Two quick points I want to make about today's passage.
The first one is about the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5+ thousand. My Life Application Bible has this to say about how this passage is applicable to our lives today....
What he was originally given seemed insufficient, but in his hands it became more than enough. We often feel that our contribution to Jesus is meager, but he can use and multiply whatever we give him, whether it is talent, time, or treasure. It is when we give them to Jesus that our resources are multiplied....
We can limit what God does in us by assuming what is and is not possible. Is there some impossible task that you believe God wants you to do? Don't let your estimate of what can't be done keep you from taking on the task. God can do the miraculous; trust him to provide the resources......
If we offer nothing to God, he will have nothing to use. But he can take what little we have and turn it into something great.....
In performing miracles, Jesus usually preferred to work through people. Here he took what a young child offered and used it to accomplish one of the most spectacular miracles recorded in the Gospels. Age is no barrier to Christ. Never think you are too young or old to be of service to him. (emphasis mine)
The second is the walking on water passage. I found a very interesting sermon on this passage. Normally people cheer Peter on as he gets out of the boat and then criticize him for taking his eyes off of Jesus. Here's another perspective....
You cannot grow unless you get out of the boat and experience both walking on water and that sinking drowning experience which leads you to cry from the depths of your soul for Christ to save you. Peter needed to sink in order to grow. He needed to sink in order that he might move to the next step of his faith in Christ. You see walking on water does not ultimately lead to spiritual growth. How often we read in the gospels of the miracles of Christ but how many followed only to see a miracle happen – they never came to faith because of the miracle. Those experiences may bring people back to see and experience more but it is the experience of suffering which drives them to cry out to Christ.
You see by sinking and being saved Peter would never forget. He would never forget the experience of taking that step of faith out of the boat and walking on the water. He would never forget that fear in his soul as he began to sink nor the cry for salvation. He would not forget the hands of Jesus lifting him up out of the wet and the experience of walking back to the boat together. He would never forget what it felt like to have the arms of Christ around him supporting him as together they got back into the boat.
John Piper also has an interesting sermon here about how these two passages are related to each other.
Tomorrow's passage: John 6:22-71, Mark 7:1-23, Matthew 15:1-20
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