Comatose said-
It seems to say in a way I agree with that they would have had evidence to support their belief. But there is a difference between evidence and faith.
Yup. And believing without any evidence to justify it is FAITH; belief WITH visible evidence demands LESS faith, and actually builds CONFIDENCE.
That's the entire point of the account of the miracle of feeding the multitude mentioned in all four Gospels, as the miracle was offered as a SIGN, visible evidence which was SUPPOSED to confirm their BELIEF in Jesus' claim to be the Son of God (which he shyed away from making, and even chastized his apostles from speaking of to others; Aslan discusses that in his book on Jesus).
But as the account showed, even witnessing SIGNS (miracles) in the prior chapter failed to build THEIR FAITH in Jesus, as Jesus says in Matthew 16:
5 And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the [ f ] leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.” 8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? 9 Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up? 10 Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up? 11 How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the [ g ] leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Leaven is what makes bread rise; he was saying that the leaven of Pharisees was tainting Jesus teachings, interfering with the VISIBLE SIGNS (miracles) ability to build their and the crowd's confidence (BELIEF) in Jesus claims (and YES, even to build their FAITH, since the idea is that BELIEFS are made firmer by BOTH knowledge AND faith, since the promise of Jesus' ability to conquer death is still in their FUTURE, at this point).
Jesus was pointing out the problem with visible SIGNS (AKA miracles), refusing to provide them for the Pharisees (since they had a skeptical approach, filled with DOUBT and not willing to accept without questioning); now Jesus was blaming the Sadducees and Pharisees for "poisoning" the bread of his miracles' ability to build BELIEFS in those who witnessed them, since obviously they were undermining the power of the miracles by attributing them as coming from Satan; hence, why Jesus later declared the ONLY unforgiveable sin was to blaspheme the Holy Spirit by declaring that Jesus' power was coming from Satan, not God.
But as it pertains to the disciples, EVEN AFTER seeing Jesus feeding a crowd of strangers, and helping hand out the loaves (touching them and even tasting them), they displayed a lack of FAITH in Jesus' ability to provide for their daily needs. Jesus likely slapped his forehead, at that point (and obviously their level of faith varied with time).
Remember too how Jesus often healed those who knew NOTHING of his ability, other than what they heard; he healed them on the basis of their having FAITH. He even promised the "thief" (likely a seditionist, who may have heard of his claims but wasn't a disciple) who obviously had no ability to display his "works" at the time (he was being crucified, which makes it a bit problematic to go thereforth and make disciples!) on the basis of his FAITH, saying he'd be with him in Heaven. Paul must've had to do a bit of talking to work around THAT one, but Jesus himself spoke of the parable of the vineyard of the owner being able to hand out pay however he wishes, and no one else can say boo....
But notice how the story serves the purpose of promoting FAITH over KNOWLEDGE/DIRECT EXPERIENCE (via watching a "magic" show), which is awfully convenient, as we all know the power of illusionists to fool others with the sleigh of hand trickery, and their ability to identify the easily-susceptible (AKA gullible).
Adam
