Genesis 12:3b

I'm still in John 6 and will be for awhile. The conversation Jesus had with these Jewish people is so revealing about the contrast of mindsets. The word that comes to mind is "trajectory." When aiming for or at something it is important to have the right trajectory. Romans 3:23 speaks of falling short of the glory of God and Hebrews 3-4 strongly remind us of how the Jews fell short of the rest they were promised. Their bodies fed by manna for forty years died in the desert and never entered the promised land. They were so focused on their comfort or their misery, their earthly life, that they fell short of what God wanted to give them much sooner. The forty years of wanderings was so unnecessary. So is much of our wanderings. We could enter in so much sooner if we knew what we were looking for.

In the context of John 6 we see a people who are desperate to regain their sovereignty, their land, and their nation. The Romans, the Greeks, the Persians, and the Babylonians have controlled them for 600 years. They see in Jesus a leader like Moses who can feed them manna from heaven and lead them to retake the Promised Land. How short-sighted they were! They thought since God had promised this land to their forefather Abraham that their aspirations were godly. They believed that they were pursing the will of God. This was not just a selfish desire. This was rooted in the history of the Old Testament, in the very promise of God to Abraham. "I will make you the land I will show you, make your name great, and make you a great nation." This was as far as they could see into God's promise. They missed the most important and true part of it, i.e. "and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Gen.12:3b) Their trajectory only went as far as Genesis 12:1-3a. God was about Genesis 12:3b.

So when the Jews started talking about the bread Moses gave them in the wilderness and that Jesus might supply this bread for them, they were so falling short of what God wanted for them. This was Genesis 12:1-3a thinking. Jesus was the true bread from heaven sent not by Moses but by God Himself. Manna was merely a shadow of what God wanted to give them, that being the true bread, when eaten would alleviate true hunger. They longed for the picture on the box instead of the true contents of the box. How easy it is for us to pursue things of this world, even good things, and never raise our sights for a more accurate trajectory. Here are the coordinates: Genesis 12:3b.