How Do We See?

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

HOW DO WE SEE?

John 6:1-9

6:1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Feast was near. 5 When 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?"  6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" 8 Another 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?"

NIV

This is just the beginning of one of the more famous miracles of Jesus, which is often told, but we have enough here to learn before we get to the actual miracle part. Jesus knew what he was going to do, but wanted to see what Philip would think of feeding all those people. Jesus tested Philip, which would then seem to imply Jesus might just possibly test us, our faith as he did Philip’s. Philip was looking at the physical problem with merely a physical solution. Andrew on the other hand, which John is, the only one who records this about Andrew, came up with the bread and fish but he too could only see the physical solution to the problem. Either we do not have enough money or enough provisions to meet the need of others. It would seem this was a rather hopeless situation for them to be in; Jesus was looking to them to figure out a way to resolve what he wanted to do. It would appear all they would have needed to say was, “Lord, we have no idea how we could do this, but you are the Son of God, we have seen you turn water into wine, we have seen you heal a man that had been lame for thirty-eight years, we have seen you do so many other miracles, surely you can feed them.” But no, they could only see the physical. What a sad commentary on men who walked the earth with Jesus, but of course we know eventually they got it. How much, how long do we take to get it? Jesus knows what he is going to do in our lives as he did in those who walked with him. He may test us to see if we are going to response in faith, or in the solution of our own minds. So often we might hear believers saying Jesus has provided all they need through the great job they have, that he has blessed them with the ability to make a lot of money. Maybe that is true, but what about those of us believers who do not have a lot of money, has Jesus failed to bless us? That seems to be the implication by those who claim he blessed them. Again they may only being seeing as Philip or Andrew did. Jesus does not need our physical solutions, but only our faith in him in order for him to provide the solution. Of course we give to the needy; we sent bundles of money as a church to meet the needs of others. We provide through all sorts of physical solutions, but then non-believers do the same in the name of humanitarianism. What we believers need to see is God is more than able to take a small  amount of something, with a lot amount of faith and increase it into something abundantly more than is needed, but we get ahead of ourselves here, for we are into the miracle rather than on only seeing the physical solution to a physical problem. We need to see Jesus’s solution first. We need to have faith in God to provide for the needs of others, as well as to provide our needs, as to someone, we are the others in need of Jesus’s provision. How did Philip and Andrew see? How do we see?