On the Sea With the Disciples, But Never Out of Jesus’ Sight - Part 1
Mark 6:45-56
Turn with me to Mark 6. This is a very important chapter in this Gospel for reasons we will soon learn. In verses 45-56, we will examine a now famous and noteworthy event and the aftermath. Some background is in order before we do that though.
This chapter gives details of Jesus’ rejection in His hometown of Nazareth; Two verses are prominent from that event – 6:4: “Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.”
And in Mark 6:6: “And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.”
Only two times in the New Testament did Jesus wonder at their unbelief. The other was the faith of the Centurion in Luke 7:9: “Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.”
From there Mark takes us to the sending out of the twelve with the power and authority of Jesus to heal diseases and subdue demons.
In the midst of that narrative Mark inserts the responses of King Herod to the news of the twelve healing and casting out demons. Note 6:14: “And King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.”
The disciples gave all glory and credit to Jesus as should we all. Herod thought Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected. And that, of course, caused Herod a great deal of angst because he knew John was a righteous man.
Mark then takes us to the feeding of the 5,000 men; we would be much more accurate to call this the feeding of the 15-25 thousand than we would be calling it the feeding of the 5,000. This event marked a turning point in Jesus’ ministry in Galilee.
Jesus knows the heart of every man and woman, and He certainly knew most of the people that came to meet Him were only there for what was in it for them. For the show, to watch something amazing happen.
Please notice Mark 6:34: “When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.”
We read that Jesus felt compassion. Why? Because they had no shepherd.
He taught them many things. Have you ever wondered what Jesus taught them? I believe He taught them in the least:
1. About the Father and His Kingdom.
2. What His appearance meant – according to the Father’s plan. Jesus spoke often about doing the Father’s will.
3. About what true repentance was.
4. About following Him as a disciple.
5. About telling others the good news that God saves.
After the miracle of feeding thousands of people with five small biscuits and two sardines, a very familiar thing happened. Let’s turn to the Gospel of John.
John 6:12-15:
12 When they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. 14 Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
15 So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.
The people recognized a good thing when they saw it. “Hey, let’s make Jesus King and then He can feed us every day and heal us whenever we get sick.” What a life!
Now back to Mark 6. This rising expectation of the people explains 6:45: “Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away.”
Jesus “made” (Greek enankasen is “forced”) the disciples leave. He did not want them getting caught up in the frenzy of the people trying to force Him to be their King.
The disciples had problems of their own such as fighting among themselves about who would sit on Jesus’ right and left when He did bring the Kingdom.
Jesus knew that the twelve men were in a precarious place.
TEACHING FOCUS – Two of the many things disciples of Jesus have to overcome are 1. Our feelings 2. Allowing our feelings to be conditioned upon our circumstances.
Feelings are a poor barometer for truth. Emotions can hijack your mind and if we are not careful, feelings will begin to reign in our heart and cause untold damage to our life and testimony.
Circumstances are also a poor measure of our walk. Sometimes Yahweh allows things to bring us to a place we are not willing to go without a small “nudge.”
The disciples travelled with Jesus, they witnessed His power and authority over every aspect of their existence and yet they still did not grasp the complete truth of Jesus.
And we find this astonishing truth in the passage we are considering, Mark 6:45-56.
45 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. 46 After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.
47 When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. 48 Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them. 49 But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out; 50 for they all saw Him and were terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and said to them, “Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.” 51 Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, 52 for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.
53 When they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. 54 When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, 55 and ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to the place they heard He was. 56 Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.
Two things stick out in this passage.
1. Verse 52: “for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.” The Greek is poroo and means to become callous or unimpressed. All I can say about that is WOW!
TEACHING FOCUS – Guard yourself from becoming too familiar with the holiness of God. How can you know if you are too familiar? If you begin to be unimpressed by the hand of God in your life or someone else’s life. If you begin to slack off and believe “God understands me so its ok.”
2. Something is missing in Mark’s narrative, and it is important to know. Just like with a jig-saw puzzle, it is important to see how all the pieces fit together. The gospel writers are very good at providing the total picture of the life and ministry of Jesus but not one of them supplies all the pieces.
So, let’s return to John 6 and look at verses 15-21.
15 So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.
16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. 19 Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. 20 But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
I think the creator of Star Trek, Gene Rodenberry, got his idea for his time/space transporter on the USS Enterprise from v21 – Jesus transported them to the shore – Notice Mark says “immediately.”
What do we see here in John’s account?
We see that the disciples struggled against the wind and the waves most of the night but as soon as Jesus got in the boat, they made their destination. Now, in my opinion Jesus wanted to use this to bolster the faith of the disciples.
TEACHING FOCUS – We will not always be able to row our way out of the storms of life. Even if we are somehow able to calm our own storms, at what price do we survive the storm? If we haven’t looked to Jesus and Jesus alone, what lessons does He have for us to strengthen our faith, that we missed and will now be left to the next storm we encounter?
Jesus wanted to bolster the faith of the disciples. We will see this as we read further in John 6. But for now, let’s turn to Matthew 14. We want to look at Matthew’s recounting of this event for two reasons.
1. He gives us details that Mark and John do not.
2. Matthew’s inclusion of a detail is the reason for the apostles unflinching faith we will read about in John 6 in a moment.
So, Matthew 14. Let’s take a look at v17 to see the context, “They said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” – same as Mark 6 and John 6, right? The miracle of the bread and fish.
Now let’s look at Matthew 14:22: “Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away.”
Same context, right?
Let’s read v23: “After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.”
Jesus went up to the mountain to pray. A very important point. Mark 6:46 tells us Jesus went up the mountain to pray; John doesn’t mention it.
Take note of Matthew 14:24-25: “But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, He came to them, walking on the sea.”
There are several noteworthy points here.
The fourth watch was between 3a-6a. We know they left right after the feeding of the 15-25 thousand which would have been early evening. Let’s say around 8pm.
So, they’ve been rowing and fighting this storm for at least 7 maybe 8 hours. They are exhausted.
He came to them – right to them.
What had Jesus been doing? Praying. Jesus was praying.
Is that not some of the greatest news you can hear? Jesus is praying for you. Wow! Have you considered that you are the subject of the Father’s thoughts?
TEACHING FOCUS – Jesus is always our intercessory prayer warrior. Matthew 19:13 says Jesus laid hands on children and prayed for them. In Luke 22:32 Jesus prayed for Peter’s faith to be strong. In John 17 Jesus prayed for everyone who would believe in Him right down to our current day. Hebrew 7:25 is a prayer of Jesus that you must keep in mind always: “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
TO BE CONTINUED