WHY DO YE SEEK ME?
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John 6:14-15 |
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Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, “This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.” When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force, to make Him a king, He departed again into a mountain Himself alone. KJV |
After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make Him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself. NIV |
The men had just witnessed Jesus feeding 5000+ people with five loaves and two small fish and having enough left over to fill twelve baskets! It is interesting to read what happened and how Jesus used the disciples. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and gave thanks (so should we before eating food), then He distributed the bread and fish to the disciples who in turn handed it out to the crowds, indicating that the Lord used the services of others. The lesson to be learned is: You do what you can do, I’ll do what I can do, and the Lord will do what we cannot do.
By the time Jesus had handed over the bread and fish to the disciples it had been miraculously multiplied, showing us that little given to the Lord in faith is greatly increased by return. Another lesson is that nothing of His giving is ever wasted, because they picked up twelve baskets full of leftovers indicating that even the unwanted and discarded are precious in His sight. The broken recovered for nothing is lost.
The people saw what happened and came to the conclusion: A mighty miracle had taken place before their eyes. They looked at Jesus and said:
- Is this the person whom our Holy Scriptures speak of?
- Is this the prophet that was promised to us?
- Is this the one who will deliver us from the stranglehold of the Romans?
Sadly, they were not willing to admit that Jesus was The Son of God, nor were they willing to acknowledge their sins and nor were they willing to accept Jesus as Saviour. They wanted instead an earthly monarch, someone who would rescue them from the Roman Empire and overthrow their masters.
Putting all this aside, the crowds wanted to make Jesus their King, even if this meant using force to do so.
William MacDonald put it like this: If Jesus was just a man, He would have submitted to the praise and adoration and accept the place of prominence offered, but, He would not be moved by appeals to vanity and pride and the whims of men. He had come into this world to die for sinners, and He would not accept the throne until He became the altar of sacrifice. He had to suffer before He was exalted.
Mr A.M. Ross has put it like this: Where fickleness is married to folly, can faith be born under their roof? These same people had just witnessed the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 and had tasted that food, and now they wanted to make Him a king.
F.B. Meyer summed it up beautifully: Jesus fled when they wanted to make Him king and presented Himself when they wanted to crucify Him.
Which brings me to the question: WHY DO YE SEEK ME?
What answer will you give?