John 6:22-26 - Ever seeing, never perceiving

6:22-24

After the feeding of the five thousand, and all the healings, the crowds wanted to see Jesus again. They had tried to work out where He was, but were unable to do so because things didn’t add up. Quite reasonably they had not factored in the possibility of Jesus walking on water! Perhaps this is part of the reason why John records this incident. So the crowds went off to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

6:25

We now come to the real meat of the chapter, or perhaps it should be the real bread. The crowds had finally found Jesus and ask Him when He got there. Remember his walking on the water had confused them to say the least! We need to remember that God does not tell us everything that He does, and He does not always act in the way we think He should, and He also does things that we never imagined He would. So the basis for our confidence is trust in God, knowing His love and goodness, not in our understanding of God. Of course we should seek to understand Him and His word (that is part of the reason I write this stuff!), but knowing Him is the heart of the matter.

6:26

Now this seems a strange thing to say, “you did not seek me because you saw signs”. This seems to run counter to the facts. The reason they were there was because Jesus had fed the five thousand, and prior to that He had healed many people, that was why they were there. So what does Jesus mean? The people were there purely because Jesus had fed them bread. They didn’t care how He had done it. He could have rolled up in a Tesco delivery van and started handing out free pizza’s, they would have been equally happy whether they got the food by natural means or by miraculous means, it was the free food that counted in their eyes! They didn’t really see the miracle, did not think it about its significance. They truly did not see any sign, they just saw bread.  As it says in Isaiah 6:9, they were ever seeing but never perceiving. Two people can see or hear the same thing, and yet see or hear something completely different. We need to be careful about the eyes we see with. If our hearts are full of greed, envy, hate or pride we see something completely different than if our hearts are hearts of faith, hope and love.