Threesome: Peter, James, and John ponder over the loaves and fishes

“Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the hills by himself. When evening came the disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum.” (John 6:15-16)

(The setting is immediately after the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus has gone off by Himself. The disciples are by themselves, without Him. Peter, James and John are talking to one another, trying to comprehend what has taken place.)

”Peter: Have you two figured out what just happened?

James: Not me. The more I think about Him and what He does, the less I understand it. 

Peter: Same with me. Before He fed everybody, I was worried about what He would do with such a large mob of people! Now that He has fed them all I don’t know how we will ever get rid of them! I can understand why He has gone off by Himself. He would really have problems if He ever let this mob make Him their leader! Hah! Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to feed everybody?

James: I’m with you on that. I can’t get my get my head around the whole scene. I know it happened, but it doesn’t seem real to me.

John: Don’t try to fit it all into your head.  Instead, let your head sink into it, as if you were laying your head on a cushion.

Peter: What are you trying to say?

John:  I keep telling you two that you think about Jesus the wrong way.  And not just about Jesus. In fact, you talk about us, and every person, the wrong way, as if you could figure people out.

Peter: And what is wrong with that? How are we supposed to talk about anybody except by saying what we think?

 John: First of all, Jesus isn’t just “anybody”. And even if He were exactly like you or me or one of the others, it would still be wrong to talk about Him the way you do.

James: John, don’t get worked up.  Please, try to explain to us what’s so bad about the way we talk. What’s the right way?

John:  Every one of us is more than can be put into words. I don’t care who we are talking about. But you two talk as if each one were a puzzle that you could figure out. We can’t figure out anybody, and it’s not fair to do that to people. When you talk about people as things, you change a “who” into a “what.” But every person is a “who”, not a “what”.

 James: I’m not sure I follow you. Give me an example of the difference between the two.

 John: Take a toddler who is learning to talk. He points his finger at something and asks daddy: “What’s that? And daddy says: That’s a “goat”, or, a “donkey”, or a “tree” or a “cloud”. Daddy gives the child names for different things. But the child never asks “What’s that?” when he points to a human. He asks “Who’s that?” And daddy tells him who that person is. Both know without any need to mention it the difference between people and things. Things are whats and people are whos.”

 Peter: What made you so sensitive and concerned about people all of a sudden?  You always had your ideas about everyone too, just like we do.

John: Well, sure. It’s fun to talk about people and try to get into their heads. But we never do figure them out or get their number totally. Every person is always a mystery to everyone else. Even someone you know and love. It is okay to have fun to laugh at people as long as we laugh at ourselves with them. We act like we are better when we are laughing at them.

Peter: Well, we are a lot smarter than some.

John: And a lot dumber than others.

James: Where did you get this “who’ and “what” stuff?

 John: It came to me as I was watching the Master today. He was gracious to everybody. No impatience. No hurry. It was as if He were the host of a large banquet and all the people here were His guests. I saw the whole crowd as a bunch of nobodies, but He personally treated each one as somebody. Yet He was more important than everyone else.

Peter: Yes, but you have to be realistic. When you take nobodies and treat them like somebodies, you make those people feel important. And you create expectations in them. You can’t treat them that way and not expect that they are going to want more and more from you. Look at the huge amount of people still milling around even though He has gone off!  What is He going to do with them?

John: You think that way because you see them all as whats, not whos. So you end up asking “how” instead of “why”. They are not things that you have to figure out “how” to handle. Jesus' way of dealing with them, being gracious, springs from who they are,  persons! Every “who” has a face and is looking for “whys”. That’s why Jesus treats them with respect.  But you treat Jesus as a “what” as well.

Peter: Look, the only way I can talk is by saying what I think and feel.  This is the only mind I have.  I can’t see things the way you do.

 John: Of course you can’t see the way I do, nor can I see the way you do. But you can learn to respect the mystery of people, and the mystery of who Jesus is.  You just have to realize your mind is not a sharp eye that can look into Him and figure Him out. That’s not ever going to happen. No matter what we do figure out about Him, there is always going to be a lot more we never get into our heads. You are smart enough to see that.

James: So what are we supposed to do?

 Peter: Look, the others are getting up and moving, going down to the water. Let’s head that way and talk as we go along.