Intro/Review
In last week’s passage (6:1-15) Jesus fed 5,000 men plus women and children with 5 small loaves of bread and 2 fish.
In that miracle we see not only Jesus’ divine power, but also his compassionate care and provision for people in need.
Sadly, most of the people decided that this meant Jesus had come to give them everything they ever wanted right now (Israel great again & free food forever).
Despite an amazing display of divine power, they only think of themselves.
Rather than accept him on his terms (“the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”) they are going to try to force him into their plans.
Jesus quickly disperses the crowd and leaves them as he has his disciples leave as well (John 6:15, Matthew 14:22).
He does not want to be associated with people who say good things about him but mostly ignore his actual message.
He does not want his true followers getting caught up in that way of thinking: the thinking that sees faith as a means of harnessing God into doing our will.
In today’s passage, we see another miracle in which Jesus demonstrates his power and provision for his true followers (the 12 disciples).
There are a lot of similarities to what he has just done (a massive problem solved by a physics-defying miracle), so this in many ways reinforces what we saw last week.
This miracle is also described in Matthew 14:22-33 and Mark 6:45-52.
John provides fewer details than Matthew or Mark, and I’ll pull in a few details from those other passages.
But John’s limited detail helps us focus on the points that he is making.
(16-19a) The Problem
(16-17a) The disciples set out across the Sea of Galilee, going from east to west. Geography lesson:
Map of Israel:
Sea of Galilee (and surrounding region known as Galilee) in the North
Jordan River flows through it down into the Dead Sea in the South (where you will find Jerusalem and the surrounding area known as Judea).
Our focus is on the Sea of Galilee (aka Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, Lake Tiberias).
It is a freshwater lake, about 8 mi. wide, 13 mi. long, and 33 mi. around.
Comparison to lakes in Michigan: twice the surface area of Houghton lake, and 1/7 the area of Lake St. Clair but with 6-7X max depth (Wikipedia).
See pictures: view from Golan heights, boat heading out, rainstorm over the lake.
(17b-19a) The disciples are having a hard time getting anywhere through the rough weather.
They are rowing, so they must be headed into the wind.
Even though it is now a little before dawn (“the 4th watch” in Matthew 14:25), they have only gone 3-4 miles…maybe halfway across when they should be over by now.
I think it is easy to empathize with how they are feeling at that moment:
Frustrated at putting forth a lot of effort and time and barely going anywhere.
A bit worried that if things get much worse they could be in real trouble.
On top of that, it’s dark out (problems always seem worse in the dark) and Jesus is not with them.
At least, there is no obvious, immediate evidence of his presence and care…
…though we are told that he does know what is going on (cf. Mark 6:48).
The disciples are not facing this difficulty because they are out of God’s will.
Remember, Jesus is the one who told them to get in the boat and go across! They are exactly where God told them to be, doing exactly what he told them to do.
A life of faith and obedience does not mean a life free from difficulty, danger, or hardship…often, it means quite the opposite (see Hebrews 11:33-38).
The ultimate fulfillment of God’s glorious promises does not take place here on this sin-cursed earth, but rather in the eternal kingdom of God that is home to all God’s people of all ages (Hebrews 11:38-39).
For now, we live in a universe broken by sin, and we often experience that brokenness even when we are not personally sinning.
Other people may sin against us.
We may be frustrated or harmed by the sin-warped creation with things like sickness, decay, or weather (as the disciples are experiencing).
But we can be confident that God uses these trials and difficult circumstances to help us develop spiritual maturity & become who he created us to be (James 1:2-4).
God gladly provides us the wisdom needed to face trials when we ask in faith (James 1:5-8).
i.e., We ask expecting him to answer and not giving up if we don’t immediately see a full solution (like Andrew with the boy’s lunch).
God usually works just a step at a time rather than showing us the whole roadmap or making our problems completely and instantly disappear.
Along the way, we learn more about his loving character as we see him guide our steps and we develop character traits like patience, persistence, & trust.
(19b-21) The Miracle
(19b) When the solution to their problems comes (Jesus himself) the disciples fail to recognize what is happening and are afraid.
Not only are they having boat problems, but now they think they see a ghost and start screaming/yelling in fear (Mark 6:49-50a).
To be fair, Jesus walking on the water would be completely unexpected.
They jump straight to a scary explanation that isn’t even biblically sound: they’re being haunted (a pagan, superstitious idea).
How very human to respond to the unexpected by completely freaking out and forgetting about God or anything he has said.
They don’t appear to be crying out to God…they’re just screaming in terror.
Paralyzing fear is a natural response in difficult situations (especially when it looks like things could be about to get worse), but it’s not the best response.
(20) Jesus announces who he is and calms the disciples’ fears.
The phrase translated It is I is the normal way of identifying yourself, but it is also the statement I am.
While the disciples probably wouldn’t have understood it as I am in that moment, there appears to be a deliberate play on words here for our benefit.
I am is the name God used to identify himself to Moses (Exodus 3:14) and the root of the name YHWH (the Lord).
Jesus definitely uses it with that force in John 8:58 and 18:6.
This name emphasizes that he is the one and only self-existing all-powerful God (Isaiah 43:10-13).
In the Old Testament, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha parted the waters, but only the Lord is described as walking on the water (Job 9:8)
Only the Lord is described as stilling the storm so that people could come safely to shore (Psalm 107:28-30).
Jesus, the Almighty I am, creator of the universe, tells his disciples “do not be afraid.”
Fear might be the natural response (i.e. part of the old self that we are born with) to difficult situations, but in Christ we have a new nature & the indwelling Holy Spirit.
If you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, the person God created you to be is not controlled by fear (2 Timothy 2:7).
The context is urging Timothy to serve God out of love in the power of the Holy Spirit.
We don’t have to become paralyzed by depression, indecision, or “what if.”
We don’t have to panic and do something sinful because it happens to look like the easy way out.
When we fully trust our all-powerful, perfectly loving Heavenly Father and turn our problems over to him, how can we live in fear? (Isaiah 26:3-4)
We have Jesus’ own promise that he is all-powerful and always with us as we carry out the mission he has given us to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).
We don’t have to wait for him to come strolling across the sea.
He is already here.
(21) Jesus quickly gets them to shore
This would appear to be another miracle
Mark 6:51 adds the detail that as soon as he got in the boat, the wind stopped.
They went from the middle of the lake to the shore without wind very quickly.
Once again Jesus seems to ignore what we think of as the laws of nature, controlling weather and the speed of moving objects at will.
We see that sometimes God takes care of our problems by getting rid of them quickly and even miraculously (like he did here).
Sometimes God gives us the grace and strength to endure trials and draw closer to him as we are forced to rely on his strength (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
Like James, Paul recognized that God uses trials for our good…and those trials may be lifelong.
We can trust him as we walks with us through difficulties
We can be at peace in whatever situation we find ourselves because we know Jesus is with us (Hebrews 13:5-6).
We don’t need to obsess over the temporary things of this world.
Anything that sinful people or this broken world can dish out, Jesus can use for our good and his glory.
These things are only true of you if you belong to Jesus.
If you receive Jesus on his own terms: the Son of God who died and rose again to provide forgiveness for your sins, God is your perfect Father.
Accept that forgiveness and adoption into God’s family today.
For those of us who have, just one application today
Application: Remember Jesus’ words to his struggling disciples – “I am; do not be afraid.”
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