The Jesus We Want

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” John 6:66-67

You know how some restaurants give you points or maybe a punch on a ticket, and eventually you can get a free appetizer, or a free pizza, or a free dessert? We all love free stuff, but free food has got to be the best!

You probably know the story in John 6 where Jesus provided free food for the five thousand. No, he didn’t bring in food trucks. He took what little bit of food one well-prepared youngster had brought with him, and he miraculously multiplied it to feed everyone. In the end, there was much more left over than they had started with.

Imagine what it would be like to be in that crowd, to look around and see thousands of people eating when clearly there was nowhere to get such a tremendous amount of food. It was free food, and a miracle to boot!

Not surprisingly, the next day the people crossed the Sea of Galilee to find Jesus again. But Jesus was not exactly pleased. He said, “You seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled,” (John 6:26).

They wanted more free food, and we can hardly blame them. If Jesus could just miraculously multiply food, why not do it for his disciples every day? It would make life a lot easier.

But Jesus started talking to them instead about “food which endures to everlasting life,” (v.27) and “the true bread from heaven,” (v.32). The more he spoke, the more offended they became, until in verse 66 it says, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.”

They had come looking for one thing, and Jesus had offered them something else.

And I would argue that this happens with us too.

Some people come for the love, the forgiveness, the mercy, but they want it with no strings attached. This is the Jesus they envision and the Jesus they want. They expect to be accepted as they are.

Others come looking for a to-do list of things they must accomplish in order to be acceptable to God. They are big on following the commandments, but like the Pharisees of Jesus’s day, they often neglect “the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith,” Matthew 23:23).

Notice what Jesus said to them: “These [smallest commandments] you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone,” (Matthew 23:23).

Whether we come to Jesus for the checklist or for the good feelings, we need to be careful, because Christianity involves both. God expects us to keep the commands AND have hearts of kindness and compassion.

And yet neither of those really gets to the heart of Jesus’s mission. He didn’t come to take care of all our physical needs through constant miracles. He didn’t come to congratulate us for how good we already are. He didn’t come to point his finger at us, reminding us to tithe our spices. And he didn’t come to make our lives easier.

Jesus came as the “brightness of [God’s] glory and the express image of His person” (Hebrews 1:3) so that we could know God.

In Jeremiah 9:23 God says we should not glory in wisdom or might or riches. I think we can safely say that we should not glory in our checklist or in our own goodness. In verse 24, God tells us what we can glory in:

Let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight,” says the LORD.

Perhaps you’ve found Jesus to be different than what you expected. Perhaps he is asking, “Will you also go away?” He wants you to stay, but stay “for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 3:8). It may require more of you than you expected, but where else would you go? Jesus has the words of eternal life (John 6:68).

Dear God, it’s so easy to get hung up on our own ideas about what’s right and wrong and about how we should live our lives. Our own desires get in the way and the influence of the world is very strong. Purify our hearts, Lord, and give us the desire to know You— truly know You— and may we have the humility before You as our Creator and our Savior to submit to Your words and Your will no matter what. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

by Christie Cole Atkins