So, anyway, in this chapter, Jesus and His disciples are arriving on the shore after a trip across the Sea of Galilee. This is right after He had fed the 4,000 with seven loaves and a few fish. That's the background for where we pick up. In verse 5, the author tells us that the disciples had forgotten to bring bread with them for the trip. The next verse says that Jesus gives them a warning to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.
Well, the disciples' minds immediately went to the spiritual application, of course. I mean, they were the Lord's chosen 12... of course they were more spiritually minded than the rest of those who followed Jesus. Umm, nope. They began whispering among themselves: "See! I told you He would notice, Peter! He said that because you forgot to pick up those baskets of leftovers!" "Me?! Why was it my job? I thought Matthew or Nathanael would get them...they're the responsible ones! You know I never remember anything!" "Well, now Jesus is upset with us, and He's trying to prove a point! What are we going to do?"
Of course, Jesus noticed all the whispering and knew exactly what was going on. (As He always does!) I like to think maybe He sighed a bit and shook His head. Once again, the guys had missed the spiritual lesson. So He patiently explained in the next few minutes that He was not talking about actual bread...why would He be concerned about that? Didn't they remember that He had just feed thousands of people with a few small loaves and fishes? Why would He be concerned about forgotten bread? He was warning them not to get caught up in the trap that the Pharisees had fallen into of adding to God's law to try to prove their own righteousness.
This struck such a chord with me because I totally do this! It is so easy to get caught up in being a "grocery list" Christian! You know... making sure all the "right" things to do are crossed off our list of what we think Jesus wants from us. Like making sure we sit down and have our "quiet time" so we can say we did it, but not actually having communion with our Lord. Or praying down the prayer request list without really giving voice to heartfelt, intercessory prayer. Or making sure we are on time for church with dressed and pressed kids, but being so frazzled and stressed that we get nothing from our time of worship. The list.
So, once again, I get to learn from the disciples. Who were just regular guys like you and me. Concerned about the grocery list. And I am so thankful that I have access to the same patient, merciful Heavenly Father Who sighs, maybe shakes His head a bit, and patiently redirects my focus to what is important. Not the list. Not the bread. The truth. :)
