Who are your people?
Has anyone here lived in the south? Raise your hands. If you have lived in the south, then this is probably a familiar question for you. When you live in the south and you meet someone, shortly after you tell them your name, they will ask who are your people? Or maybe even, where are your people from? These questions about your people are very important, because this is the first big signal that gives folks a clue as to how to treat you. This question uncovers information about your social status, your place in society. If your family name is a respected one, you are treated with respect. If your family name is unknown in the community, you are treated with suspicion. If you family name has a bad reputation, then you may have a difficult time fitting in.
This is where Jesus finds himself in our text today. The feeding of the five thousand has just occurred. Jesus and his disciples have traveled back across the Sea of Galilee and the crowd has followed. The crowd was very happy about the free meal that Jesus provided, but now they are curious, and want to learn more about this man.
So first, they begin by calling him rabbi. In a way, this is a bit disrespectful because when he was feeding them, they were saying he must be the prophet. Of course they were comparing him to Moses. But now they are calling him rabbi, which means teacher, and there were rabbis all over the place. So, they ask, rabbi, who are your people, where do you come from.
Now Jesus is probably a bit disappointed in them, he hoped they would come to him seeking a deep spiritual lesson, after all, the just fed 5000 people with a few mini-loaves and a couple of fish, but instead, they ask questions about his authority, his social status, his people.
And in a gentle way, Jesus chastises them saying, do not work for the food that perishes, but rather work for the food that brings eternal life. This is the work that God ask of you.
Jesus continues to speak to them about signs and work. And the people ask him for a sign, they want him to prove himself. They tell Jesus that Moses, the prophet, gave the people of his day a sign in the bread from heaven. In effect they are saying, so Jesus, what sign will you give us? Jesus reminds them that it was God, not Moses, who gave the Hebrews bread from heaven. Jesus reminds them that God continues to provide as always. In mentioning bread, Jesus wants them to remember the meal that he has just provided for them. God provided manna from heaven, God through Jesus, continues to provide bread from the earth. Then it seems that a light comes on and the people get it. They say to Jesus, give us this bread always.
And Jesus reveals himself to be that bread with the promise that those who come to him will not hunger - those who believe will not thirst.
The words are words of promise - but they are also words which challenge. People were attracted to Jesus by the gift of bread to feed their bodies. That attraction caused them to seek and find him - expecting more of the same. Instead, Jesus offered them, and us, something larger, something even more sustaining, something more satisfying.
We are probably used to Jesus telling stories with the goal of lifting people from thinking about physical needs to spiritual needs. We are good about recognizing the content of the stories, but sometimes we forget the important context of these stories.
The gospel writer John is writing these words about 70 years after the death and resurrection of Christ. A couple of generations have passed. Most of the people that walked and talked with Jesus were dead. The majority of the people leading this early Christian movement had no firsthand knowledge of Jesus, and they were to some extent, disconnected from their Jewish roots. During the time of this writing, the followers of Christ were being persecuted and even executed by the Romans. This was a time when you paid dearly to be a follower of Christ. So, at least one purpose of John’s gospel was to give these people focus, to affirm their belief in Christ and to give them hope in the face of adversity. John’s goal was to tell them of Christ’s sustaining love.
The gospel writer John of course walked and talked with Jesus. When he writes the story about the feeding of the 5000, and this group that is so attracted to Jesus that they follow him back across the river, he is not just repeating a story. He was there. He knows Jesus to be the one sent by God.
John has seen Jesus. Not just with his physical eyes. John has seen the messiah, the one they had waited for. John knew that to see the messiah was something significant, and it meant that we, as followers, as believers, are expected to respond.
The passage says, our response is to "believe in him who (God) has sent". Actually, this is a mild translation of the Greek. The language is actually much more forceful. The translation is more like embed yourself in, abide in, give your whole self in trust to, be in total solidarity with." That is our response.
Jesus challenges us to see which things perish and which things endure, and to embed ourselves - to abide in, to focus our living on - the things that endure. Because only the things that endure truly satisfy, and only the things that endure bring true life.
John shows us that whenever Jesus is challenged by outsiders to prove his worth, he instead challenges them to see for themselves; to see what perishes, see what endures.
If we can truly embed ourselves in Jesus, abide in Jesus, and open our eyes to see what endures, then our response is to align our lives with what truly lasts and satisfies.
Jesus and John leave us two questions to ponder about what perishes and what endures:
- What are we looking for?
- What have we seen in Jesus?
Queen Anne 
