Title: Stairway of Faith (John 06:53-57)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. -3)
What the author of the Gospel of John is trying to say is that Jesus is the Creator and that He is God.
If you look at John 6:4 and below, you will find the miracle of the five seasons. When Jesus saw a large crowd coming to him, he tried to test Philip, and he asked, "Where shall we buy bread that these people may eat?" Then Philip replied, "Even if I feed these people a little, 200 denarii will not be enough." He was a very quick disciple. However, he did not think of the Lord's power and judged it negatively.
Then Andrew came to Jesus with a child with two fish and five barley loaves. After giving thanks, Jesus took it and gave it to the more than 5,000 people who were there, and there were still twelve baskets left. After experiencing this amazing thing, the crowd tried to seize Jesus by force and make him king.
We can look at several stages of faith through this event.
1. Faith based on material conditions
In verse 26, Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were satisfied.” It would have been better if they had seen miracles because they followed Jesus. But they followed Jesus because they were satisfied.
The elementary stage of faith is the stage of material conditions. Some people come to church because they have an advantage in doing business. Some go to church to get married. In the military, some people come to church because the commander is a believer.
2. Faith to see and believe in miracles
It is faith that knows and believes in the works of God. Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with you” (John 3:2). Said. He believed that God worked miracles with Jesus. However, he did not understand what Jesus was talking about and had to go back.
Most of Jesus' miracles were miracles of love. It was mainly used to heal the sick. However, most people who want to be healed by Jesus are self-centered. Twelve lepers were healed at the same time by Jesus, but among them, only one Samaritan returned to thank Jesus. Therefore, believing because of miracles is a very poor level of faith. We will have to go further in the stage of faith because of the miracles.
3. Faith based on the Word of Eternal Life (Bible)
Peter's motive for following Jesus was seeing the miracle of a large catch (豊魚) and believing. Peter at night