Years ago, our High School choir sang a song with the words,
Just someone's setting of the old proverb, "Curiosity killed the cat."
I have never been certain the proverbial cat was fatally curious - and I can't quote you more of the song. We have certainly used the curiosity of the mouse, the rabbit and of various other animals to trap them. But the cat? Perhaps one of you can help me at the close of the service. The saying warns those who should "mind their own business."
Adam didn't walk around Eden with blinkers on! His eyes were wide open with curiosity and wonder. He noticed the differences between the various birds and animals. He set about giving them names (Gen. 2.19-20).
To say that curiosity is part of how God has made us doesn't imply that curiosity is necessarily good. Adam and Eve's curiosity led them into disobedience and sin. It led to human fallenness by which we continually fall short of the ideal.
Last week we were thinking about the feeding of the five thousand. The response of many to this miracle was curiosity mixed with a group feeling that this might be the promised Prophet and they should make him king (Jn 6.14-15).
Jesus at once withdrew to the hills by himself - was this the old temptation re-presented to him? While he averted their intention, curiosity continued to be the crowd's response.
The crowd stayed around on the other side of the lake. The disciples have left without Jesus - surely he is still here somewhere. Word of the miraculous meal has spread and now other boats from Tiberias have arrived at the meal site.
All are curious. If they "hang around", they may see another miracle - the newcomers had missed yesterday's miracle. Where is Jesus? "Jesus was not there, nor his disciples", so "they got into those boats and went to Capernaum, looking for him" (vv. 22-24).
When at last they found him on the other side of the lake, Jesus said to them, "I am telling you the truth: you are looking for me because you ate the bread and had all you wanted, not because you understood my miracles" (v. 26). In John's gospel, the word for "miracles" is more literally "signs".
I recall an early visit to Melbourne on which we drove through Toorak. We were impressed by the turned telegraph poles and the ornate street signs. I remember thinking then that you could make a real study of the signs - and never go anywhere!
And that was the situation of these people. They had witnessed the signs, but weren't taking the direction of their lives from them. To this curious crowd, Jesus said, "Do not work for food that goes bad; instead, work for the food that lasts for eternal life. This is the food which the Son of Man will give you, because God, the Father, has put his mark of approval on him" (v. 27).
Curiosity is not faith. Ideally, it can lead to faith - and to receiving from the Lord what is far more basic than food. But many people never get beyond curiosity. Jesus performed miracles because the Kingdom of God had come. God was reaching out to people in all sorts of need. But Jesus didn't ever perform miracles in order to persuade people to believe. In fact he didn't trust himself to those who followed him out of curiosity. In John 2 we read that one Passover in Jerusalem "many believed in him as they saw the miracles he performed. But Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew them all. There was no need for anyone to tell him about them, because he himself knew what was in their hearts" (vv. 23-25).
They were present with Jesus when he turned water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana (2.1-11). They heard Jesus send the government official back home to Capernaum - "Go, your son will live!" (4.46-54). They saw the paralysed man at the Pool of Bethzatha pick up his mat and walk (5.1-14). They heard Jesus say to the Jewish authorities, "what I do, that is, the deeds my Father gave me to do, these speak on my behalf and show that my Father has sent me" (v. 36).
And now he has fed five thousand men (plus women and children, so Matthew reminds us - Mt. 14.21). This miracle involved them even more closely - it happened right before their eyes! In both Mark's and Luke's accounts the imperfect tense of the verb "gave" suggests that Jesus kept on distributing to the disciples - as if Jesus only ever had five loaves and two fish. As he broke off and gave it to them, there was still the same amount left over. It multiplied as the Lord gave it to them.
As the story continues into today's reading, Jesus has gone into the hills by himself. The disciples have boarded the boat and set off for Capernaum. It is now night, and still no sign of Jesus. They are rowing hard against a strong wind and heavy swell.
"The disciples had rowed about five or six kilometres when they saw Jesus walking on the water, coming near the boat, and they were terrified" (v. 19). The reassuring voice of Jesus tells them, "Don't be afraid, it is I!" Why were they terrified, afraid? Matthew and Mark who also record this incident, both record their alarm that this must be a ghost (Mt. 14.26; Mk 6.49).
They could understand the amazing humanity and wisdom of Jesus, even his healing powers. But here they see a side of Jesus they haven't seen before. Can this be the same Jesus? Is this some different being altogether? "It is I" beings reassurance that he is one and the same. In Matthew's account it is still a couple of chapters later that Peter calls "the Son of Man" "the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (Mt. 16.13-16) - acknowledging the one person to be both human and divine. Yet even then they still have a long way to go.
Their sense of awe at the miracles and identity of Jesus is not faith. They are on the way, but still not haven't arrived.
It is possible to follow Jesus out of awe - looking for more signs and wonders, convinced that Jesus is the very Son of God - and yet not have faith.
When the crowd asked him, "What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?", Jesus replied, "What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent" (vv. 28-29).
"Working for the food that lasts for eternal life" isn't some meritorious work that will earn God's favour. It is "believing in the one he sent" - trusting in Jesus, depending on him. He, in fact, is "the real bread from heaven" (v. 32). To believe in him is to have a life transformed and focused on his will in this world.
Are you curious about Jesus? Are you over-awed by his identity and power? Don't just be a follower. Put your trust in him as your Saviour and Lord. Then step out in the power of his Spirit to bring "the food that lasts for eternal life" to a hungry world.