This is one of those Gospels that, based on the translation that we have, asks for us to believe what seems to be impossible for a human to do: walk on water. This kind of passage brings out the skeptic in many believers. For the audience to whom Matthew was originally writing, this kind of feat would not be unimaginable. After all, this is God in human form; the God who parted the Red Sea for Moses to escape the Egyptians and the God who parted the Jordan River for Joshua to lead God's chosen people into the Promised Land. This would have fit right into those first hearers' understanding of the power of God: perhaps not into our understanding though.

Let's see, my spiritual journey begins in a farm outside of a small town in Kansas. I grew up in the faith of my parents- Roman Catholic. All in all, it was a positive religious experience for me. This was the beginning of my spiritual journey- even if I did not really understand what spirituality meant until many years later....My parents were Roman Catholic with a capital R and a capital C. We went to Mass every Sunday. Many times Saturday night and Sunday morning. And maybe also Wednesday night mass during the week. All holy days were observed. During Easter Holy Week we went to church 5 of the seven days of the week.

As a child, the feeding of the 5000 by Jesus was always one of my favorites. Having an active imagination as a child I always imagined Jesus in some desolate place with hordes of people around him: the disciples bringing him five loaves of bread and two fish and Jesus miraculously creating baskets full of food for all to be satisfied. As that imaginative child, I always found this a satisfying scenario.

That bubble got burst when I was about ten years old....