God passing by…
Mark 6:49-52
49 but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 51 And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
So we turn again to our study of the Gospel of Mark and we are following the ministry and life of Jesus and also his disciples. Let’s not miss things because they may be familiar. Afresh and anew. Ask God to help you understand what He’s teaching us.
“To love this God means, among many other things, that we will be hungry to get to know Him better; conversely, in learning His words and ways, His attributes and His glory, what He loves and what He hates, we will find that our understanding of what it means to love God, what it means to love enemies, what it means to love brothers and sisters in Christ, will all be progressively modified and enriched. Precisely because, as created, dependent, and redeemed creatures, we are called to love our Creator, our Sovereign, our Redeemer with heart and soul and strength and mind, we will be firmly led to think robustly about what He is like, how He views evil, what rights and responsibilities He gives to the state in a fallen world, His role both in making peace and in judgment, and, above all, His commitment to His own glory as God.”
- A Carson
Mark 6:45-52
Jesus Walks on the Water
[45] Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. [46] And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. [47] And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. [48] And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, [49] but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, [50] for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” [51] And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, [52] for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
So far, just in chapter 6 of Mark we’ve seen.
- Jesus rejected in his own hometown
- The death of John the Baptist (the forerunner to Jesus)
- The disciples sent out on their first mission
- …and Jesus just fed 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish
And we get to this familiar story with a lot of meaning for us. Let’s notice some things here.
Jesus was trying to get the disciples some rest like he did before the feeding of the 5000 so he sends them by boat across the Sea of Galilee (only hours later)
Jesus himself dismisses the crowd and note that he goes up alone on the mountain to pray. (Can’t emphasize this enough as something we need to do….if God in the flesh, God’s only son needs this how much do you think that we need it?) Jesus does this when it’s really hard. Think before his crucifixion…he’s praying in the Garden
Jesus looks out from the shore and sees the disciples struggling “making headway painfully” on the water…it’s tumultuous as the Sea of Galilee can often be (remember Jesus calming the storm? High mountains, strong winds, and the sea itself 696 feet below sea level is a formula for almost hurricane like conditions) and oh by the way…the 4th watch is 3:00 am – 6:00 am Remember they were tired and now they face this.
So about 3:00 am here comes Jesus walking on the water. Here we have this difficult passage at the end of v48
Mark 6:48
[48] And he saw that they were making headway painfully (physical torment), for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them,
I don’t know about you, but I’ve read it to seem like he was sneaking by and they just happened to see him and wondered why he was doing that….well….I was wrong.
He meant to pass by them, not so that they would fail to see him (in which case he would have stayed farther away from them), but so that they would see him “pass by” (Gk. parerchomai), walking on the water, thus giving visible evidence of his deity (and thus answering the question they asked after he stilled the sea in Mark 4:41: “Who then is this … ?”)
Remember after he stilled the storm earlier in Mark 4 they were more scared of Jesus than the storm itself and said “Who then is this?”
You see again as He often does, Jesus is showing them that He is God and that he has command of anything that He wants.
Job 9:8
[8] who alone stretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the sea;
He’s not trying to scare or guilt them into following. That won’t work. He wants them to see who he really is and know that he is good and loving and gracious and slow to anger and rich in mercy.
That’s how he wants you to see Him.
But look…they see someone walking on the water and think it’s a ghost.
Mark 6:49-50a
[49] but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, [50] for they all saw him and were terrified.
But he doesn’t want them terrified. He wants them to see Him for who he is and believe. (50b)
………But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
Jesus said…It’s me (I AM)…don’t be afraid. That’s what he’s telling you and me.
Then this….
Mark 6:51-52
[51] And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, [52] for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
So Jesus gets in the boat with them and they are “astounded” which is not bad, except they should know who He is by seeing what he’s done and what he’s taught. …..they don’t understand because their hearts were hardened.
RC Sproul said that this is an encounter with the Glory of God.
Remember Jesus is going to “pass by”
Do you remember that when Moses wanted to see God? What did God do?
Exodus 33:19-22
[19] And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. [20] But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” [21] And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, [22] and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
So God is passing before Moses and he knows it!
Jesus (God) is passing before them and they miss it!
Here’s my point.
When the hard things or big things happen we call out in hope or fear and we call for God to come.
When we think we have it figured out on our own (apart from Him)…. we don’t.
And if we keep this pattern we won’t see him at all..He (I AM) will pass by and we will miss him. The Bible has all of these huge stories that grab our attention, but we miss that they were real people living real lives and many parts of everyday life were mundane, work – home – sleep, work – home – sleep. God shows himself in the Bible many times in ways that people will see and know Him and His work. The disciples had just seen Jesus feed 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fishes….they had just seen Him walk on water….yet they don’t recognize Him as God. We’re still like that today.
You see that Jesus walks by and is showing His Glory as only God can do and sees them in physical torment….so He gets in the boat with them.
Are you rowing hard against the wind and storm today? In physical or emotional or spiritual torment
Are you missing who God is? Not a genie in a bottle, not some made up god from culture or even one you have woven in your mind.
The real God exists. The God of the Bible ……He came down to earth in the form of a man Jesus to show us how to live and also die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins so that we could be in heaven.
Don’t miss God passing by….Ask Jesus to get in the boat with you. He will save you.