January 10, 2008 John 6:28

01/10/2008

John 6:28 - 30 (HCSB)

²⁸“What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. ²⁹Jesus replied, “This is the work of God: that you believe in the One He has sent.” ³⁰“What sign then are You going to do so we may see and believe You?” they asked. “What are You going to perform?

This question comes to Jesus on the morning after He walked on the water.

Just the day before this question, because of His miracles, and specifically, the feeding of the 5000, the crowds wanted to make Jesus their earthly king. Knowing this, He slipped away from them. In the evening, the 12 apostles boarded a boat and headed across the see of Galilee. The crowd knew Jesus was not with them, but they went on ahead to the other side. When the apostles arrived with Jesus on board, they knew something miraculous had happened.

So in the morning they asked: “What can we do to perform the works of God?” This sounds like an innocuous question, innocent enough. The people asking the question, we can presume, were simply wanting to be more like Jesus because they recognized that he was from God.

But I think Jesus’ answer confused them. His answer: “believe in the One He has sent.”

I think that very often, the world gets caught up in expecting greater things and misses the simplicity of Jesus’ message. Sure He performed miracles, but that was because of His compassion for people – not as a demonstration of His power. In fact, many times, following a miracle, Jesus would tell the recipient not to tell about it. This is because Jesus wanted people to believe in Him for His message, not for the entertainment value of His miracles.

Even today, some churches emphasize the miracles and signs more than the simplicity of the message: “Believe in the One He has sent.” A disbelieving world stands around and asks for a sign just as those same people in Galilee. The day before, they wanted to make Jesus a king because of the miracles, and the next day, they are again asking for a sign “so that we may see and believe you.”

Our world today stumbles on the simplicity of the Gospel. Our society, education, parents, and even friends encourage us to work hard for our goals. And then when confronted with the greatest gift of all, we struggle to understand it’s simplicity. How can anything worth having be so easy to obtain?

Therein lies the irony. Our salvation is a gift. It is a gift which requires no action on our part other than to believe. Pray today that you can help demonstrate the simplicity of the Gospel to a world looking for a sign.

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