“Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.” (John 6:10)
Jesus had common sense. Although saying Jesus had common sense may seem to somehow diminish Him, that isn’t my intent.
In today’s scripture, Jesus was looking at 5,000 hungry people, and He knew that hungry people can get cranky. And worst than simply cranky, if some food showed up without any order, that crowd could’ve become dangerous.
So Jesus told them to sit down. It was such a simple and common sense command. It was, though, a command that allowed 5,000 people to be safely fed.
Jesus had common sense. He wasn’t so Kingdom-focused that He didn’t know how to manage and organize a rather large picnic.
Have you ever known any church folks who are so spiritual that they didn’t get much done? Although Jesus was the most spiritual person who has ever lived, He was also the most sensible.
Jesus had an amazing ability to speak in lofty, inspiring, and heroic ways. Lofty: “Love your enemy.” Inspiring: “You are called to be salt and light for the world.” Heroic: “Go make disciples of all nations.”
Even though Jesus spoke in such lofty, inspiring, and heroic ways, He never lost the common touch. If Jesus didn’t speak with common sense, He may not have appealed to the common people.
When I first thought about Jesus having common sense, it seemed a little disrespectful. I’ve come to see that His common sense approach to people and situations is just one of the qualities that makes Him our perfect Savior.
I encourage us to make sure we’re living out our faith in practical and common-sense ways. Although we need a spiritual vision to take the next mountain, we also need the common sense to pack some provisions so that we don’t get hungry along the way.
Reflection Questions:
- Have you ever been so spiritual, so holy, or so pious that you didn’t get much done for Jesus in your daily life? If so, what was motivating you?
- How do you currently live out your faith in practical and common-sense ways?
- Does your community of faith serve the people within it and those around it in practical ways? If it doesn’t, could Jesus be calling you to address this lack of oversight?