Not Your Genie in a Bottle
The problem with the crowds in today’s reading (John 6) is that they were looking for what Jesus could do for them. They viewed Jesus as kind of a vending machine / genie (not) in a bottle / sugar daddy. One of the problems with that is that it kind of gets everything backwards, first because it shouldn’t be about what Jesus can do for us but what we can do for Him. God doesn’t exist to serve us, we exist to serve Him. And second, because Jesus does want to give something, but it’s … Jesus. That’s why He says, “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.”
Reading this it’s very easy for me to think these people are dumb, but if I’m honest I’m a lot like them. My prayers are filled with me asking God to give me things and do things for me. And I have the chance everyday to “feed” on Jesus and find life, but most days I feed on something else, thinking it will give me life, only to be disappointed.
You too?