We just read in the preceding verses of John 6 that Jesus fed the people through an incredible miracle—Jesus took five loaves and two fishes and turned them into a feast for thousands. Now the crowd had found Him after much searching and even taking a ship across the sea.

I don’t know about you, but my first question after finding Jesus would likely not be, “Rabbi, when camest thou hither?” (John 6:25). And yet, we read that this is the first question that the people posed to Christ.

Putting it all together

Here is where it all begins to make sense; of course, the people asked, “Rabbi, when camest thou hither?” (John 6:25) when they found him in Capernaum, because they wanted to know how He could have possibly crossed over the sea when He didn’t travel with His disciples, and there was no other boat to carry Him across.

Less than 24 hours before they had witnessed first-hand His miracle of turning five loaves and two fishes into an abundant feast for thousands of people (themselves included), but it didn’t appear to occur to them that Christ could cross the sea in a style reminiscent of Moses or Joshua.

Why not?

Jesus knows what we do and why we do it

It is only in reading Jesus’s answer to the people that we understand.

These people went out of their way to find Christ, not for Christ Himself, but because of what He could do for them. “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.” (John 6:26).

As Matthew Henry so aptly wrote in his commentary, “Christ knows not only what we do, but why we do it.” These people were interested in Christ and wanted to follow after Him “not because he taught them, but because he fed them.”

Examining our motives

The crowd in John 6 were literally hungry, many of them being poor and without food. It did not matter to them how Jesus went about preparing the feast for them, or the means by which He fed them; it mattered to them that they were fed.

As Jesus admonished them, “Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.” (John 6:26).

As we seek after Jesus, are we doing so because of Him, or because of what He can do for us?

We respect Christ, we show reverence for Him, but so often our hearts are not in the right place. Our motives are selfish. We’re more interested in what Christ can do for us than what He can do through us; more interested in the gifts than the Giver, as the old saying goes. Then we wonder why we can’t feel God’s presence and why we feel distant and down. As Tozer wrote, “To truly know God we must long for Him without any other motive than reaching God Himself.”

Originally published as “Without any other motive.” Independent Plus. September 22, 2022: 5. Print. Web.

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