A Faith that Walks on Water

In the midst of seeing God work in powerful ways, we must be careful not to fall in love with what appears to be a successful ministry. I am not asking that individuals in the church become cynical and perhaps even reject the miraculous. What I am suggesting is that we measure our own faith in light of the miraculous; that we trust the Lord in every way in our lives, even when the stage is not so large, where others can see the same things that we see. While it seems that Phillip was pessimistic about the ability of Jesus to feed the crowd and Andrew was optimistic, per say, they both had their own level of doubt about Jesus after the many miracles He had already put on display.

Jesus pulls away from the crowd after working for the Father in feeding the multitude. He goes to be alone with the Father, a communion that repeatedly occurs during His ministry and is noticed by His disciples. In John 6:16-61, another test of their faith has been set. The followers of Jesus need to see the fullness of the Son of God and believe in His power to meet not only the needs of others, but to also be with them in their time of need. Their faith must be increased so that they too can do the will of God in the midst of great uncertainty.

Can you imagine what kind of spiritual glow was present after Jesus fed ten thousand people with two sardines and five breadsticks?  There they stood with 12 baskets of fragments, leftovers that would carry them forward in their journey and mission. No need to go to the market tomorrow! Gathered together, they perhaps had thoughts run over and over in their minds. “Did that really happen?” “Unbelievable! This is beyond all that we could have imagined.” “I’ll never doubt Jesus again after this!”

But we must take care not to get too confident about how much we trust in Jesus. Because just when we think we have faith that can conquer mountains, we too might be drowned by the shifting of waves. One by land and two by sea. The tests of the disciples’ faith are presented.  The first test on the mountain has shown that the coming of the Son to do the work of God found a tepid faith.  The second, in the sea, challenges their faith, revealing the Son of God as the One in control of His creation.  The success that Jesus is looking for brings the crowd to understand and know God through Him and His work in this world.  Oh, Lord! Increase our faith!