Winks From Scripture: God’s Subtle Work Among UsBeispiel

God Winks in Our Failures

God’s presence is Christ’s faithfulness. In times of suffering, we can expect to see Christ’s devotion to us. This is a promise for us as disciples. Jesus is faithful to those who follow Him. But what happens when we fail as followers?

While the goal of being a disciple is being faithful to the Master, the irony is that following Christ has more to do with Jesus’s faithfulness to us than our faithfulness to Him. When we fail and suffer for it, He remains with us.

Matthew winks at us and demonstrates this explicitly in his gospel. Perhaps the most ironic thing is that the disciples rarely get it right in the story. The disciples fail so often that their example is one the reader should not follow. We should not be like them if we want to follow Jesus.

But Matthew gives us subtle clues that show us that the mission of the disciples is never compromised, despite all of their failures, because Jesus remained faithful to them.

The wink is found in the twenty-four times that Matthew refers to Jesus’s disciples as “his disciples.” This might seem to be unintentional but given the failure of the disciples throughout the narrative, it’s likely not. It’s precise irony. Those who are “his” can’t get it right.

This is even more absurd when we consider that Jesus empowers them for service. He gives them power to cast out demons, heal the sick, and receive supernatural provisions for their needs. Yet they don’t know how to feed the multitudes when Jesus tells them to, they can’t cast out a demon from a possessed boy, they are frightened by a storm, and they fail to understand who Christ is. Humorously, the only thing “his disciples” do get right is retrieving a donkey. This is Matthew amusingly suggesting that they are good only for mundane tasks.

But despite their disappointing failures woven into the narrative, they are confirmed as His disciples. It is a reassurance that no matter how badly they nosedive, Jesus never walks away.

Have you had repeated failures—maybe even a lifetime of failures—that have caused you untold suffering? Like the disciples, can you attest to God’s faithfulness despite them?

That is a wink from God. You are still His disciple. His presence is proof that He is at work in our own failures.