Pascha II Saturday: John 6: 14-27
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At that time, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, those men said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went. 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. And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
St. John records only seven miracles of Christ in the fourth Gospel, and he calls them not miracles (thaumata) but signs (semeia). He uses this term not to downplay the miraculous nature of these actions, which is manifest and needs no emphasis, but rather to raise our lowly minds from the miracles’ temporal effects to their eternal meaning – what they tell us about Who Jesus is. These seven signs, which prepare the soul of the reader to receive the greatest Sign of all – the Eighth Sign given on the Eighth Day, the Resurrection of the Lord – are 1. changing water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana (chapter two), 2. healing the nobleman’s son (chapter four), 3. healing the paralytic at the Sheep’s Pool (chapter five), 4. feeding five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes (chapter six), 5. walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee (chapter six), 6. healing the man born blind (chapter nine), and 7. raising Lazarus from the dead (chapter eleven).
The sixth chapter begins with two of these signs, the feeding of the five thousand and the walking on the water. Today’s reading begins after the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, narrating the reaction of the multitude who had been fed. They realize that the Lord Jesus is indeed “the prophet that should come into the world” prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15, a prophet Who, like Moses, would feed the people by miraculous loaves in the wilderness, and Who would be greater than Moses. But their response to this realization is wrongheaded: They wish to make Jesus an earthly king, in order to inaugurate an earthly kingdom of utopian prosperity, because their minds are filled with worldly cares, lacking perception of spiritual things and thirst for eternal blessings. They do not understand that the Lord worked this sign in order to call them to the eternal banquet in the Kingdom of Heaven.
St. Cyril of Alexandria says that Our Lord’s abjuring this worldly project and fleeing the honor of the multitude gives us an example to follow:
When Christ flees from those who want to give him honor and refuses that highest earthly prize of a kingdom…He teaches us that it is unseemly for those who pursue divine grace and thirst for everlasting glory to seek after worldly greatness. We must then forego the love of glory, the sister and neighbor of arrogance, residing not far from its borders. Let us have nothing to do with illustrious honor in this present life, which is hurtful. Let us rather seek after a holy humility, giving preference to one another. – Commentary on the Gospel of John, 3.4.
St. Augustine, assuming that the Lord escaped to the mountain alone in order to pray, connects the need for escaping worldly temptations to the need for prayer:
Indeed, Our Lord teaches us here that whenever escape is necessary, there is an even greater necessity for prayer. – Harmony of the Gospels, 2.47.100
When we are tempted to lose ourselves in the never-ending desires and disappointments of the kingdom of this world, let us follow the example of the Lord Himself, and flee the tumult of society in order to discover the Kingdom of God within our hearts.
Christ walks on the water of the sea and calms the disciples fears by saying “It is I (ego eimi) ; be not afraid.” By using the words spoken at the Burning Bush – ego eimi (I Am), He reveals that He is not merely the great prophet foretold by Moses: He is the God Who spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai.
The Venerable Bede recognizes the marvelous paradox revealed in these two simple words, ego eimi (ego sum in Latin). On the one hand, it is an informal greeting between close friends: you can read ego eimi as”Hey, it’s just me.” You can also read it as the stark claim to ontological uniqueness, complete non-contingency, and absolute self-sufficiency: “I AM.” Here’s what St. Bede says:
He says only, “I am.” He trusts that they will easily recognize His voice, which was so familiar to them. Or, more probably, he shows that He was the same Who said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, the One Who Is has sent me to you.” – Commentary on Matthew 3.14.
This reminds us that a characteristic mark of true compunction is the heart’s realization of its utter nothingness before the One Who Is and its simultaneous perception of the most intimate presence of that One dwelling within. The tears of repentance arising from this paradoxical realization lead us to salvation.
