Friday, May 17, 2013

Signs

Sometimes I wonder about people. During his time among us, Jesus, on a couple of occasions, fed a large crowd (15,000 to 20,000 people) with one person's lunch. On one occasion, when the crowd realized what had happened, they wanted to make Jesus king. Since that wasn't Jesus' mission, he made himself scarce.

Well, that crowd decided to follow him. With a little detective work, the found him again. And Jesus told them that they were only following him because he fed them. He urged them to pursue their relationship with God, because that was the only thing the would feed their spirits in any kind of eternal way. The crowd said, "OK, we want to be right with God. How do we do this?" Jesus responded, "Choose as your first allegiance the one God sent." The crowd correctly recognized that Jesus was referring to himself, so they said, "We will if you show us a miracle."

Now, wait a sec. Didn't he feed this whole crowd just the day before with one person's lunch? That is why the followed him. That is why they wanted to make him king. Not flashy enough? Not mesmerizing enough?

I wonder what would have happened it Jesus did do another miracle. Would they have followed him? Or would they have said, "Sorry not good enough! Do another one!"

So, what is the deal? Were they afraid? Making him king was one thing, but choosing him for first allegiance another? Why do people see, hear and experience something that catapults them into a totally new existence, and others see, hear and experience the same things, and it causes their hearts to freeze?

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