Saturday 25th February
Read John 6:24-27
“Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”” (NIVUK)
How much thought do you put into asking the right questions? It is very easy to read articles online and simply accept all that is read at face value. One of the tasks I require of my students is to read a scientific article and provide me with a summary of what they would tell a farmer in response to the information in the paper. In classes over nearly forty students maybe one would ask the right questions of the paper. Most accept what they read as true and would provide advice that would place the farmers in abject poverty… Putting thought into what we read and whether it is true is an essential life skill.
The same applies when we approach Scripture. Too often we simply ask the wrong questions. The desperately searching crowd around the lake provides a good example. They find Jesus in Capernaum having noted that He had not departed with the disciples the previous evening but had headed up into the hills and don’t ask the obvious question ‘How did you get here?’, but the less insightful ‘When did you get here?’. They have stayed in the wilderness to hear and see more of Jesus, and without telling the crowd He was leaving, He simply departed. Although it could be that ‘How’ is included within ‘When’, the miracle they missed would have been much clearer with a confused ‘How?’, then a more plaintive ‘When?’. Crossing the lake over the water without a boat in the dark would have been the answer to ‘How’, but not the answer to ‘When’.
As it turns out, Jesus doesn’t answer their question. Perhaps because their question reveals their hearts. And it is hearts that Jesus addresses. It is only when we pause and reflect and question our own hearts and motives that we may approach the right questions to ask. How much thought do you put into what you read? Or do you accept things at face value unquestioningly?
