Running

John 6:24-35

Last Sunday morning, the police in Plain City, Utah were busy with a car chase. Although the pursuit never exceeded 40 miles an hour, it was memorable nonetheless. Police followed a white Dodge Intrepid that appeared to be driven by an underage driver. The car drove through the deserted Sunday morning streets, ran through stop signs, and made a u-turn in the local high school parking lot, all with the sirens and flashing lights in its rear-view mirror. The driver even eluded an attempt by one officer to block the road by turning down a side street at the last minute. Finally, the chase ended when the driver-seven year-old Preston Scarbrough, pulled into the driveway of a local home, put the car in park, got out and ran inside.

Inside the home, Preston found his father, sitting in the living room watching t.v. and told him: “Dad, the cops are outside.”

If you saw the story on the news this week, then you’ve seen it: the car slowly winding through the town’s streets, the police following along, and little Preston running as fast as he can up the dirt driveway and into his house. If you’ve seen it, then you also know why he did it all (or, at least why he says he did it). He says he did it all because he didn’t want to go to church.
So let’s be honest here, how many of us have ever felt like Preston did last Sunday? You wake up Sunday morning and think to yourself: “Man, I really don’t want to go.” Or, you plead with your parents to let you stay home. Be honest. How many of us here this morning felt that way today? I wonder how many of our friends felt that way today, and are still in bed or sitting in their pajamas in front of the television, or are out joyriding just like Preston was.

For me, the timing of this story couldn’t be better because today we’ve got a Gospel lesson where nearly the opposite thing happens. It tells us: “when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.” This crowd of people doesn’t spend their Sunday morning joyriding, trying to avoid the Lord. Instead, they’re purposefully looking, searching, pursuing him. Why would they do this?

They do it because they are the same crowd that just one day earlier had been fed by Jesus. This crowd of people was the same crowd, 5,000 in all, who had been fed until they couldn’t eat another bite when Jesus made five loaves of bread and two fish do more than anyone ever imagined.

So now, they’re looking for him because they want to see what he’ll do next. They had heard about his teachings. They had been told about the miracles of healing. They watched as the leftovers were gathered, filling twelve baskets. And now they’re wondering: “What will he do next?” This crowd is running after Jesus because they want to see or experience the next big thing.

We’ve felt like that as well, haven’t we? We spend a lot of time, if we’re honest with ourselves, running after the next big thing. We run after the next paycheck, the next experience, the next relationship, the next … You could fill in the blank with all the “next” things that you’re running after. We spend a lot of time running after things, and often the running leaves us exhausted and worn out.

At other times we’re more like little Preston, running from things. We know what those things are too. We run from the past, the mistakes, the words we never had the courage to say, the words we wished we had the restraint not to say, the relationship that didn’t turn out the way we had hoped… Again, fill in the blank. What do you run from?

In our lesson for today, Jesus invites all of us who run-from the things in our past or toward the next big thing in the future-to stop running. He tells the crowds who pursue him of something that will feed every hunger and quench every thirst…something that is closer to them than they might imagine.

When we gather together to worship and praise God each week we’re reminded that it’s o.k. to stop running. We gather and remember the waters of baptism that washed over us and made us children of God, children whom God was glad to love just the way we were. We also gather at the table and are fed by the bread of life-and reminded that God still loves us just the way we are. Because of all of this, we don’t to run from anything or for anything.

Many people in the crowds imagined that the next big thing for Jesus would be a seat on a throne. Even his disciples may have pictured him heading there. But Jesus didn’t. He didn’t run to the throne, and he didn’t run from the cross. Instead, he stayed true the person he was meant to be, and he did all of it for you. He gave his own life in place of yours and mine.

The next big thing after that was the new life that God raised him to live. It became the new life that you and I now live. A life that is free from running after things and running from things because this is the life God has given to us.