NOTES for Joh 6:14-27

Jesus was undoubtedly very popular during His earthly ministry. But He Himself, as we can see, was not particularly pleased by this popularity. He says plainly: you need Me to feed you with bread, but bread is not the main thing; the main thing is the Kingdom, which I could give you if you wanted it. A natural question then arises: why, in that case, arrange those mass meals that Jesus Himself provided for His listeners more than once? One could, of course, explain everything by a simple desire to help hungry people. But was that all? Jesus’ chief task was to show everyone what the Kingdom is. The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, for example, also becomes such a demonstration, as does walking on the water. Neither is a trick or even a demonstration of omnipotence; both are examples of the nature of the Kingdom penetrating our world. This nature is absolutely flexible and wholly subject to the spiritual influence of the human will; one could even say that it is determined by that will. With such flexibility, water can become a firm support without ceasing to be water, and there can be as much food as is needed to feed everyone, with some left over. But to live in such a world, one must oneself be perfect with regard to one’s intentions. It only seems that it would be wonderful if everything we thought about were immediately realized. One need only imagine a nature entirely obedient to us immediately presenting us with embodiments of all our subconscious fears, desires, and complexes to understand that we are not yet very ready for life in the Kingdom. Nevertheless, Jesus calls us to begin the path into the Kingdom, starting with the proper order of priorities of which He spoke more than once: first the Kingdom, and only then everything else.