7/20/2015

But you’ll have to wait an hour

This week's Bible reading from John 6:1-21 describes two very familiar miracles of Jesus from the Gospels: The Feeding of the 5000 and Jesus walking on water.

Eating and Swimming?

In the first one – Jesus fed the multitude  - starting with just five barley loaves and two fish. And there was much more left over.

In the second one Jesus – after retreating from the group that just experienced the miracle and wanted to take him by force to make him king – joined the disciples 3 or 4 miles out  - by walking on the water – and then brought the disciples from a storm to safety. (Did he wait an hour before going into the water? Or does walking on the water not count in the “Wait an hour after swimming” rule? Or is that rule not a real thing anyway?)

That question aside.  What’s going on in this week’s reading?

What’s significant about the food? Is it that the people were starving and Jesus came to the rescue? Is it that the people needed to be fed or they would become sick and die? Is it that Jesus understood that people like to share a meal together and he gave them the opportunity to get together and share a meal? Is it that out of almost nothing there was enough? Is it looking at an impossible situation and finding out we truly can imagine what’s impossible?

And what’s significant about the water? Is it that there’s always the possibility of storms in our lives? Is it that no matter how far we try to row out from Jesus, he’s still near? Is it that when we think we’re in dire straits that God has already been guiding us to safety? Is it looking at an impossible situation and finding out we can truly imagine what’s impossible?

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