91 - Faith Under Pressure

Life Lessons with Dr. Steve Schell

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.

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.

But Jesus didn’t leave them with that discouraging assessment of their faith, He quickly redirected their attention to another source of faith. He said if they would believe what He had taught them that evening they would find a source of faith that would last, one that would bring them peace, even in the midst of suffering. He said their new faith would rest on the confidence that He had “conquered the world,” and that’s still the only foundation of faith that lasts. We need to understand what He meant by those words, so we too can put our faith in the One who has “conquered the world.”