Just Loan Me the Power

"Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal." Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" (John 6:27-28)

Jesus is trying to get us to realize the larger context in which we are living. We are so accustomed to only living in reference to our physical world, our own small emotional needs and only the relationships that we can see and feel and touch, that it is very difficult for us to believe that there is a far more significant reality surrounding us that has more impact on us than what we are used to seeing. The people in this story had the very same problem that we do today. They were so caught up in their own plans, their own view of what their needs were, their own desires for revenge against their enemies and to have greater political power that they could not see the far greater treasures Jesus wanted to give to them.

I believe that when Jesus said to not work for food which perishes, He was not so much talking about quiting any kind of work to support ourselves financially but was talking about the priorities that we have as to where we apply the most attention and effort. What am I focusing on the most? Where do I give my greatest attention and allegiance? What am I depending on to bring me the things I need for life? What is my perception of how my needs are going to be met in the next few days and weeks?

These are not hypothetical questions for me today. These are very real and pressing questions that I am facing everyday right now in my own life. With my normal channels of income almost totally lacking and my new business still limping along bringing in less than our bills demand, I am tempted each day to begin to stress out, to worry, to become frantic and cast about for some way to provide for myself. But at the same time I sense that having these feelings and emotions is in direct conflict with the explicit teachings of Jesus to not worry, to rest in my Father's care and love and provision for me while at the same time cooperating with the plans that He has to give me that provision.

As I look back at how I got here I cannot fail to see the hand of God and His leading in my past history. I am also reminded that the condition of my own spirit under these kinds of circumstances is of far more importance to God than my ability to pay my bills. It is so much easier to beg God to provide for me the way I think He should do, say to set me up with a very lucrative income source so that I wouldn't have to bother Him so much about where my money is going to come from, rather than to hear Him reminding me that He is in the business of challenging my perceptions of how reality operates.

But challenge me He does, and on a very regular basis. I do feel that I am finally starting to respond to Him a little better, a little more relevantly than I often have in the past. He has been teaching me that I need to pay attention immediately to the condition of my spirit whenever I am tempted to worry and stress out about anything. For to worry or feel afraid that my needs are not going to be met is a subtle but very effective way for the enemy to discredit God's goodness and care for me. It infects and discounts my witness to those around me that God can be trusted to care for us even when we don't know how He is going to do that.

As we were riding to town the other day I began discussing this passage with my wife. She commented that maybe these people wanted to have the power for themselves to work miracles like Jesus did when they asked Him this question. I had never thought of that before but it suddenly made perfect sense to me. They well likely may have begun to think that if Jesus Himself was not willing to employ His supernatural powers to provide for their needs and help them overthrow the Roman armies, then if He would just teach them the 'secret code' so to speak, then they could go ahead and do it themselves. If He couldn't appreciate the obvious crisis they were in politically and financially and want to help them more consistently, then maybe at least He could help them learn how to do things like He could do so they could then multiply His efforts and accomplish much more than just one man could do.

I am sure their imaginations had already been very creative as they discussed among themselves how their nation could benefit from such superpowers as this teacher displayed. Maybe they had begun compiling the various kinds of miracles that He had performed and had begun to think what these sorts of advantages could provide for them as they fulfilled their national dreams that had been cherished for years. The Jews had eagerly been waiting for the promised Messiah to show up and deliver them from oppression. Their religious leaders had painted glowing pictures of national greatness and power and had founded all of these aspirations on the prophecies from the Scriptures. The people had been trained from childhood to believe in these dreams, to be fiercely loyal to their religion, their race and their national identity and to despise any who did not fit their mold. Many had worked very hard to develop purity in their religion so that God would have a people He could use to assist the Messiah when He came in His plans to conquer the world for the Jews. They yearned for a superhero to rescue them.

As these people saw the powers of Jesus displayed in healing the sick, multiplying food and even walking across stormy waters as was recently rumored, their excitement of the day before began to return. Even though they were very frustrated with Jesus for spoiling their plans to make Him a conquering king immediately the day before, they still refused to give up their dreams since He seemed to be the only viable option around as a potential Messiah. It was clear that He was certainly different than the average person claiming to be the Messiah – and there was no shortage of them in those days. It was just that His quirky ways and unusual teachings seemed to undermine their national aspirations and got in the way of fulfilling the expectations that they had believed in so firmly all of their lives.

So instead of trying again to get Him to be their king and superhero, they decided on another tactic; they asked Jesus to show them how to work the works of God for themselves. But just what did they have in mind when they asked this question? Just what kind of works were they thinking about anyway? Did they think of performing miracles to bless the sick, heal the broken-hearted and bring freedom to those caught in the traps of sin like Jesus was doing? Or were they more intent on exploiting these supernatural abilities to restore their wounded from battles with the Romans and shorten up the supply lines to their troops as their armies advanced ever further to conquer the world and make the Jews the dominate force on earth?

If Jesus was saying to not work for the food that perishes, then they felt that maybe He was telling them that they no longer needed to work for their food since He was now introducing a simpler, easier way to provide for their needs. Just the previous day He had multiplied a little lunch to feed over five thousand very hungry people and if this arrangement could be put into place every day then their time could be freed up to organize and empower an army to fight off their enemies and take over the world as their teachers had promised they could do. Now they felt they were starting to see more clearly how all this could actually take place. Now if only Jesus would just train them how they could perform miracles and provide for themselves as He had demonstrated the day before everything could begin to fall into place. What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God? You know, do things like superheros do them.

How often do we dream of greatness, of gaining advantage over those who oppose us, of achieving all that we have been taught is to happen by our religious or political trainers? How much of the time have our plans come up against the ways of God and we feel frustrated that God just doesn't seem to be cooperating with us very well? We pray for more money so we can have our needs met but don't realize that our physical needs pale in comparison to the unseen crisis in our spiritual condition. If we want to get an idea of how much this pervades our thinking, just take note of how many movies and shows we are drawn to that demonstrate the superpowers of superheros to do the kinds of things we long to do.

We keep begging God to work miracles for us and even become jealous of people whom God seems to be blessing or healing. We sometimes view miracles as a confirmation of truth so that if someone has the ability to bring about miracles of healing or financial blessing we are ready to listen to whatever they teach us in order to benefit from the power that seems to accompany their ministry.

But have we forgotten that the enemy of our souls also is a superhero? He has plenty of supernatural power and is quite ready to provide all sorts of benefits to us if we are willing to go along with his distorted pictures of God and promote his ideas in conflict with God's Word. How often we may be ready to compromise teachings of the Word of God when it seems that all the miraculous evidence is endorsing a ministry that teaches something a little different. There is a serious hazard in miracles that was a real risk even in the minstry of Jesus. Many wanted to follow Him around simply because of His powers to heal, to raise the dead and do all sorts of unusual things. You never knew what was going to happen next so people wanted to press in and see if they could experience the excitement of personally watching Him perform some outstanding feat.

But Jesus did not want people following Him because of His supernatural exhibitions. That may come as a shock to many, but Jesus at times discouraged people for following Him for those reasons and even said things that so offended them that they turned away from Him in disgust. This very scenario takes place later in this same chapter. Jesus did not come to show off how much power He could display to impress people with His abilities, rather He came to reveal the humility, the compassion, the tenderness and forgiveness and love that had been lost sight of in people's tragically distorted pictures of God. He only worked miracles to demonstrate the compassion of God for humanity, not to show off superior abilities or draw attention to Himself as being superior to everyone else.

Jesus' methods were in stark contrast to the typical methods and teachings of religious people. Jesus did not display authority the way we usually think of authority – someone who is powerful and emphatic and overcomes argument with overwhelming logic and compulsion or rely on force. Jesus did not come to display superior power over the powers of earth the way we think of power. He did not plan to out-gun the enemies of Israel, much to the frustration and anger of the Jews around Him. Rather, Jesus came to reveal the heart of the Father. And the revelation that He brought was so much in contradiction to the picture of God that the religious leaders had presented that His teachings and demonstrations aroused the wrath of everyone who found their powers being undermined by these new ideas.

The main reason that Jesus was killed by mainstream religion was because His picture of God was so stridently different from the beliefs everyone else cherished. The normal views of God that most religions present involve power, control, fear, intimidation and force. The view of God that Jesus presented was so opposite to these that the religious leaders quickly realized that all their control over the masses and all their influence would soon be lost if they allowed Jesus' ideas to spread much farther. Their power base was being threatened, their teachings were being discounted and their credibility was being challenged. Their whole system of religion was being threatened and along with that their sense of national identity. This is exactly why Caiaphas at Jesus' trial made the statement that he did. ...take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish. (John 11:50)

How am I resisting the revelations of God that the Spirit presents to me? How often do I allow my own plans, my own desires for gratification, my own agenda and views of how things should progress to shape the requests that I make to God for divine intervention? How easy it is to sit in front of the tube and vicariously experience what it might feel like to have a superhero rescue me and make me feel important. It can also be a tempting shortcut to ask God to just loan me the power to work miracles so that I can take care of my own needs more readily. But to do so would be to circumvent the much greater plans of God to align me with His ways of living and relating and loving.

Father, forgive me for being so narrow-minded, so stuck in my views of life and religion that I fail to see Your ways. Increase my capacity to see things the way heaven views them, to look outside of my own narrow needs to be a channel of blessing to others. Cleanse me of the false ideas about You that keep me stuck in my prejudices and fears. Continue to reveal Your heart to me and draw me into a more intimate, trusting relationship with You. Make my life a demonstration of Your power to transform a hard-hearted, selfish man into a humble, caring, loving child of the King. Reveal Your true greatness through Your work in my heart – for Your name's sake.