Removing Other gods From The Father's House

John 6:16-27 The seamless journey: An encounter with the divine When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, got into a boat, and started across the lake to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The lake became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, * they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, ‘It is I; * do not be afraid.’ Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land towards which they were going. The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the lake saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. * So, when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ After reading this verse, I realized that there was a miracle in the middle of it that is easy to miss, and of course I missed it and had to re-read to discover it. It’s true that when we are busy with our day-to-day activities, we are more likely to miss little signs and miracles of God’s presence and protection. In this particular situation, the disciples left a good while before Jesus did, only to meet up with them in the middle of the lake. Jesus was walking on water. Since they were terrified to see him doing something out of the ordinary like walking on water, Jesus had to calm them down: “Do not be afraid, it is I” There are countless of things that terrify us, but each time Jesus calms us down because divine presence has always such effect on us. There is a need for us to commit to a deep interior communion with Christ even in the midst of our challenging and busy lives. The disciples were on their way to their normal routines and in the midst of it, God showed up. When we encounter the divine, fear is no longer in the picture. When God is in charge, worry doesn’t improve anything. Today we read also from the book of Job. He was a righteous man and when bad things happened to him, he did not curse God or count it against God. He knew beyond shadow of doubt that God was ultimately in charge despite the pain of tremendous loss in his life. Since the disciples encountered Jesus, the Bible says that they reached land immediately. What does this say about journeying with Christ? Miracles happens when one is with Christ! Even terrifying journeys go smoothly because God is carrying you on his back. People were amazed to find Jesus on the other side of the Lake when they didn’t see him board any boat. But Jesus knew the real intention in their hearts because as he said, they came not because of belief but because they ate their fill of the bread. This is an interesting behavior of all living things. We congregate where the source of food is. Even the roots of a tree spread in the direction of where the water and nutrients source are. Jesus is pointing them in the direction of where real food that doesn’t spoil is. He says: “Work for the food that endures for eternal life, which the son of Man will give you…” Often enough we crave things that do not support or enhance our relationship with God. When we chose things that put us at enmity with God, our peace gets taken away. Pope Benedict once wrote: “Enmity with God is the source of all that poison man.” We cannot be in harmony with God when we constantly choose what is opposite God’s ways. Paul begged us to reconcile with God in Christ: “We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor 5: 20). John reveals Christ to us as the one on whom God’s seal is upon. We are to obey Christ’s instruction: Perhaps we are being encouraged to open our interior lives so we can identify areas where we have been pursuing the bread that perishes instead of the bread that does not go stale because it’s the bread of life.