John's Exodus

John 6 is, I believe, the single longest continually told narrative about Jesus in all the gospels. It's full of so many rich places to meditate, you could spend a month in it. But this time through, I noticed something about the big-picture that I thought was kind of cool.

John 6 starts with Jesus feeding the 5,000. It's one of the few stories that is in all four gospels. Act 1 is a bread miracle.

Then the disciples set out on a boat across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus follows later, walking on the water. He joins the disciples in the boat and immediately they're on the other side. Act 2 is a miracle of crossing over a body of water.

The next day, the crowd joins them and starts to hound Jesus with questions. They reference Moses and the manna their forefathers received. Jesus responds that it wasn't Moses but his Father who fed the people in the wilderness.

The conversation gets more shrill and more intense as Jesus presses them to deal with their heart issues of unbelief. Jesus says that he's the bread of life. John then writes that the Jews among them began to grumble.

This is the first time he's specifically mentioned "the Jews" in the story, even though they most likely make up most of the crowd from the previous day. And grumbling/complaining/murmuring are the most frequently used descriptors of the Jews in the Exodus as they grumble about no food, grumble about no water, grumble about Moses, grumble about God, grumble, grumble, grumble.

Finally Jesus says that they have to eat his flesh and drink his blood or they won't have any life in them. At this the Jews say among themselves: "This is hard teaching, who can accept it?" (v. 60) and then many of them turn back. Act 3 is a failure of faith, specifically among the Jews in the story.

The Jews in the Exodus story get to the edge of the Promised Land and they fail. The people who inhabit the land look like giants. They complain that they can't possibly defeat them militarily. So the people wander for 40 years in the desert until that generation dies off. Then Joshua leads them into the land they were promised. Israel fails to live up to her calling. It is a theme that will be re-enacted throughout the OT.

Here, we see again that a crowd of Jews do not live up to their calling. They fail at the same place that their ancestors did in the desert--right at the brink of the life they were promised.

Only this time, there are 12 who do not fail. Jesus specifically asks the 12 if they too want to leave. Peter speaks on behalf of the 12 that there is no where else for them to go. This small band of haggard disciples will be (to quote theologian NT Wright) True Israel. This tribe of 12 will succeed (except for Judas) where Israel failed time and time again.

From this remnant, Jesus will build his church and will launch the revolution to change the world. Act 4, the hanging-on-by-the-skin-of-their-teeth faithfulness of the 12.

The longest single story of Jesus' life. The Exodus story, re-cast, with bread, a miraculous water crossing, grumbling of the crowd, Jesus at the center and the twelve disciples passing the test that Israel did not. At least, I think that might be what's going on here.