May 1 2006

Jn 6:22-29 [After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.] The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat, but only his disciples had left. Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread when the Lord gave thanks. When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him,“Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said,“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for menot because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”So they said to him,“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them,“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.” Believe in Jesus...the work of God. The message I get is to put aside the worldly goods that are temporal. I should set my sights on the eternal and seek that now in my life. The people saw that there was only one boat and yet one more person than the boat would fit was there on the other shore, Jesus. I think that Jesus is saying here also to not rely so much on signs and being fed to look beyond the physical. There are times in my life that the physical which included food is a comfort. In a sense it is good in another it is a substitute for the true solace and spiritual food of God. Reliance on the physical in my estimation should be practical and simple and excesses continually assessed and removed from my daily life. These physical wants which are not needs have a way of daily creeping or squeezing into my life. To enjoy life and the fruits of labor is a good thing but over attachment or over use of the material is a diversion, distraction and detour from the eternal. The ideal spiritual life is unselfish, caring and compassionate which leaves little room or time for physical overindulgence or luxuries.