Here Comes Jesus - Walking on the Water
6:45-52
Immediately after Jesus fed the 5,000, he made the disciples get in their boat and go to Bethsaida while he dismissed the crowd. There is a since of urgency here. Jesus acted immediately and forcefully. He compelled them to leave and to leave at once.
Mark does not explain the reason for Jesus’ sudden action, but we can ascertain it from the parallel passage in John 6. As the crowd began to say Jesus was the prophet who was to come into the world, as prophesied by Moses, Jesus perceived the crowd was on the verge of taking him by force to make him king. (John 6:15)
The disciples might well have become caught up in this revolutionary fervor since they did not yet understand the kind of Messiah Jesus was. Sending them off prevented their participation in this unwise act.
After Jesus dismissed the crowd, he went up on the mountain to pray. In Mark’s gospel, when Jesus goes off to pray, he goes to a lonely place, without the disciples, and before making an important decision or facing a crisis. Here, Jesus could have allowed the crowds to make him king and work from there. However, he prays and decides to continue the path of the servant. He “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant”. (Philippians 2:7)
Jesus’ praying was not a short time, however. He went up on the mountain in the evening and did not come to the disciples until sometime between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., the 4th watch in Roman reckoning.
Jesus saw the disciples struggling on the lake because the wind was against them. It was probably some kind of wind storm. They were common on the Sea of Galilee.
This situation is different than the storm in Mark 4. In that storm, the boat was taking on water and the disciples were afraid the boat would sink and they would drown. Here, there is no mention of fear of dying. But, they were struggling mightily against the wind.
Jesus went to them. He came to help them out of compassion, just as he acted in compassion toward the hungry crowd.
More importantly, Jesus also came to them revealing his deity by walking on the water. Only God can defy the laws of nature and walk on water. Job said that only God stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. (Job 9:8)
In addition, Jesus declared his deity. When the disciples saw Jesus and feared he was a ghost, Jesus told them not to be afraid because “it is I”. The Greek words for this are “ego eimi” (ἐγώ εἰμι), the same as the Greek version for God’s identification of himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14 (“I AM”)
The words “He meant to pass by them” may be confusing. Mark is not saying Jesus was going to pass them without acknowledging them. Rather, he is using it in the Old Testament sense of God revealing himself to men. For example, God “passed by” Moses after Moses requested that God show him his glory.God agreed to “pass by” Moses and let Moses see his glory. (Exodus 33:18-23)
Another example occurs when Moses makes the second set of tablets for the commandments. God passed by him and proclaimed his name and his character. (Exodus 34:4-7)
Similarly, in 1 Kings 19, God passed by Elijah to remind that he was still working and still had followers in Israel.
The disciples, however, did not understand. First, they thought Jesus was a ghost or evil spirit. They were so scared, the cried out. They were terrified. (49-50)
Even though Jesus had saved them from a previous storm, they seemed to believe he had abandoned them to attacks by ghosts and storms.
So Jesus joined them in the boat and the wind ceased. (51) The disciples were “utterly astounded”. It is an interesting reaction, since he had calmed a storm before. That time they were filled with great fear. (4:41)
Being utterly astounded, or filled with great fear, is not the same as understanding and believing in who Jesus is. Mark says plainly that they did not understand about the loaves (52), meaning they did not see the deity of Christ in the miracle.
Job 9:11 says: “Behold, he passes by me and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him”. It seems remarkably applicable to this story in Mark.
By this time, Jesus had also revealed his deity by dividing a boy’s lunch into food for 5,000 or more people. He had also revealed it in healing illnesses, casting out demons, raising the dead and forgiving sins. Yet the disciples did not understand or believe.
In fact, their hearts were hardened. (52) Their first hand knowledge of Jesus, his teaching and works, did not lead them to faith at this point. Jesus acted outside their normal parameters. It scared them. It astonished them. But, it had not at this point, led them to the belief that Jesus is God.
This is a sad commentary on the spiritual life of the disciples at this point. But it is a great testimony to what can do in a person’ life, as evidenced by what the disciples later become.
Jesus Continues to Heal
6:53-56
Arriving in the area of Gennesaret, Jesus is immediately recognized. People brought the sick from all over the region for Jesus to heal. And he did heal them, even if they only touched the tassels of his garment in faith.
By healing the sick, Jesus demonstrated his deity. He showed his authority over the physical body. He also demonstrated his deity by his compassion, for God is compassionate. Psalm 113:13 says “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.”
The deity of Christ is an essential doctrine of the Christian faith. It is taught by the Bible. It is essential to the doctrine of the Trinity. It is essential to knowing Christ as savior and lord.
Believing in the deity of Christ is also the only way to have peace in the world. Knowing that he is in control, working out God’s eternal plan, and taking care of those who believe in him provides the Christian peace in the midst of life’s turmoil.
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