What Part about Jesus Did You Miss?

Jesus comes walking on the water. The disciples are scared out of their minds. They believe it is a ghost. Jesus has to calm them. He walks to them and gets in the boat. They are amazed. But I especially like the next statement, "for they had not understood about the loaves."

Each meal we may thank God for our food but in reality we are thinking that it was our own money and work that provided it. Any miracle can be explained away. Maybe the disciples thought that the food for feeding the five thousand came from people secretly bringing out food that they had brought but were afraid that by sharing they wouldn't have enough. Maybe the disciples just weren't paying attention and thought of it just as Manna that was unexplainable. Maybe they saw it like a magic trick. Surely, they didn't see Jesus as the Creator who could make more anytime He wanted.

Our church in Houston had a Filipino congregation. They sometimes asked me to preach. One Sunday I preached and administered the Lord's Supper with them. Our chapel, where they met, was absolutely packed. During the distribution of the grape juice, one of their deacons, Art, walked back to me and said, "Pastor, we have run out." 

I said, "Art, I can't make more!" He looked at me for a moment and walked back to be with the other deacons. I am sure they had a meeting. I was glad that he thought I could do something about it. I was also glad to tell him that I couldn't. I may be an ambassador for Christ but I am certainly not Christ.

I am glad that his faith in Christ was one that could solve any problem. I am glad that he saw Christ as the Creator.

We must not categorize our Savior. He must be the One who provides in the little things and in the great. He must be the One who can provide for your physical needs and even have power over those things that are emotional or relational. He is God, not a magician. He is God who can do whatever needs to be done so that His glory, love and honor is known.

Have you watched Him do something that could have only come from Him and later tried to explain it away? Have you seen Him do something that is a miracle but later limit Him in His ability to meet a new need? This is where the disciples were. The Bible said that their hearts were hardened. Hard hearts refuse faith.

He is God. There is nothing to hard for Him. You must believe this or you will never understand the loaves.

Mark 6:51-52 (NIV)
⁵¹  Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, ⁵²  for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.