The story
of John’s gruesome death at the beginning of chapter 14 brings us back again to
the question of Jesus’ identity. Remember that John had wondered while he was in
prison whether Jesus was the one they had expected or not; he had wondered, in
other words, just who Jesus is. The question haunts the Gospel at every step.
Today,
we get two more glimpses into the answer. First, Jesus feeds 5,000 men (not
counting women and children). In the first instance, it is a glance back to
Moses, because in the wilderness, when they had no food, God provided bread (Exodus
16). This is just one more piece of Jesus bringing the Old Testament forward to
its ultimate fulfillment. Of course, if we’re paying careful attention, we’ll
notice that although the story goes back to the days of Moses, it is really God
Himself who provides the manna. And if we go all the way back to Genesis
1-3, we’ll realize that the world was created to abound in food and that it was
only the curse of sin that made the earth resist our efforts to bring a living
out of it. In this one little story, God is bringing to fulfillment what He
started in the Exodus; He’s giving a foretaste of the restoration of the creation
that awaits on the last day; and there’s the hint—who’s Jesus? Well, He looks a
lot like God Himself.
That
same hint is in the incident of walking on the water, too. A couple of cool Old
Testament moments: Psalm 104:3, “The Lord makes the clouds His chariot and
rides on the wings of the wind,” and Job 38:11, “The Lord said to the sea, ‘This
far you may come and no farther.” Who commands wind and wave? Yahweh of Israel.
Who commands wind and wave? Jesus of Nazareth? Yes, Jesus of Nazareth! No
wonder His disciples worshiped Him and said, “You are the Son of God.” Of
course, they hadn’t thought through what that meant yet. (Son of God was probably
more a statement about Jesus’ royalty and messiahship than a statement about
His deity.) But the hints are there. Jesus is clearly more than meets the eye.
Great writing! Thank you.
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