had not read Mark’s account when I reported on Matthew’s account of the landing at Gennesaret. True to form, Mark’s account goes into much more detail than Matthew’s. And that increased detail confirms and enhances some items that I shared yesterday. For example, Matthew writes …they sent around to all that region and brought to Him all who were sick (Matthew 14:35b). Mark writes …the people … ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. (vv. 54-55) Those last six words, to wherever they heard he was, add substantial specificity and a more personal touch in Mark’s account! In addition, Mark has the people “running” compared to Matthew’s “sent around”.

Or consider the second half of Matthew 14:35b quoted above, they … brought to Him all who were sick as compared to Mark’s they laid the sick in the marketplaces (v. 56b). Again, Mark just seems more complete, more personal to picture “patients” lying on the ground or sitting in chairs in the center of town. Finally, Matthew writes they came to land at Gennesaret (Matthew 14:34b) while Mark has they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore (v. 53b). “Mooring to the shore” seems much more vivid than “came to land”.

It’s not a lot of depth that I write today, but I keep finding that I am loving Mark’s Gospel in a way that I never had before. And that’s special!

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 14:34-36

“Notice what you notice.” After Jesus walking on the water, Matthew has them landing at Gennesaret, some 3-4 miles from Capernaum, down the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Reading into the story a bit clarifies some things for me. Being only 3-4 miles from where Jesus had centered his Galilean ministry, presumably there was some measure of familiarity between residents of Gennesaret and Capernaum, but also some separation. Verse 34 begins with And when the men of that place recognized Him…, implying that Jesus was known to them, possibly from them traveling to Capernaum to see Him, but that He was not frequent among them. In addition, verse 36 notes that the people …implored Him that they might only touch the fringe of His garment, calling to mind the healing of the woman with a hemorrhage, an incident that had taken place in Capernaum, an incident that had become known to the residents of Gennesaret. Finally, because Jesus was not a frequent visitor to Gennesaret, when the men recognized Him …they sent around to all that region and brought to Him all who were sick (v. 35b). Not unlike today – word gets around that someone famous has come to town and people come from all around to see him/her. So Gennesaret is at the fringe of Capernaum, nearby but not at the center of what’s going on.

Which brings me to our “concentric circle churches”… It seems that most churches have an inner core of “leaders”, a nearby circle of “insiders”, a couple layers of “actives”, and an outer layer of “outliers”. Most new attendees come to a church as a visitor, initially an “outlier”. Depending on their level of Christian maturity and the gifts that they can offer, they may or may not choose to move forward, first to become more “active”, then eventually to move more inward to that level of “insiders”. But it is not simply an outcome dependent on that one person’s maturity and gifts, it is also a function of the “leaders” and “insiders” – their welcoming or their resistance to new people becoming more involved.

I don’t have St. Andrew’s or any other congregation in mind as I write these words. What I do have in mind is the mindset of individual parishioners. I would think that any dedicated, discipled Christian would naturally want to move toward the center, not because of any desire to be one of the movers/shakers, but to be closer to those who are in the business of seeking the Lord’s wisdom for the entire congregation. Not to be “in the know”, but to be “in the flow”… Not with a desire to lead, but with a desire to serve…

Thankfully, St. Andrew’s has a lot of “insiders”. We’ve all heard of those churches where 20% of the people do 80% of the work. That’s not us!! Glory!!

Slava Bohu!

John 6:16-21

“Notice what you notice.” John’s account of Jesus walking on the water… Strange that Luke would not write about this incident when the other three Gospel writers did…

It dawned on me to look at the adjectives in this passage – dark, rough, strong, frightened, afraid, glad – and I wondered about those times in our lives when Jesus came “walking on the water” to save us from harm. No doubt, they are countless every day – if not Jesus personally, then His guardian angels. Mark Bruner and I drove eight hours yesterday, reversing that today. And we were kept from harm, I’m sure, countless times – and we didn’t even know it! I fear that we too easily just took it for granted that we would arrive at our destinations safely.

Or maybe not “harm” as such, but disappointment, anxiety, grief. Again, not Jesus personally, but He has sent His Holy Spirit – our Counselor, Helper, Advocate. And while those times are real, with His help they can be mercifully shortened.

Hearkening back to my comments yesterday, is Jesus waiting for us to call on Him before He gets into our boat? For yesterday’s first-century passage, I think not. But for our everyday circumstances today, I think – most certainly!

“Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3, NASB)

Slava Bohu!

Mark 6:45-52

“Notice what you notice.” Mark’s account of Jesus walking on the water… We read these passages with an intent to “notice what we notice”. And today I would suggest that everyone reading this passage noticed verse 48b, …He meant to pass them by. And we all wonder, why would Jesus want to pass them by? The wind was against them, they thought He was a ghost, and they were terrified. Why would He intend to pass them by??!! I have no answer and as I looked it up online I didn’t find any satisfactory answer. Here are two edited samples: (1) He had a mission and a direction and intended to move directly to His target. (2) He wanted them to see their need for Him and call out for Him to help. There were a lot of words written in support of these two positions, but the authors and their commentators did not convince me as to a reasonable understanding of His intended action. So in the end, I don’t know. I claim “blessed ignorance”.

So, what else? The last sentence in this passage is almost as equally confusing: And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. (v. 51b-52) I can see that the disciples would be “utterly astounded” and I can imagine that they would be confused as to what had happened with the loaves, but the last four words – their hearts were hardened. When I think of hardened hearts, I think of Pharaoh in Exodus. Earlier in this chapter the disciples had been sent out to preach and to heal and to cast out demons. They had seen Jesus’ power at work in them. How could their hearts now be hardened, just a few days or weeks later? Twice I am confused. I quit!

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 14:22-33

“Notice what you notice.” Being intrigued as I am with the geography, I glanced one verse beyond our reading and saw that they came to the land of Gennesaret (Matthew 14:34), which is on the west side of the Sea of Galilee, only a few miles down the coast from Capernaum. That region is just north of the first-century town of Magdala, likely the home of Mary Magdalene. Just connecting the dots…!

Gennesaret seems not to have been the disciples’ (and Jesus’) target destination. Matthew is silent as to where they were headed, while Mark has them going to Bethsaida and Luke puts their target as Capernaum. Presumably the wind on the Sea drove them in a direction such that they overshot both their Mark and Luke targets. More on Gennesaret in the next few days…

Matthew writes in verse 23, And after He had dismissed the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. My Study Bible notes that this prayer time is the only time Matthew mentions Jesus praying, other than Gethsemane. By contrast Mark and Luke seem to have him praying much more regularly!

My mind wanders and I often want to read between the lines. Jesus sends the disciples off in the boat and He goes the opposite direction, up to the mountain to pray. So did He have a pre-arranged plan, as in “I’ll meet you at Peter’s house”? Or did He send them off in the boat simply because they had arrived by boat and needed to get the boat back to its normal mooring? Then He would have walked the shore line to meet them. But while praying He heard from His father that the disciples were in trouble on the water and the only way He could reach them was by walking on the water. So if I read between the lines a bit, now I can understand why Jesus would be walking on the water in the middle of the night. Somehow, that’s satisfying!

Today’s last verse reads And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (v. 33). “Worship” is a concept that has long confused me. The best understanding I ever got for the concept was when I heard someone say that worship is simply agreeing with God as to Who He is. This verse confirms that suggestion. Re-read it. This time the disciples got it! But unfortunately they would lose it again – and again and again!! I’ve long heard the phrase, “There are no atheists in a foxhole.” And yes it seems that danger and deliverance bring us closer to Jesus. And that’s good, but we need to be close to Him without danger lurking nearby! “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”

Slava Bohu!

John 6:1-15

“Notice what you notice.” John’s account of the feeding of the 5,000… It is not clear in John’s gospel just what the time frame is. He begins the reading (and the chapter) with “After these things…”. John also begins chapters 5 and 7 in the same way, an indefinite expression. John seems to be less chronologically focused than the Synoptics, especially Luke and Mark. The immediate precedent in chapter 5 had Jesus in Jerusalem healing the man at the pool of Bethesda. So we go with the Synoptics and put Jesus back in Galilee.

As in Matthew and Mark, Jesus sets off in a boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (v. 1). We already saw that Luke has Him in Bethsaida. John offers a bit of additional evidence of this placement when Jesus asks Philip directly, Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat? (v. 5b). Directing the question to Philip was reasonable, since Philip was from Bethsaida. Even more compelling is the fact that, following Philip’s insufficient response, Andrew answers Jesus’ question, There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish… (v. 9a). Andrew was also from Bethsaida (see John 1:44). Had he met the boy that he knew from home while he was mingling with the crowd? Intriguing.

John offers a (seemingly) out-of-context statement in verse 4: Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Pastor David once said that there are no wasted words in Scripture. So I wonder, what’s the point of this sentence? Why mention Passover here? Is it to reflect back to the Exodus so that, by association, we are then looking forward to the provision of manna in the wilderness and drawing a parallel to Jesus feeding of the 5,000? Many writers (and preachers) have drawn this connection between the two events.

John further emphasizes this connection in verse 14: When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” The Jews had been long expecting a “prophet like Moses”: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from among your countrymen, you shall listen to Him. (Deuteronomy 18:15; see also Dt 18:18) So the people see this parallel, this feeding of the people in this “desolate place” and are ready to anoint Jesus as their king. But Jesus wouldn’t have it. Clearly, His time had not yet come.

Slava Bohu!

Luke 9:10-17

“Notice what you notice.” Luke’s account of the feeding of the 5,000… There are a couple of items different in Luke compared to Matthew and Mark. First, there is no mention in Luke of Jesus and His disciples getting into a boat to get away. They merely withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida (v. 10b). Second, Luke mentions their location as Bethsaida.

Third, to me the most compelling difference is in verse 12: Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.” Matthew and Mark also have evening approaching, but only Luke suggests that the crowd needs to go away and “find lodging”. That is, they need to go away for the night and not come back! This makes me wonder what happened to the crowd after they all ate and were satisfied (v. 17). If it’s evening and they are in a “desolate place”, do they just camp out for the night? Or do they eat and then disperse to “find lodging”? But the crowd that was fed numbered 5,000 (men) – the nearby towns of Bethsaida and Capernaum probably had populations only on the order of two to three thousand. In addition there were probably smaller nearby villages. It’s asking quite a bit to have these locals open their homes to so many outsiders. Naturally, many in the crowd were probably locals themselves, but still…??

But the point is larger than this one miracle. For more than a month we have seen Jesus being surrounded by crowds in Capernaum and in other towns and villages in Galilee. Where did they all come from and where did they go in the evening? And where are the crowds in our churches? Aren’t we preaching the same message that Jesus taught? Do today’s people need to see the healings and other miracles before they believe? Or maybe the greatest miracles today are those that have happened in each of our individual lives? What brings us to the Gospel? Why do we believe? And what do we do now that we have found faith? Maybe we have found “lodging” and are already too comfortable? Lord, make us hungry again!!

Slava Bohu!

Mark 6:30-44

“Notice what you notice.” Mark’s account of the feeding of the 5,000… Mark reports on the same prior activities as Matthew – the disciples being sent out and the beheading of John the Baptist. But Mark does not mention John’s disciples coming to tell Jesus the news. Instead, today’s reading in Mark begins with the apostles reporting on their mission, all that they had done and taught (v. 30). Then this report prompts Jesus to take His disciples away to a secluded place (v. 31). And, as in Matthew they take off in a boat and the crowd follows along the shore. So when they arrive at “the secluded place”, it is not very secluded!!

What else is new here? For there were many coming and going, and {the apostles} did not even have time to eat. (v. 31b) The disciples had just returned from their mission and were gathering together (presumably) at or near Peter’s house. But with crowds coming and going (and likely pressing upon and making requests of Jesus) the disciples did not take time to eat, but instead gathered a bit of food for their dinner and took off with Jesus in a boat. They had no idea that in a few hours they would be expected to share their dinner with 4,987 (or more) people!! And yes, I’m reading between the lines here, but the fact that they did not even have time to eat created the opportunity for the greatest food multiplication miracle the world has ever seen.

So the next time that you are so busy with dozens of details that you don’t even have time to eat, give thanks!

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 14:13-21

“Notice what you notice.” Matthew’s account of the feeding of the 5,000… We can guess that Jesus is still in Galilee. Most recently we have read the accounts of the beheading of John the Baptist; before that was Jesus sending out His disciples and He Himself going into cities in Galilee (Matthew 11:1). And since Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, we can presume that John’s disciples came to Jesus in Galilee.

So in Matthew Jesus hears the news from John’s disciples about John’s beheading. Possibly to mourn by Himself, he gets into a boat and puts out to sea, to go off somewhere by Himself. But the fervor of the crowds for Jesus was so strong that they walked along the shore, wanting to keep up. Luke’s gospel has Jesus putting in at Bethsaida as His destination, only a few miles up the coast from Capernaum. I’m assuming that Capernaum was Jesus’ departure point, since he went by boat and Capernaum was home base for Peter’s fishing business. Matthew writes that when He went ashore He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick (v. 14).

But another thought came to me, in that they had traveled only a few miles by boat. As they put out to sea, while they could still see the coastline Jesus could see the people following along on the shore wanting to be with Him. So, moved with compassion and in spite of His desire to grieve over John, He had His disciples put in at the nearest location, thereby accounting for such a short trip. And in spite of the “desolate place”, the crowds would have still been close enough to nearby villages to buy food.

We’ll have three more days of the “Feeding of the 5,000”, since this miracle is reported in all four Gospels, so we’ll have more to say in the next few days.

Slava Bohu!