English Standard Version
Imagine that you're lost. You're trying to find a restaurant, but you're hopelessly lost. In frustration, after missing what should have been your turn for the 5th time, you wander into a storefront and ask for directions. You've got a map (remember those?) unfolded on the counter, and you're imploring the owner of the store to help you find where you're trying to go.
Meanwhile, the store you've happened to walk into is a 5-star restaurant offering the finest dining you could ever imagine. The owner, who has been cooking there since she was a child, is amazed that you haven't noticed the aroma of the fantastic food she's cooking. She's trying to help you realize that you're standing in a place offering far richer food than the place you're going, and she's going to give it to you for free, but all you can focus on is her giving you directions to the place you're certain that you need to go. You keep asking, and she keeps trying to shift your vision, but you're dead set on getting to where you think you need to be.
That's sort of how Jesus works with us in this story. The people have been fed by Jesus, and they want to continue being fed by Jesus, but all they can think of is literal bread. They can't imagine anything more than that. They simply want Jesus to tell them what to do to keep getting free bread.
Jesus, meanwhile, is trying to give them eternal life.
They just want free bread.
Jesus is constantly trying to help us experience more than we can ask or imagine. He's trying to give us eternal things, richer treasures than we can think to ask for.
The challenge for us is to be still and recognize that all we can do is receive, and that we need to open our minds and hearts to let God stretch our imaginations and help us lean into the gifts from our Father in heaven. There are greater riches than the mind can comprehend. Just receive.
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