THE WORLD'S GREATEST SECRET
John Mathias Haffert
table of contents
CHAPTER THREE
BEGAN AS A
SECRET
It may have been the most terrible moment that the Apostles ever experienced; more terrible than
Gethsemane or Calvary; even more terrible than the moments of their own
deaths. They had left all to follow Christ. They had turned their backs upon
their wives, children, their homes, businesses everything. They had thought
that nothing mattered except what He did, what He said. They were convinced
that He would lead them to reward, to great triumph. They expected Him to
establish His kingdom soon, and they, His chosen companions and intimates,
wearing purple and scarlet, would be His administrators. Indeed, judging from
the crowds, the time was ripe now, today. They were near the bustling town of
Capernaum. Just about every inhabitant of the place had turned out to hear Him
speak. The people followed Him with a breathless eagerness all the way up the
hill overlooking the lake. Moreover, since the Pasch was at hand, people on
holiday from neighboring hamlets were gathered here for the approaching feast,
or they were on their way to the great temple in Jerusalem. The Apostle
Matthew, 30 who had been an accountant, estimated that there were five
thousand men alone, excluding women and children. The grassy hillside was
black with humanity. Christ did not disappoint them.
2 He spoke to them with
greater eloquence than ever; quietly, forcefully, and every man, bright-eyed
and intent, leaned forward listening as though his life depended upon the next
word. The meal hour came and went and scarcely a person in that vast throng
gave it a thought. Only as He finished His discourse did the people become
aware of a gnawing in the pit of their stomachs, and it was then they noticed
for the first time that many of the children were crying fretfully and asking
for bread. It had not occurred to the townspeople to bring food with them when
they had followed Him up the hill. Perhaps subconsciously they had considered
that precaution unnecessary. As long as He was with them hunger, accident,
illness, nothing would bother them. The Apostles were concerned. Though they
felt a bit presumptuous to tell Him a fact that He must know, they reminded
Him: "This is a desert place. Send the people away so that they can buy
their dinner." Christ's answer was strange: "Give them something to
eat." Did He mean that they should empty their little treasury and make
the round trip to town to buy the scant rations their funds would provide? He
asked the Apostle Philip: "Where can we buy bread that these people may
have something to eat?" Philip's answer seems almost impatient: "Two
hundred days' wages, which is the most we could muster, wouldn't buy a crumb
for everybody here." "How many loaves have you?" Christ asked.
3 Of course they had no
loaves at all. Nobody in that huge crowd had anything edible but one young
lad. Andrew, another Apostle, pointed out the boy: "That lad over there
has five barley loaves and two fishes. But," the man added with a shrug,
"what is that among so many? " "Bring them to me," Christ
said simply. When Christ had the bread and fish before Him, He bade the people
sit down. Then He looked up to heaven, blessed the food, and handed it to the
Apostles, instructing: "Give it to the people." As the twelve men
passed among the huge crowd, serving one hungry person after another, they
soon noticed a strange phenomenon: the food they carried never diminished.
There was always plenty for the next person, and the next, and the next. In
the end there was more than enough for each one of those many thousands to eat
heartily, and when the meal was over, the Apostles gathered up twelve baskets
of left-overs. Slowly the people began to grasp the marvel. They understood
that this man, this carpenter's son, this Jesus, had miraculously by an act of
His will or a wave of His hand or a mumbled prayer or whatever, miraculously
multiplied a few scraps of food, making them enough to satisfy the appetites
of somewhere between five and fifteen thousand hungry people. He was a prophet
all right, and more than a prophet. He was a Wonderworker beyond their wildest
dreams. With Him as their leader there need be no more hunger in Israel. The
Romans themselves with all their proud legions would cringe before such power.
As they commented to one another, excitement mounted.
4 Somebody had scarcely
voiced the suggestion of making Him king when a lusty cheer went up on all
sides. The crowd was of one mind: They would seize Him where He stood and
forthwith proclaim His sovereignty. But where was He? He Who wished to be king
only of the hearts of men had slipped away. It was the next day when they came
upon Him again. They jostled one another in their eagerness to get close to
Him. Expectation was alight on every face, but it was quickly dimmed by His
first words. They seemed almos a rebuke: "You looked for me not because
you have seen my other miracles or because you seek the things of the spirit,
but only because I fed you." The Apostles, too, were chagrined and
nonplussed by these words, and did not quite know how to answer. He went on:
"You should strive not for the meat which spoils quickly, but for the
meat which lasts into eternity.. 1, the Son of Man, will give you that
meat." That sounded better. But it was still puzzling. Some people in the
crowd, a little bolder than the rest, asked: "How do we get this
food?" "I will tell you," Christ replied. "Believe in me.
I have been sent by your Father in heaven." "All right, we'll
believe," a number of people shouted. "But," added a few of
them, "show us a sign." Apparently they wanted another miracle like
yesterday's or one even more spectacular. After all, as one man pointed out,
now that he had slept on the matter, the feat of this Wonderworker with the
bread and fish did not seem so great to him as it had at first. Some proPhets
of the past had wrought similar marvels. In fact, the man challenged Christ
outright:
5 "Our fathers ate
manna in the desert. That was miraculous food, too." Yes, Moses had fed
the people for forty years on manna in the Sinai desert, and this Christ had
fed them only once. Even the Apostles remembered about that, and they nodded
their heads when somebody quoted the scriptural text referring to the
patriarch: "He gave them bread from heaven." Christ's response was:
"Moses gave you not the true bread from heaven, not the bread from heaven
like the kind my Father will give you. This new bread which comes from heaven
will give life to the world. With these promising words a clamor arose:
"We want this bread! We want this bread!" "I myself am the
bread of life, " Christ answered. "Whoever comes to me will never
again be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never again be thirsty."
A clearly audible murmur ran through the crowd. What was He talking about? He
Himself the bread of life? He, the son of Joseph the carpenter, come down from
heaven? Didn't everybody for miles around know ,His father and mother?
"Don't murmur among yourselves. Rather, believe my words," Christ
pleaded. "The man who has faith in me shall receive eternal life. It is I
who am the bread of life. Though your fathers ate manna, they nevertheless
died. But," he went on, repeating Himself as though He were telling them
the one thing above all others that He really wanted them to heed and
remember, "whoever eats the true bread from heaven shall never die. If
anybody eats this bread he will live forever." He paused as though for
dramatic effect, and then said slowly: " This bread which I am going to
give you is myflesh.
6 " A gasp went up from
the crowd. What a hard saying! it was repellent. disgusting. The Apostles who
loved and trusted Him were visibly shaken. They looked at one another as
though to ask if they had heard correctly. But the crowd was in an uproar. The
people were arguing noisily, returning time and again to the same refrain:
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" But they took care lest
Jesus should hear their doubts. In the past He had often restated a point that
had been misinterpreted. Now He remained silent. So were they to take Him
literally? They could hardly think otherwise, for when He did speak again, it
was only to insist solemnly on what He had said before, and indeed to say it
more emphatically. "Believe me when I say that you cannot have life, you
cannot be alive, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood. The person who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life
and I will raise him up on the last day. My flesh is real food and my blood is
real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives always in and with
me and I in and with him." This was just too much! The people shook their
heads, and then one by one, they turned away. Though a few hours earlier they
had been willing to revolt against the established government for His sake,
and as revolutionaries had been willing to risk the danger of Herod's armies -
not to speak of the Roman legions - now they would not listen to Him another
moment. Their great bravery in being willing to hail a king other than Caesar
had come to naught. It had been demolished by the mouthings of a mad man. The
Apostles saw the people drift off. It was their kingdom, too, which was
disappearing before it was es tablished more their kingdom than it was thi,
crowds.
7 Again they could not help
reminding them selves that they would have been its administrators under
Christ. The glorious prize had been within their grasp And now? With each
departing figure their hopes sank lower. Finally they were left alone with
Him. Even one of them should have left also, because he, like the crowd had
repudiated the Master in his heart. St. John points out (6:64): "Jesus
knew from the first who those were who did not believe and who it was that
would betray him. " , This sensitive person, Jesus Christ, Who was later
so I /touched with compassion at the sorrow of Martha and Mary that He wept
with them, must have been touched by the sadness and disappointment that He
saw in the faces of his disillusioned followers. He must have longed at that
moment to explain away this apparently canni balistic thing He had said. But
He did not explain it away; He didn't even explain It. He simply said:
"The words I have just spoken here today are spirit and life. Do they try
your faith?" Of course - they would try anybody's faith! But like abashed
school boys without the proper answer, the Apostles stood there nervously
shuffling their sandaled feet on the ground, and not one of them spoke up.
Christ had to put them to the test with another question: "Will you, too,
go away?" Still they hesitated to speak. But before the silence
lengthened too agonizingly, Peter stepped forward. He had not understood any
better than anybody else, but he believed in the Master and that was enough.
"To whom could we go?" he asked.
8 Then, with a stronger
voice to sweep away any lingering doubt, he added in a spontaneous burst:
"You, Lord, have the words of eternal life. We believe, we know, that you
are the Christ, Son of God." Whatever the awesome secret Christ implied
in His daring statement, apparently no one was ready to grasp it. lie let an
earthly kingdom slip away rather than yet reveal it. But the Israelites had
many clues. Their Scriptures spoke of a Savior who would come, who would be
linked with the mystery of the Passover, and who would reveal all.
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