Jesus had just fed five thousand people. Five loaves, two fish. One of the most stunning miracles in the Gospels.

And the crowd's response? They wanted more. They were so impressed they tried to make him king on the spot. Jesus slipped away — crossed the lake. And the crowd got in boats and chased him.

When they found him on the other side, Jesus said something that stopped them: You're not here because you saw something meaningful. You're here because you ate the bread and you want more.

Someone in my Thursday Bible study put it perfectly. She said: that's the ancient equivalent of — what have you done for me lately?

It's a little funny. And it's also very human. We want the gift. We want the problem solved, the hunger satisfied. And we will chase those things across a lake if we have to.

But Jesus says: I want to give you something more than that.

Deeper than the gift, is the giver.

New Testament scholar Dale Brunner points out that Jesus doesn't just claim to be bread here — he claims to be the bread. Not one option among many. The thing that human beings most deeply long for. The hunger beneath all our other hungers.

Augustine said it this way: Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.

I think most of us know that restlessness. We just don't always know what to do with it.

Where do you find yourself chasing the gift rather than the giver? And what might it look like today to turn toward the source itself?

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for chasing the gift and missing the giver. You are what we are really looking for — beneath all our longing, beneath all our reaching. Draw us to yourself today.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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