Faith as Trust 1 (Matthew 14:22-36)
After feeding the crowds, Jesus is finally able to get what He needs on this difficult day: time alone with the Father. He sends the disciples away on the boat, disperses the crowd, and goes alone to pray.
After this, we get the first of two stories about the nature of faith that will counter-play against some teaching of Jesus about the hypocrisy of religion, which is nothing like the faith the Bible says is needed to please God.
The structure of the stories is as follows:
Feeding of the Five Thousand
The Faith of Peter, Walking on the Water
Teaching about Tradition, Religion, and the Pharisees
The Faith of the Canaanite Woman
Feeding of the Four Thousand
We can look to the story of the soils to illuminate this whole section that Matthew is giving us. In the crowds, we see people who are excited to experience Jesus’ ministry, but who (mostly) do not stick around after the benefits of healing and food are gone. In Peter and the Canaanite woman, we get other aspects of faith.
Peter shows us that true faith is all about trusting Jesus in obedience. When Peter sees that it is Jesus walking on the water, he asks Jesus to command him. When Jesus calls Peter out onto the water, he quickly responds in obedience.
But Peter does what many of us would do. He is distracted by his fears and the dangers around him. A big part of the Christian walk is responding to Jesus in obedience without giving into fear. It is about trusting that Jesus is able to see us through the things He commands us to do. Luckily for Peter (and us) Jesus is also capable of seeing us through our doubts and lack of faith. We do not obey God in our own strength!
After this, we get the first of two stories about the nature of faith that will counter-play against some teaching of Jesus about the hypocrisy of religion, which is nothing like the faith the Bible says is needed to please God.
The structure of the stories is as follows:
Feeding of the Five Thousand
The Faith of Peter, Walking on the Water
Teaching about Tradition, Religion, and the Pharisees
The Faith of the Canaanite Woman
Feeding of the Four Thousand
We can look to the story of the soils to illuminate this whole section that Matthew is giving us. In the crowds, we see people who are excited to experience Jesus’ ministry, but who (mostly) do not stick around after the benefits of healing and food are gone. In Peter and the Canaanite woman, we get other aspects of faith.
Peter shows us that true faith is all about trusting Jesus in obedience. When Peter sees that it is Jesus walking on the water, he asks Jesus to command him. When Jesus calls Peter out onto the water, he quickly responds in obedience.
But Peter does what many of us would do. He is distracted by his fears and the dangers around him. A big part of the Christian walk is responding to Jesus in obedience without giving into fear. It is about trusting that Jesus is able to see us through the things He commands us to do. Luckily for Peter (and us) Jesus is also capable of seeing us through our doubts and lack of faith. We do not obey God in our own strength!
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