The Preachers of a Different Gospel by Femi B. Adeleye

Author:Femi B. Adeleye [Adeleye, Femi Bitrus]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2016-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

In chapter six of the Gospel according to John, we are told that “a great crowd of people” followed Jesus “because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick”. All through his earthly ministry, large crowds followed Jesus. Everywhere he went his teaching, works and lifestyle drew crowds to him. In this passage, the crowd that pressed on him by the Sea of Galilee was at least five thousand strong. Women and children were probably not counted. Jesus soon realized that the crowd was hungry. The people who followed him had done so without bringing along any mealie meal, matoke, gari or kenkey (meals made from maize or cassava).

Only a young lad had followed Jesus fully prepared for any emergency related to the stomach. His mother or whoever was responsible for him had equipped him with a good lunch box consisting of five small loaves of barley bread and two small fish. By the standards of our modern-day faith generation, this boy would be considered “out of sync” with Jesus. How could he follow Jesus without expecting a miracle? How could he have been more concerned about “daily bread” than the message of the kingdom? He must have been faithless not to expect a miracle from the Master himself.

Well, it turned out that the boy who came prepared was part of the miracle for the day. It was his little lunch that Jesus distributed to feed the whole crowd. They all ate until they were full; the leftovers filled twelve baskets. The people were so impressed with this miraculous sign that they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is come into the world.” If they had had their way, they would have forcefully made Jesus their king, but he withdrew to be alone for a while. News of the feeding of the crowd spread across the region, and boatloads of people from Tiberias came looking for Jesus. On arriving at the place where the miracle had happened, they were not a little disappointed by the fact that Jesus had moved on. Back into their boats they went and proceeded to Capernaum, where Jesus had joined his disciples after his withdrawal from the crowd.

When the people eventually caught up with him, Jesus knew exactly why they had come after him. “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill” (John 6:26). He then warned them, “Do not work for the food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

Taken aback, they asked, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus responded, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” They soon went back to their original motive by reminding Jesus that their ancestors ate manna in the desert and quoted Scripture to enlighten him, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

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