Bible Study With The Bishops: Seek And Hide And Seek

Reading Plan Text for March 21: John 6:14-24

Jesus has fed 5,000 people from what amounts to one small boy's lunch. Now they people in the crowd are calling him a prophet and talking about making him a king. This is one of those times when you simply have to believe Jesus as fully human, and not the most practical human being at that. You just want to say to him, " What did you think would happen? You perform miracles, and you think people aren't going to notice? If you're acting like a prophet, why are you so surprised that people call you a prophet? And for heaven's sake, people are ready for the Messiah, the heir to David's throne, how else did you think they'd react?"

The crowd is looking for Jesus, and he decides to do something practical. He takes off up the mountain to hide. The disciples, not always the fools they appear to be when sitting at Jesus' feet, jump in their boat and high tail it across the lake. So what happens? We get another sign. Jesus, in order to join the disciples, walks across the lake--ON the water. John doesn't say it, but I can just picture Jesus wondering why the disciples are afraid when they someone walking ON the water toward their boat. "Oh, hi. It's just me, don't worry." Sometimes you just want to shake some sense into the man!

Of course, the Greek text has Jesus saying "I am," echoing God speaking with Moses from the Burning Bush. That's a pretty powerful statement and a connection most of John's listeners would have picked up almost immediately. The disciples, on the other hand, not so much, as they say. I think they were probably too busy being relieved that it was Jesus walking on the waves to understand the full impact of that self-identification by Jesus.

In the morning the crowd realizes that Jesus and the disciples have disappeared. They correctly assume that Jesus and company have gone back the way they came, so they set out in boats to follow Jesus back to Capernaum. And they will find him. And we will be treated to another of Professor Jesus' discourses.

Now, some of you may think that this look at today's passage is a bit flippant on my part. However, I don't believe our scriptures were cast in concrete, never to be interpreted more than one way. The Jews have centuries of Midrash, which is essentially telling stories from between the lines of the Torah stories. If we don't engage the scriptures, then they are nothing more than a bunch of outdated words on a tattered page in a musty old book. And if we can't use humor in engaging the scriptures, then we ignore the fact that humor already exists in the Bible. Some of my (and others') reflections may be irreverent at times, but those reflections, and the resulting discussions with other people, can bring about a deeper understanding of our sacred stories.

And if we aren't looking for a deeper understanding of our sacred stories, then we aren't being true to what Jesus tried to teach us.

Peace,
Jeffri