91 - Faith Under Pressure

<p class="ng-scope" style="margin:5.55pt 0in 5.55pt 0in;">Jesus’ disciples keep surprising us. You would think that by the final evening prior to His arrest they would have developed a strong, unshakable faith. After all, they had been watching Him minister and listening to Him teach for the past two and a half years. What greater miracle did He need to perform, or how much clearer could He be in telling them who He was and why He’d come? They had seen things no human eye had seen in all of history. And yet, as Jesus’ ministry on earth was drawing to a close their faith was still weak. It appears to have fluctuated with the moment. After some great miracle they would cry out that He was the Son of God, but as He kept progressing toward the cross, they seemed to struggle more and more to understand what He was trying to tell them.</p> <p class="ng-scope" style="margin:5.55pt 0in 5.55pt 0in;">The passage we’re studying today is one more example of the disciples’ changing moods. They had been debating among themselves about a statement Jesus made, when He suddenly confronted them. Without overhearing their conversation He was able to tell them what they had discussed, and then, using some of their exact words, He proceeded to answer their question (Jn 14:16-19). That really impressed them. They marveled that He knew their thoughts even before they had spoken a word to Him. And that prompted them to tell Him that they were now convinced that He was God’s Son. In effect, they were announcing to Him that they finally believed in Him. They said that after examining the evidence they had concluded that He had come “from God.” They intended their words to be affirming, but their statement actually revealed a very low level of faith, the sort of faith that would collapse as soon as it was put under pressure. Jesus replied that when Judas arrived with soldiers to arrest Him they would all abandon Him and scatter like frightened sheep.</p> <p class="ng-scope" style="margin:5.55pt 0in 5.55pt 0in;">But Jesus didn’t leave them