Mark 6
47 Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land.
48 Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.
As the disciples were battling with the storm, desperately trying to save themselves from sinking, their master was on the land watching them rowing frantically for the wind was against them. He saw them in the middle of the sea when evening had come, battling with the wind but notice how it wasn’t until about the forth watch of night (3 am) that He starts walking towards them. It seems like He aloud them to battle the storm alone for quite a few hours and the reason for this is not because He enjoyed watching them in their struggle but rather to allow them to see that their own strength was not enough. He also shows us in this story that just because He allows us to go through trials and allows us to suffer does not mean that He is not watching and desiring to safe us. It only means that He is allowing us to be tested and tried and to see our desperate need for Him. How else would we see our need for Him?
Notice also, how it says that at the forth watch of night, Jesus came to them, walking on the stormy sea and He had planned on PASSING THEM BY. This He would have done had they not cried out. Their crying out caused Him to stop. It does not say what they cried out but in a deadly situation like that you would think that they would have cried out in prayer. Rather then pass them by as He had planned, He stopped and immediately He talked with them and comforting them to be of good cheer, saying It is I; do not be afraid.” The fact that He had intended on passing them by clearly shows that He was trying to teach them something important.
49 And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out;
50 for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
We might wonder why would Jesus attempt to pass by His disciples, especially when He saw them struggling with the storm, their little boat tossed to and fro by the storm. Was it because He did not care that their life was in danger? Or was it because He was waiting for them to see and realize that they needed Him? Was it because He saw that they lacked faith in His identity? Scripture states that immediately after the feeding of the 5 thousand men He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida. They made this journey right after their hardened hearts did not consider the miracle of the loaves and fish that Jesus multiplied right in front of them.
Mark 6
51 And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.
52 For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.
As we can imagine, these men must have used all of their strength to save themselves but clearly that was not good enough. Help came immediately when they realized they needed a help outside of themselves and they cried out and caught the masters attention. Notice how amazed they were in themselves, beyond measure and marveled. They couldn’t get over how foolish they had been to doubt their Redeemer when He fed 5 thousand men with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. They admitted that they did not understand because their hearts were hardened. Here again, its clear to see that there was a problem that needed to be fixed, the disciple’s hearts were hardened and Jesus was trying to change that.
The question for us is how often is the Lord nearby and passes us by because we fail to truly believe in His authority and strength? Moments when we make Him less then He is. Do we have our doubts that He is the worlds Redeemer? How often does He pass us by because we do not cry out to Him in prayer seeing that He is our only hope? Are we battling with the storm, trying with our own strength to swim to shore? It don’t matter how out of control the storm may be in our life’s, take courage and know that this storm can only be quenched when the master comes on board.
Psalm 89
O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? 9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
The disciples had hardened their hearts when Jesus performed this miracle before their very eyes and perhaps they remembered how Elisha miraculously fed 100 men with 20 loaves of bread. By the way, the 20 loaves of bread is not like the bread we buy at the store today. Rather they were smaller loaves for Elisha’s servant seemed to think that 20 loaves would never be enough for those 100 men.
2 kings 4
42 Then a man came from Baal Shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened grain in his knapsack. And he said, “Give it to the people, that they may eat.”43 But his servant said, “What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?” He said again, “Give it to the people, that they may eat; for thus says the Lord: ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’ 44 So he set it before them; and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.
Perhaps they saw Him as a prophet also, rather then their Redeemer. With their hardened hearts they were shortly after placed into deeper waters that were anything but calm. In these stormy waters they tried to save themselves but made no headways and the sea remained out of control. Until they saw their Redeemer steadily walking towards them on those same waters that threatened to claim their life’s. When their hearts were no longer hardened Peter asked Jesus to command him to come to Him on the water. Come, was the command and Peter forgot that he was in a storm as He walked towards his Lord. But…Peter started focusing on the waves and looked away from the one who gave him the power to walk on those waters that caused their boat to be tossed to and fro. He looked away and focused on the situation that surrounded him and look at the little time that it really needs for us to start sinking. We start sinking instantly and the only thing that can save us in these times is the same hand that took hold of Peters hand. His hands are still outstretched, He is ready to save those that cry out to Him, may we not doubt Him for even a second.
You cant read that they acknowledged Him as the Son of God when He fed the 5 thousand but they were quick to give Him the honor that He deserves when their life’s were all a step away from death. Right there in the middle of the sea they all came to Him and worshiped Him saying, truly you are the Son Of God. It seems that often times we have to be placed into extreme situations before we can clearly see who our Redeemer truly is. As we walk towards Christ the path before us may at times be stormy but no matter how stormy the path towards Him may be, it wont effect our advancement to come closer to Him unless we loose sight of our mission. If Peter was to have no excuses for taking his eyes of his Lord as he was out there, in the darkness, standing on a sea that was roaring, then how much less excuse do we have for taking our eyes of Him? Faith…where is our faith and our focus?