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Looking for Jesus?

          After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”  Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.  When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough.  When they had rowed about three or four miles,[b] they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened.  But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.
         The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone.  Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. (John 6:14-24)        

          What more can we say about Jesus walking on the water? It’s a spectacular miracle but it’s been discussed to death. John’s account, which leaves out Peter’s involvement, is comparatively boring. The thing that is usually left out of the descriptions is the crowds. They were a little excited. Jesus had miraculously fed them.  Every time an election comes around, people get excited because their chosen politician is going to fix things, solve our problems, make it easier for us to feed our families. Why wouldn’t they want someone as king who could feed them with so little effort or cost on their part or His. They knew a good thing when they saw it.
          Then, He sent His disciples away. In one of the other accounts, He forced them to get into the boat. How much “king Him” fever did they have? Did fighting the storm take some of the wind out of their sails?
          The next morning, the crowds went looking for Jesus. When they found out He was on the other side of the lake, they got into boats and searched. Like the rest of us, they didn’t really want Jesus to be king. They just wanted their problems solved, their lives made easy, just as people always have in picking their political leaders. I can relate. I often want a knight in shining armor to come along and solve my problems, but then go away and let me live my life as I see fit.
          This seems like a perfect opportunity for Jesus to carry out what they thought He was meant to. The problem was, and is, that doing as the people wanted would have made the people the victors, the ones who gave Him power, and it would have given them the right to remove Him from power the moment He stopped doing what they wanted. In other words, it would have made the people into His god.
         This is our problem, too. We want God in our lives as long as He does what we want. We’re not quite so happy about it when life doesn’t go our way. But it is only because God can and does do things we don’t like that He can be God.

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