Day 11 - The same power today

Reading: John 6:1-24

What’s your experience of seeing miracles here in 21st century Chichester? The same miraculous power which Jesus bought to bear in the gospels is the very same that is present with us today and which we teach our children about in Sunday school.

Today’s scripture captures that well known story of how Jesus fed a crowd of more than 5000 with 5 loaves and two fishes and also walked on water and calmed a storm. We see how, despite experiencing 3 earlier miracles, some of his disciples still needed to learn to have faith and recognise the potential of God’s sovereign power through Jesus.

But what of the crowd? We know that the Jews of the time were under some pretty serious oppression from the Romans and that they were awaiting a new prophet as foretold by Moses in Old Testament scriptures.  Their expectation was very likely to be a Moses-like prophet, a man who would bring strong military leadership.  This is why we read that Jesus withdrew soon after, knowing that the crowd intended to make him king by force. 

There is a danger that, with the familiarity of this miracle and the passing of time, we read of Jesus’ sovereign power in these examples as merely stories and we lose the awesomeness of the miraculous wonder which was displayed in front of a crowd of over 5000. We must recognise the power at work in these miracles as coming from the very same God that we call our heavenly Father today, the very same God that allows miracles to occur in our lives today, whether we choose to identify and recognise that it’s his power at work or not.  Soon after today’s passage Jesus draws the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 to a brilliant conclusion by teaching that, “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will not go hungry.”

Response

Dear heavenly Father, thank you for your Word which helps us to understand the amazing detail of your power through Jesus.  Please would you help me through your Spirit to expect and recognise your sovereign power in my life today.

James