Seeking or Settling? 3
Accounts of Jesus feeding the 5,00 and/or walking on water appear in all four Gospels (Matthew 14; Mark 6; Luke 9; John 6; calming storms Matthew 8 and Luke 8).
Two tellings of the feeding of the 5,000 (Matthew 14 and Mark 6) are preceded by word of John the Baptizer's death.
Each has its own angle or insight as to the main points of the event.
After the feeding of the 5,000, Matthew 14 and Mark 6 indicate that Jesus sent the crowd away after telling the disciples to get into the boat, John 6 that the disciples decided to do this when evening came and Jesus had not returned from the mountain yet.
Are these discrepancies real or only apparent?  And why is the event of Jesus walking on the water included in John 6 where the majority of the time is taken up with Jesus presenting the choice between temporal and eternal bread?
While Jesus had made Himself absent from the crowd, He wanted to reassure the disciples that though they would find themselves in rough waters from time to time, His presence would always be with them.
The next day, Jesus would again deal with the crowd and the question, were they seeking eternal or settling for temporal sustenance, as the next verses tell us the crowd went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. We'll look at that in the next post on the question, seeking or settling?

Settling or Seeking? 2
One expression which recurs in the first part of John 6 is, "a large crowd."  This assemblage has followed Jesus because He has been healing the sick.  Now they find themselves away from any food source.
"Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, 'Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?'  He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do."
Philip's response was a reasonable one.  Andrew's was not even solicited yet he came and brought word of one possible resource.  Nonetheless, even Andrew was tempered by reality as he said, "but what are they for so many?" in speaking of the five loaves and two fish.
How familiar are their responses?  How frequently do we see so far and no further?
But Jesus was not only compassionate, He was prayerfully powerful.  He had the crowd organized, thanks given, food distributed.  We are told the people were given as much as they wanted and ate until they were full.  Then Jesus had the leftovers gathered, "that nothing may be lost."
We are told that there were 12 baskets of fragments left by those who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
No one could complain about the bounty of that miraculous meal.  No one did.  Instead the crowd thought that Jesus would make a good king; He could heal their ills and provide their meals.  What more could anyone want?
But Jesus left to be alone on the mountain.  His miracles of compassion were not intended to lead to the kind of king/kingdom the crowd had in mind.

Watch for more next week.

Settling or Seeking?
John 6 is a chapter I have to spend more than one blog post on.  Why this chapter at all?  Because the theme is bread vs. Bread.
At the beginning, we see Jesus meeting the needs of thousands by miraculously multiplying a small boy's lunch of loaves and fish.
The crowd is more that pleased at the amazing provision.  They recognize Jesus as "the" prophet and expect more of the same from Him from that time.
But Jesus knows and Jesus makes His way away.  When He is missed, it is not Jesus they miss but that which He has provided them with.
We see this in their responses as seekers who will settle for this world's bread.
We see this in their responses as seekers who dismiss His offer of the Bread of Life multiple times, rising eventually to scoffing at Him.
How often do we scoff because we think we know both Him and His parentage?
How often do we not have time for Him because we think we know what He'll say next?
How often are we too preoccupied with this day's bread to think about the Bread He offers?
More on bread vs. Bread later.

Anticipation, or more reasons to be thankful

This day is between the celebrations of Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I have fond memories of the one and even greater expectations of the other.  When I was a great deal younger, the anticipation was of the gifts and the meals and time with those we didn't see often.  Now the anticipation is of celebrating the Gift of eternal life, the Meal in Communion, and the eventual eternal reunion with those who have gone before.

I am thankful that Christmas is the beginning of Easter and Easter of the Ascension and the Ascension of the Return.

Just as Christ came in the fullness of time as a baby under the rule of others, so He will come in the fullness of time, revealed as Sovereign Ruler over all.

Even so, come!