GFT #7 - Bolstering Faith with Past Miracles

“You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? Matt. 16:8

Abbott and Costello “Who’s on first” moments are even in the Scriptures. Jesus is teaching on one thing, the disciples think He’s commenting on another thing, and Jesus uses their misunderstanding to teach them on the misunderstood thing before returning to his original theme.

They’ve just crossed the Sea of Galilee and Jesus says “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” What Jesus was saying was to be careful not to swallow all the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. What the disciples heard was “Why did you forget to bring the bread?” The disciples let everything go in one ear and out the other with the exception of one word….yeast. The disciples reasoned, since Jesus mentioned yeast, He’s talking to us about what anyone in this predicament would talk about…the stupid mistake of forgetting to bring the bread. Bread’s the focus because everyone’s got to eat and there’s nothing to eat.

Jesus, seeing the preoccupation among the disciples with their blunder regarding bread, is once again bewildered not by their total misunderstanding of His teaching, but by their “little faith”. He then proceeds to remind them of how He fed 5,000 people with 5 loaves and even had left-overs. He reminds them of how he fed 4,000 people with 7 loaves and even had left-overs. Based on these 2 miracles, the preoccupation with bread should have been the last thing on their minds. Their faith should have been bolstered by these events so that Jesus’ words would have been about anything but how they were going to get by without any bread.

Inventory the miracles in the Scriptures, the miracles of your time on this earth. Write them down. Meditate on them in light of what worries you, the apparent lack of a basic need, a personal mistake of significant proportions. Bolster your faith with these things as Jesus bolstered the disciple’s faith with the reminder of 2 miracles.