Downtown Community Church

Were the disciples faithful followers, or fallible failures? The answer may shock you.. We can have a visceral reaction to want to protect the character of the 12 disciples. However, a true reading of the Gospels reveals that these men failed constantly on their way to becoming faithful followers of Jesus. In the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand, the disciples are shown to be initially very practical. When Jesus told them to feed the people, they were perplexed. They were perplexed because they knew the level of their supply was not nearly enough to fill the need.  Put another way, there wasn’t enough in their cup to fill everyone else’s cup.Andrew offered 5 small loaves and 2 small fish that were available.  This created the dynamic for a very teachable moment for the disciples to experience.  Simply stated, you are not responsible for filling everyone’s cup (or basket) only for pouring out what’s in yours.Jesus then tells the disciples to have the multitude of people sit down in groups of 50. They h