After...They believed....

After He turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana...
John 2:11 "(Jesus) thus revealed His glory and His disciples put their faith in Him."
After Jesus was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered....
John 2:22 "...then (the disciples) believed the Scripture and words that Jesus had spoken."
After the Passover Feast in Jerusalem, many people saw the miraculous signs...
John 2:23 "... and believed in His name."
After the Samaritan woman met Jesus at the well, she excitedly shared this news with the whole town...
John 4:42 "They said to the woman 'We no longer believe because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves."
After Jesus prayed and the Centurion's son lived...
John 4:53 "So he and all his household believed."

Then we hear the voice of Jesus speaking to the official in regard to his son, "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe."
Is He frustrated with the people? Or is He simply stating a fact?
I always thought there was a bit of disappointment in His voice, but not anymore. Not at this point, anyway. This was Jesus initial launch into ministry. In chapter 2 of John, He had just turned water into wine. It was His first visible miracle. In chapter 3, we see the miracle of His teaching. In chapter 4, we see the miracle of His relationships. He broke mold after mold and the people had never seen anything like it. So rather than disappointment in His voice, I hear a fact. Just as children need a hand, leg, or table to hold onto while they are learning to walk, babes in Christ need to see the miraculous to believe. It builds our faith, just as walking builds the muscles in a child's legs.

Now, what about these verses?
After a storm rose up when the disciples were on the sea of Galilee and they woke Jesus in a panic...
Matthew 8:26 "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"
After the disciples attempted and failed to heal a boy with epilepsy...
 Matthew 17:20 "(Jesus) replied, 'Because you have so little faith...'"

What made the difference in Jesus response? Time! The disciples had walked with Jesus. They had seen miracle upon miracle. They walked daily with the Son of God and had front row seats to everything He did. They saw Jesus raise the dead, heal the sick, and cast out demons. They saw Him teach the multitudes, relate to women and children, and rebuke the Pharisees. They gave up their lives to follow Him and professed with their mouths their undying devotion to Him. Jesus' rebuke of the disciples in Matthew 17:20 comes shortly after Peter's bold statement in Matthew 16:16, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Hear me on this... I am not knocking Peter. We have all been in this place. Our words and actions are not completely matched up. There is no question that Peter loves Jesus. He has given up his job, his reputation, his family to follow Him.  He was learning as he journeyed.

Let's move ahead to the end of Jesus three year open ministry on earth. He has now demonstrated and spoken all He has come to do. The Word tells us the world could not contain the volumes if everything were recorded. (John 21:25) We know He spent time at supper with His disciples breaking bread; time in the Garden beseeching His Father; time in the courtyard; time in prison; time on the cross; time in hell; time in the tomb; and now it is time to present Himself one last time to those He came to save. He spent a bit more time with His disciples and even when it was time to go He spoke to them...

Mark 16: 15 - 18 "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs shall accompany (follow after) those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues' they will pick up snakes with their hands' and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat at the right hand of
God!

After that...
Mark 16:20 "Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere and the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word by the signs that accompanied it!"

So now, we see a total shift! In the beginning, we see that "After they saw... they believed." Now three years later, "They believed and these things (signs, wonders, miracles) followed after them."

As we grow, so it goes!