Threesome: Talking about the mystery of Christ

Peter , James, and John continue their discussion after the miracle of the loaves and fishes, trying to understand  what has happened, and why, what they should do next, and how they can figure out the Master.

John 6:15 "Perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force to make Him king, Jesus again withdrew to the hills by Himself."

John: Why are the others going towards the water? Shouldn’t we all stay here and wait for Him? It looks like they are planning to go back.

James: I don’t think He wants us to act on our own, without Him. Whenever He left us in the past, He usually came back after a short while.

John: Normally we wait on Him to tell us what to do.

Peter: I know, I know. He is the one who makes the decisions, not me. I’m used Him giving the orders. He’s always been the boss, but I don’t think He is going to join us here. Not with the crowd still around. They are the reason why He left.

John: You’re right about that. He's not going to let them have their way with Him. His leaving us here may be his way of telling us what to do, his way to tell us to leave too.

Peter: I think the others have the same idea. That's why they’re headed toward the boat. The only way the crowd will leave is if they see us leaving. We should head back. He’ll know where we’re going and head around the lake when He’s ready.

James: John,  you were talking about understanding the Master. Go back and explain what you were saying about putting our heads on a cushion.

John: See if this example makes sense to you: first you crack a nut open, then you pick up all the little pieces and eat them, right? Well, that is usually what we do when we want to figure something out. We try to crack it open by thinking about it, talking, asking questions, discussing, and arguing, and so on. That’s how we break it down to smaller parts, to the little ideas that explain it, and then we put those pieces in our head. That’s how we eat the nut, so to speak.

 Peter: Sounds right. But with the Master, your point is that nut-cracking doesn’t work.

 John: Right! There is always more to everything He does and says. We can’t break Him down to little pieces we can take into us and digest. We can get some of it in us, but we never get it all. That’s why I said thinking about Him is more like laying your head on a pillow.  The pillow is the much more that we don’t understand.  I don’t know how to picture those much mores,  but they are dancing around my head all the time. By relaxing my mind, I let them in,  and the much mores  dance inside my head too.  Sometimes they give me an inkling, a flash of understanding, I can’t get to by thinking in bits and pieces.  The cushion is like a pillow of mystery we have to rest our heads on, so the mystery can sink into us. 

Peter: Give me an example of how this works.

John: Well, look at his going off. There is more to that than avoiding the crowd. Much more we don’t know.

James: Like what? 

John: He left because of the crowd, right?

Peter:  Yes. He didn’t want them making Him king.

John: But when He goes off, He always goes to be with His Father.  So I bet that is true in this case too.

 James. Well, that is two things we know. Is there still something more?

John: Sure. There is much more about those two little pieces of information we don’t know.  We don’t know what happens between Him and His Father, why He goes off other times, how He knows when to go off, why He tells us only so much about His Father. His relationship to His Father is way beyond our understanding. As far as the crowd and their desire to make Him king, we don’t know why He didn’t talk to them,  and explain Himself to them, we don’t know what kind of ruler or leader He sees himself to be, what kind of power He wants to have, or if He wants to have any. He obviously already has power, great power to do marvels, but He’s not at all stuck on that.

Peter: I can see that. Is there something more?

John: Yes, the feeding of everyone that we just saw. How is that connected to His Father?  He doesn’t always talk or pray to His Father when He works a mighty deed. Why this time?  Also, how does this event fit in with what He has done so far, and what will this event lead to?

James: That’s right! At Cana, He made all that wine without any prayers.

 Peter: Without any prayers we know about. 

James: Again,  more is that He made more wine than anyone could drink, just like today He made more food than we could all eat.

John: Yes and another thing to wonder about is that even though He was not planning to do anything at the wedding, He was ready.  When His mother told Him they had no wine, He said it wasn’t his problem, but because His mother wanted Him to take care of the situation, He did.

James: John, I don’t understand what you are getting at.

Peter: I do! You’re saying that even when something unexpected happens, something unforeseen that no one could anticipate, He  deals with it, and He has no problem at all, right? And it seems like He has a plan for everything and anything! With Him one event  somehow flows into another,  and what happens next is always built on what came before.  Nothing is disconnected with Him, we just don’t see the connections!

John: You said it better than I can. Nothing ever catches Him at a loss, surprises Him, or makes Him confused or afraid. He is full of surprises yet nothing surprises Him. In fact,  his surprises are full of surprises. He always knows what to do, and does it easily.  Sometimes He looks like He is just a piece of wood in the river and the current is carrying Him along. Other times He looks like He is in a boat on a river but steering a course against the current. Sometimes it seems He is making  the river flow and go where He wants it to go. 

Peter: So what do you think He will do next?

John: I have no idea. But it will be something we could not plan or predict. Come on, lets's get in the boat with the others.