Do You See The Sign?

10th Sunday after Pentecost
August 17, 2003
John 6:14-15

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. (John 6:14-15 NRS).

Several times the Scriptures say that people see but don’t see, or hear but don’t hear. That simply means that we often do not understand or even outright refuse the information that our senses provide us. For example, Jesus spoke of the blind leading the blind, of trying to get the speck out of one’s brother’s eye while missing the beam in one’s own, and of people who could foresee the weather but could not read the obvious signs of the time. We too speak of this phenomenon of being blind to the obvious. We have sayings like "He missed the forest for the trees," or "Love is blind."

Such blindness came upon many or most of the 5000 who ate Jesus' miracle bread and fish. Seeing this extraordinary miracle, they rightly concluded that He was the prophet who is to come into the world. Yet, they were only half right. Though they saw the miracle, they missed the sign. The didn't see the ultimate prophet, the final mediator between people and God who once and for all would put things right between us and God. What they saw was a neo-Moses who could lead the armies of Israel against the Romans. So they tried to take him by force and make him king. As their ancestors had been liberated from the Pharaoh, so now they hoped to be liberated from the Romans. However, both times, God had something much bigger in mind that they failed to grasp: the kingdom of God. Rather than enter the kingdom of God, they settled for manna or bread and human rulers.

What I mean is this: the Exodus from Egypt was not just about the deliverance of Hebrew slaves. It was the spiritual deliverance of mankind. The goal was for God to take and mould a people as his special nation through which be would reveal himself to all people, show the impotency of idolatry and raise up the seed of the woman who was to be the Messiah or Saviour of us all. Physical deliverance of some 2 million people was but a step in God's plan to bring liberation from sin and eternal damnation to the world. A minority of the people saw that in the Exodus. The majority saw nothing but a successful revolution. They quickly complained about food and water, and they were afraid to enter the land of Canaan. Only a few, like Caleb and Joshua, saw God at work and caught the vision of the kingdom of God.

Likewise, these 5000, the children of those who had made the golden calf and killed the prophets, again short-changed themselves by missing the sign and grasping only a chance for some free bread. Oh, there is no doubt that God wanted to feed these people, for Jesus was full of compassion for them. But the miracle was supposed to have been a sign to manifest Jesus as the Prophet who is to come into the world. The people said that; but I say that they missed the sign because they took him for nothing more than a political deliverer. The prophet they saw was not the prophet God had sent.

Listen to the passage in Deuteronomy from which this expectation of a coming prophet arose. Although these nations that you are about to dispossess do give heed to soothsayers and diviners, as for you, the LORD your God does not permit you to do so. The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. This is what you requested of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: "If I hear the voice of the LORD my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die." Then the LORD replied to me: "They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. (Dt 18:14-19 NRS).

On the one hand, this is a general promise about the prophets-beginning with Joshua-who would follow Moses. On the other hand, the Jews came to understand this to refer to one particular prophet, the Messiah. He would be 'like' Moses. Having eaten Jesus' bread like Israel ate the manna, the people exclaim, This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world. They were so close to the truth, yet so far. For the next thing Jesus will say to them is, Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. They saw the possibility of free food; they saw a political reformer and saviour. They did not see God in Christ reconciling the world to himself; they did not see the beginning of a new creation, the kingdom of God. They missed the sign!

What went wrong here? They did not understand Moses, so they did not understand Jesus. For when Moses spoke of the prophet to come, He spoke not of a king but of a mediator. Moses said, Although these nations that you are about to dispossess do give heed to soothsayers and diviners, as for you, the LORD your God does not permit you to do so. Soothsayers and diviners are mediators between ordinary people and the spirit world. They try to get information from the spirits and to harness and manipulate their power. God forbade that nonsense. That's the devil's game. Instead, he appointed prophets like Moses in accordance with the wishes of the people. For at the time when God appeared on Mt. Sinai and spoke the Ten Words to the people in a great voice with smoke and lightening, the people were afraid of God. They asked Moses to go meet with God but to spare them from this direct contact with the Creator.

Moses, you see, was a mediator. He stood between God and the people. Moses was not their king. The Lord was their king, or at least he was supposed to be. This prophecy, then, speaks of a mediator not a king. Had the 5000 understood the Scriptures, they would have known that. Seeking only an earthly king, they missed the true mediator for humanity. Yet they really needed this mediator.

Why was Israel afraid of God when he appeared on Sinai? Because they were sinners face to face with God, the God whom they doubted though he did great miracles, the God against whom they complained, the God to whom they really could not entrust their lives. They were ashamed of themselves and afraid of God. Yet they needed and wanted him. Therefore they needed a mediator between them and God.

Moses was a great mediator. He spoke God's word and often pleaded with God not to destroy a slothful, sinful people. Yet he was mortal. He died and the manna stopped. They needed another prophet then another. Then came Jesus, the prophet. Once for all he appeased the wrath of God by dying for his people. Then he rose from the dead and sat down at the right hand of God where he always intercedes for his people. He has established a permanent link between us and God. Sin, death and the devil have no permanent power over us because Jesus defeated the devil, paid for our sins and will raise us up on the last day.

That's why the 5000 saw the miracle but missed the sign. What good is a king to a man entering his hour of death if that king cannot save him from God' wrath? What good is a morsel of bread to a man dead in sin? They were ready to exchange eternal salvation for some bread like Esau traded his inheritance for some stew.

In the same way, people today must see the Christ. In vain, the 5000 saw bread and a king. At other times, people saw healings and even resurrections. Yet even if the world were gorged with food, doctors, medicines and machines, we would still need the Christ. He redeemed us! Without that hope, all these other things are nothing more than embalming fluid for 6 billion corpses. Fortunately, as Paul said, The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

By the time I was 20 years old, I had already seen enough poverty and misery to know that I could never eliminate them. I have learned that, with humanity in a fallen state, we will not eliminate these things even if we could. So what are we to do? God said to Moses, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. That Word became flesh and dwelt among us. That Word brings life and forgiveness. That Word told us to go make disciples by baptizing and teaching them what he taught us. So now I must cling to that incarnate Word of God and see that all I do and say presents Him to people who need Him.

Not all Christians see it that way. Some want to teach people to mobilise into an armed resistance against a corrupt government as if by this action they will bring about a sort of heaven on earth. These are the proponents of Liberation Theology and their salvation is earth bound. The 5000 who wanted to make Jesus king by force were advocates of Liberation Theology.

Others seem to think of Jesus primarily as a prophet of social justice and reform. The issue for them, is not deep human corruption but people caught in unfortunate circumstances. If we just improve their social, educational and material well-being, they will enter the kingdom of God. Yes, we must give attention to such issues. However, people need not only social charity, they need faith in Christ, to be born again! They need not only to eat and be filled, they need to see the sign: Jesus, the mediator between God and all of humanity. Social charity is the result of true faith; it does not create true faith. Along with our social charity, people must hear the word, they must see Jesus.

Alleviating hunger, poverty and illiteracy, overthrowing corrupt governments and whatever other social evils there are in the world is important. But that truly happens only when a person turns to Christ. Do you see the sign? Bread without Christ is just bread. A king without Christ is just a king. Jesus is the prophet who came into the world, our mediator with God. Follow him!