Stages Of Faith
. . . He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus . . . and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. (Mark 2:14).
. . . He saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, . . . And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him (Mark 1:16-18).
. . . He saw James . . . and John his brother, . . . And immediately he called them, and they left their father . . . and followed him (Mark 1:19-20).
How charismatic and compelling must Jesus have been?!? Was He actually able to draw men away from their occupations by His mere presence? Did His eyes go psychedelic like “Kaa” the snake in “Jungle Book?” Was He able to out mesmerize Mesmer? What is going on in these passages?!?
I encourage every Christian to take a simple course in “Harmony of the Gospels” so they can get a general overview of how these four accounts fit together and augment one another.
An art student is not encouraged to study the brush strokes of the masters in the bottom left-hand corner of their great works until they have, first, stepped back and absorbed the entire piece. The same is true for the Bible. It is always wise to get a general understanding of the whole, before trying to dissect the parts. This approach to learning is called “Deductive Reasoning;” moving from the general to the specific.
What we learn in reading the four gospels in their “harmonized” version is that John deals with a first year in the ministry of Jesus the other three gospels (the “synoptics,” “similar view”) do not deal with. That first year is called “The Year of Beginnings” (can you guess why?).
When Jesus called these disciples in Mark He was calling them to learn how to do ministry from Him; to change their occupations; to become, “fishers of men” (Mark 1:17). The call He extended to those in John 1 was the call to follow Him as their personal teacher, their rabbi, their “mentor.”
The “call to ministry” we have just seen in Mark is NOT at the beginning of the 3 ½ year ministry of Jesus. These calls to ministry occurred at the beginning of the SECOND of those 3 ½ years. Jesus had already spent a year with His disciples. They had traveled with Him; learned from Him; observed Him; witnessed miracles; and been amazed at His willingness to confront the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.
This is the reason there are two “Cleansings of the Temple.” One occurred in the first year of His ministry, which is recorded only by John, and the other occurred at the very end of His ministry, recorded by others.
The faith the disciples possessed at the end of those 3 ½ years was NOT the same faith they began their journey with. Their faith progressed in its foundation, and the Gospel of John gives us three stages in the development of their faith.
To quote that great “theologian of the faith,” Julie Andrews, “Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start.”
The first miracle performed by Jesus was the miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana and is recorded only in John. This miracle occurred at the very beginning of “The Year of Beginning,” after Jesus had invited some men to follow and learn from Him.
We know the story: the wine ran out, Mary came to Jesus, and He turned (polluted) water into the best wine of the wedding (John 2:1-11).
This event, to say the least, arrested the attention of those who knew the circumstances, including the disciples. And what was the result of this miracle in the hearts of His disciples?
John 2:11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
Miracles were flashes of glory which burst through the casing of flesh which revealed the true Christ of Jesus. He was the complete fullness of the Godhead, in bodily form (Col 2:9), and miracles were explosions of His divinity past the confines of His humanity: and there is a level of faith based, in earliest forms, in what Jesus does for us.
Wasn’t it great at the very beginning of your relationship with Him, when His presence was so obvious, His involvement in our lives so apparent, His provision so clear and generous? Wasn’t it easy to believe when He gave us everything we asked for?
And the disciples were not the only ones who saw the miracles of Jesus as reason to put their trust in Him.
Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?” (John 7:31).
Then, in John 11 we have the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead which was so self-evidently by the power of God that:
. . . many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him (John 11:45).
I think most of us would be willing to admit that raising someone from the dead is a pretty amazing thing! The people who saw the miracle certainly thought it was amazing, to such an extent, in fact, that:
So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him (John 12:10-11).
The religious leaders wanted to kill Lazarus because his life was a (literal) living testimony to the miraculous power Jesus possessed.
Faith built on Jesus doing everything for us is a wonderful playground to spend our time in, just like the highchair we all once sat in. It’s nice to have the food cooked, prepared, brought and then spoon-fed to us; but no parent looks forward to a child who still needs everything done for them at 6 years of age. At 6 months it might be cute. At 6 years, there is a problem.
But faith at the level of the miraculous is a legitimate level of faith,. . . we all need to progress through.
The disciples began with a foundation of faith based on what Jesus did for them. They did not, however, remain there.
The first level of faith spoken of in John is:
1) Faith in what Jesus did.
The second level of faith is:
2) Faith in what Jesus said.
In John 4 Jesus had the encounter with the woman at the well. We remember the story. He told her “. . . all that I ever did” (John 4:29). In fact, one proof for her of who Messiah would be was that, “. . . When he comes, he will tell us all things." (John 4:25). On the power of her testimony, the people of nearby Sychar convinced Jesus to stay with them for 2 days, at the end of which time they told the woman:
"It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world." (John 4:42).
For the Samaritans, it was the words of Jesus which convinced them He was the Christ.
As Jesus debated with the religious leaders in John 8, He ended His discussion on being the light of the world by saying,
“. . . When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am and that I do
nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.
The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him” (John 8:28-30).
And what was the result in the hearts of the people?
Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him (John 8:30 1984 NIV).
There is a level of faith founded on the words of Jesus. The demand for signs has passed, and we have found such truth in His words, that what He says is sufficient.
The Proconsul on Paphos shows us both of these steps when it says:
Acts 13:12: When the proconsul saw what had happened, HE BELIEVED,
for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
Notice what it says. The miracles did not cause him to believe: but they DID arrest his attention so he could hear the life-changing teaching about Jesus.
Miracles are a wonder to behold, but the Word of God is what instructs, and changes, our lives.
The Bible declares that God is,
“. . . good and does good; teach me your statutes (Ps 119:68).
That is a wonderful statement concerning the eternal goodness of God: but there comes a day for every follower of Jesus when we will be presented with the opportunity to question if He truly is good. The difficulty will come, the sickness will land, the “sure thing” will fail, the “BFF” won’t be “B,” “F,” or “F,” and we will be tempted to question God’s goodness. It is in the dark time when His Word so captivates us we are compelled to believe, not because of what someone else has said, not even because of what He has done, but we are finally able to say, “. . . This I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
The foundation of His goodness is the prelude to our understanding His Word: and we find ourselves at a deeper level of faith in Him.
So now we come to the third level of faith in John’s gospel.
The first two are:
1) Faith in what Jesus did.
2) Faith in what Jesus said.
And now we have:
3) Faith in who He is.
Lazarus had died. Word had been sent to Jesus in time for Him to come and heal His friend, but He chose to delay His hospital visit for two more days so that, by the time He arrived, Lazarus was already dead and had been buried for four days. The sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, were not happy with Jesus’ delay and let their disappointment be known.
Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ...
. . . Mary . . . (said) to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." (John 11:21, 32).
These sisters had supported the ministry of Jesus for quite some time and now, when their brother was dying, Jesus let two more days pass before even heading to the ICU. What kind of friend is that?!?!? “If you had only been here!!”
But when talking with Martha, Jesus used two extremely charged words.
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me,
though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26).
The two loaded words were, “I am.” Martha knew what those words meant, and Jesus knew that she knew. They hearkened back to the revelation of God to Moses through the burning bush when He said:
. . . “Say this to the people of Israel: 'I AM has sent me to you.'” (Exod 3:14).
It was (another) profession of His deity, and Martha’s answer to “Do you believe this?” was extremely clear:
She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
who is coming into the world" (John 11:27).
Jesus could have healed, but He didn’t.
Jesus could have spoken and prevented all of this from happening, but He didn’t.
But still, in the face of Her loss and sadness, Martha believed in Jesus, not because of His works, and not because of His words. She believed in Him because of who He was:
“. . . I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God . . .”
I love the verse which says:
But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me (Ps 131:2).
A weaned child comes to sit with their mother, not for what they can get out of her, but simply to be with her. To believe in Jesus when the miraculous seems to have ceased, and the flow of words seems to have been shut off at its source, requires a “calmed and quieted” soul, but this is the faith which believes, simply, because of who He is.
Subscribe to More Writings & Exclusive Resources on Substack