John, Chapter 6 part 1

My apologies for the sporadic publishing schedule of late. My work schedule has been incredibly hectic and it doesn't allow me to publish until the evenings, at least for the next few days. As a result, I haven't been able to write what I have wanted to write lately, but I do want to publish when I can. When we left off, we were talking about the book of John. Chapter 6 continues the author's theme of concentrating on Jesus' divine nature by focusing on the miracles He performed. The two that we see in the first part of this chapter are the feeding of the five thousand and Him walking on water.

 ⁵When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" ⁶He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

 ⁷Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"

 ⁸Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, ⁹"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"

 ¹⁰Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. ¹¹Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. – John 6:5-11

Notice the attitude the disciples took here. Philip immediately thought it was impossible to feed this multitude. Andrew saw a possible way, but he was still skeptical. This reflects the usual attitudes of each disciple, but Jesus uses this as an opportunity for teaching. That Andrew had some faith went a long way. He helped pave the way for the solutions by finding the boy with the fishes and loaves. Though he didn't know how Jesus was going to solve the problem, He knew that He could solve it.

I find myself in need of a similar sign at the moment. I have my own overwhelming problems facing me at the moment. I have no idea how they are going to be solved, either. I've been searching for an answer, but I keep finding none in my own capacity. Essentially, I feel like I need to take my own fishes and loaves, that being the gifts God has given me, and give them back in search of a solution.

When it comes to walking on water, we have yet another Jesus triumphing in the face of a lack of faith. Here, the disciples were fearful until Jesus performed a miracle right in front of them. To me, that would be enough to never doubt him again. Unfortunately, we see that the disciples will fail to have faith again many times.