Seeking for Jesus

John 6:22-24.

The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto His disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples were gone away alone;

(Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:)

When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither His disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.

I hope no one is offended by my use of a cartoon. I don’t usually do that, but this one so perfectly expressed what happens in today’s passage, and then in the next few verses.

Before I try to get underway here, I need to share with you that it has been an absolutely crazy morning here. I’ve been trying to start this post since 10 a.m., and there have been constant interruptions. I finally had a little talk with Jesus: “Lord, I can’t seem to get started this morning. Please put Your hand on all these interruptions and stop them long enough for me to write this post. Keep Satan away! I can only think there is something he doesn’t want me to post, but You are greater than he is. Thank You, Lord.”

Now. It would seem that at least some of the people who had experienced the miraculous meal the day before had camped overnight in the same location. As they began to stir the next morning, they realized that there was no sign of either Jesus or the disciples. Apparently the disciples took the only boat in sight as night descended. They also seem to have observed that Jesus had gone off by Himself, and had not left with the disciples.

Can you imagine the conversation?

“Hey! Did anyone see where those guys with Jesus went?”

“Nope, that was a huge storm last night. I hope they’re not all at the bottom of the sea!”

“Has anyone seen Jesus? I’m getting hungry again!”

“All you ever think of is your belly, Jonas. And no, Jesus has disappeared too. I guess we’re on our own.”

Note: None of that is scripture, okay? Just my imagination.

Parenthetically, John adds in v. 23 that other boats had come from across the sea from the area of Tiberius, on the western side, near to where the miraculous feeding had taken place on the eastern side. Notice that this insertion actually proves the storm was real because the disciples were “rowing against the wind,” rowing from the east into the west.

After making sure Jesus and the disciples were nowhere to be found, as many of the crowd as could find boats went across to Capernaum. When space ran out in the boats, anyone else who wanted to find Jesus must have gone by foot around the northern end of the Sea of Galilee.

Note that Tiberias is a little more than halfway down the western side of the sea. The feeding of the 5000 took place somewhere near Bethsaida, which wasn’t a terribly long walk, for people who were used to traveling by foot, from Capernaum. As closely as I can figure, it was about five miles.

We’d probably have called an Uber today, or at least found a camel to rent 🙂

Thank You, Lord, for giving me this uninterrupted time.