Prove it ... again. John 6.30-34

Can I be honest here?  Their response made me roll my eyes.  I thought to myself, ‘Are you kidding me?  You want him to prove it to you again—do another miracle, and then you’ll believe in him?’  After all, they had heard about his healings, they had heard about how he saved the wedding couple from disaster by supplying wine when theirs ran out—yes, he did so by turning water into wine, his first miracle.  They had heard him teach—why, no one talked like this man. Folks walked miles and then sat for hours just to hear him teach!  And then they had sat on the grass when the food just kept coming and coming, all from two little sardines and the bread from a boy’s lunch—so much food that they all ate until they were full, and there was actually food left over. 

Never mind that.  That was yesterday.  ‘What do you got for me today? Show me, and then I will trust you,’ seemed to be the cry of the individual. Give me another sign.  Take a look:

“Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”  John 6.30-34

They were demanding of another sign, so that they could believe.  What do you think about that--short memory span?  So consumed by the world around them that they had to have another sign, and then another sign to believe in Jesus?  Yes, at first, it bugged me.  I thought, ‘how many signs do you need? You people are an irritating, bull-headed lot!  How dare you demand more of my Jesus!’ 

But I continued to think—they are no different from many I know, myself included, at times.  ‘What have you done for me lately, God?  I will truly walk unabashedly with you when you show yourself in my life, when I see evidence of you working around me.’  Unbelievers oft promise faith if God will just ‘save their child’ or do this or that seemingly impossible thing, and then when he does, they find a way to reduce his work to happenstance, coincidence, or the marvels of medical science . . . anything to keep from surrendering their wills to the all-holy God.  

I continued thinking . . . ‘show us a miraculous sign’, ‘give us that bread every day,’ they said.  Maybe that is just the correct position of heart and mind we believers ought to hold as we begin a new day.  And then, we go to his Word to consume his bread, hungry for new and fresh manna, the words of life that will feed us and sustain us.  We read and remember what great miracles he spoke into being, we recall and praise his work in thanksgiving in our own lives each day, and we stay ever-seeking the Bread of Life, desperate for more of him—for these indeed are the proofs of the One we love.

Look for him today,

Christine