In our gospel reading for today, Jesus tells the crowds that he is the one who has come down from God the Father in heaven. And despite all the miracles of healing and feeding that the crowds have seen Jesus do, they just can't bring themselves to believe him. “C'mon, people, he's Mary and Joseph's boy, how can he say he's from heaven?” And so, Jesus announces his plan to convince the crowds that he indeed HAS come from the Father, AND speaks on his Father's behalf: Jesus will give up his own life, to provide HIS FLESH as bread for the world...
What would it take?.... What would it take to convince us PERMANENTLY that God is present, and active in our lives, and has our best interests at heart? Would it take a close brush with death and a miraculous healing? Would it take a financial downturn and a miraculous providing of resources? Would it take a relationship breakdown and a miraculous changing of heart? You would think that in any one of these situations, we would be totally convinced FOR ALL TIME that God has us in the palm of his hand. But it doesn't work that way! We don't STAY convinced. Miracles from heaven do not seem to be enough.
Just ask the Israelites. When Moses was guiding them through the wilderness, they complained about not having enough to eat, and God responded with the miracle of food from heaven. Daily, they would collect enough manna for each man, woman, and child, and at night, quail would come in and cover the camp so they could eat meat. And yet, even in the process of eating this miracle of food from heaven, the Israelites turned against God at the foot of Mount Sinai, and built an idol of a golden calf to replace Him. The miracle sent from heaven, even an ongoing miracle, was not enough to convince them permanently to trust in God.
Nor, apparently, was a miraculous feeding of 5000 people, enough in our gospel reading for the crowds to trust the words of Jesus. “How can you say God in heaven is your Father, when we know Joseph is your father?” These crowds are the carbon copies of their ancestors – disbelieving, while still in the act of digesting their latest miraculous bread from heaven.
And we're not so different! It's exciting when we hear of people in our midst that have experienced a miraculous healing, or a miraculous rescue from some situation. But especially if they were not believers before the miracle, there is a significant chance that they will drift away from faith in God in the future. Memories of miracles fade with time like all other memories, and doubts constantly enter our minds, and people try to persuade us that miracles don't actually happen, and eventually the miracle that helped bring us to faith in God, loses its strength to KEEP us in faith. And for some people of the hardened heart variety, even a miracle would not convince them to put their trust in God. Miracles sent from heaven are not enough.