What are your Motives?
In John chapter 6, Jesus reveals His deity by feeding a crowd of five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish. Earlier, Jesus turned water into wine and healed the son of a Roman official. The crowds must have been astonished. Surely, witnesses must have been persuaded to follow Him as the Messiah because of the signs, but that’s not what we read in chapter 6:22-27; instead, we see that their motives were self-interest. Even today, many follow Jesus with the same misunderstanding — looking for their wants, instead of following Him.
John’s account shows us how the crowd’s pursuit of Jesus unfolds. In verse 24, the crowds take boats upon finding that Jesus is on His way to Capernaum. This is the same crowd that a few verses earlier wanted to make Him king (John 6:15). On the surface, it seems followers are exerting themselves to be with the Messiah. However, when they find Jesus, their true motives are exposed. Jesus in His wise counsel uses food as a metaphor to reveal their spiritual condition. He tells them that they’re not following Him because they recognize Him as the Messiah. Instead, they are following Him because their stomachs were satisfied with food, uncovering their need for spiritual food.
Jesus goes on to explain that their efforts of taking boats to reach Him should not be in seeking food that perishes; instead, seek the food (Him) that gives eternal life. Yet, the crowds failed to comprehend His teaching and requested a sign. Surprisingly, a few days earlier they had witnessed the feeding of 5,000 men with five loaves of bread and two fish, possibly more if we include women and children. What’s astonishing about their request for a sign is asking for a comparable miracle to Moses’s giving of manna in the Old Testament. Showing a senseless understanding of their spiritual food and no knowledge of who was in front of them.
This same misunderstanding about Jesus is seen today. Years ago I remember visiting a church that served free lunch every Sunday after morning service. Lots of people would come, especially men who would sit through the service for about an hour and be the first in line for food. Every Sunday the church was filled with people and it gave the impression of a fast-growing church. But this raises a question, were the motives of the men attending seeking the spiritual food of the Word of God that leads to eternal life or did they only come to satisfy their stomachs? We know that food is a driving force in our society and that God uses all means for His glory. The issue is not the food - it’s the heart. Similar to the crowds in John chapter 6, people sought Jesus not for who He was, but for what He provided - physical food. When lunch stopped being served, many stopped coming and soon after the church could no longer sustain this approach.
This leads us to reflect on our own motives: Like the crowds, do we follow Him because we truly desire to be filled with the spiritual food that is Him? Or do we go after Him only to satisfy our self-interests and temporary needs?
In the verses that follow, Jesus presents Himself as the Bread of Life—the one who satisfies the spiritual hunger of our souls. He explains that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws them, and that His flesh is the bread and His blood the drink that give eternal life—a foreshadowing of His atoning sacrifice on the cross.
As we read through the rest of John 6, the teaching of Jesus begins to divide the crowd and leads us to examine our motives. We must ask ourselves, are we the people that grumbled when Jesus said He is the bread of life (John 6:61)? And deserted him when he was not able to satisfy their self-interest (John 6:66)? Are we the crowd that are among the blind and without understanding of what it means to eat his flesh and drink His blood (John 6:52)? When the crowd began to leave, Jesus asked His twelve disciples do you want to go away too ( John 6:67)?, or are we like Peter who immediately said “Lord, only you have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
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