JESUS WALKS BY
TEXT: MARK 6:45-52.
THEME: THE STORMS OF LIFE TEACH US MORE ABOUT US THAN GOD.
The Native American group in Nova Scotia, Canada, had a long standing tradition. Each young boy had to live in the wilderness by himself for a week. It was a right of passage for an Indian male child. Before he was given the right to marriage and has a family, he has to survive in the forest. He was given a bow, some bread, and a mat for his travels. He was not to return to base camp for a week. During this time, he had to hunt, provide, and sustain himself. This trip was more than a test of courage and skill, it was a spiritual journey. On this journey, the young boy would discover his true manhood. The test was not to destroy the boy, but to build his confidences in his ability to manage the difficulties in life.
Sometimes God also commands us to leave the camp. God instead of protecting us from all of life’s harms, he pushes us out the door to fight for ourselves. Instead of providing another job, he tells us to deal with it. Instead of delivering us from sickness, he commands us to be patience with it. Instead of saving us from difficult people, he tests us. Instead of providing a child, he tells us we have all we need. Instead of rescuing us from all of life’s problems and difficulties, he sometimes just walks by us. Sometimes God forces us out of the house to stay in the cold, pain of life.
This is not the typical image of God that is portrayed in today’s Christian world. People do not like hearing about a non-anxious God. A God that is more concerned with your faith development than you physical, spiritual comfort. A God that is willing to let you deal with the difficulties of life on your own. A God that sends you into the storm and is willing to leave you there; this is not a popular God. In fact recently I was watching a great movie. I enjoyed the movie and was encouraged by the movie. It was called “Facing the Giants.” It was about this football coach. He was having a losing season. The parents were turning on him and were fighting to have him fired. He was dealing with money problems, and his wife could not get pregnant and it was his fault. His whole world was turning against him. As the movie continued, he decided to give God the honor in all that he did. The movie begins to unfold in a different direction. The team turns around; he is given a large raise and a new truck. His football team ends up winning the state title against overwhelming odds. At the end of the movie his wife finally gets pregnant. It seemed that as soon as he gave God the glory, his whole life changed directions. The movie portrayed God as the benevolent Santa Claus: just believe and you will receive. We like this God. We like this comfort. We like this friend. But life does not always paint this picture. God does not always rescue the suffering and save the oppressed. Sometimes God allows us to life in doubt and uncertainty. And God has no intentions of helping out.
This is the case in Mark 6:45-52. This is the account of Jesus walking on the water. We love to hear this story as a promise of God to help us in the storms of life. We love to know that Jesus came to the disciples and stilled the storm. But this story is not about the comfort that Jesus brings. Mark pictures this account as a rebuke to the disciples. He pictures Jesus not has the great rescuer from our fears but as the cause of our fear. Jesus even is willing to allow us to remain afraid. With the storm and the sea raging around us. Jesus is intending to walk right on by. Jesus does not even want to relief us from our anxiety.
Mark 6:45-52 tells the story. “And immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the multitude away. And after bidding them farewell, He departed to the mountain to pray. And when it was evening, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and He was alone on the land. And 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. But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw Him and were frightened. But immediately He spoke with them and said to them, "Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid." And He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were greatly astonished, for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.”
FORCED INTO FEAR
The story begins where the feeding of the five thousand ends. Jesus has just feed a multitude of people before the eyes of the disciples. After the people were fed, the disciples gathered an additional twelve baskets, certainly enough to supply their needs. As Mark does in numerous occasions, he continues the journey with another immediately. This time Jesus is making his disciple get into a boat and cross the sea to travel to Bethsaida. The term “made” can be rendered “forced or compelled.” Jesus is commanding his disciples to travel the sea alone during the night. This is a scare thought if one knows the background ideas about the sea of old. In ancient times the sea was the place of evil. The evil monster was there. The enemy of all that we know as good and right is there in the water. In the Bible, the water is the abode of all the forces that are against us. The disciples would have known these ancient traditions. Traveling the sea at night was an intimidating experience. Jesus sends his disciples into uncertainty.
Jesus knows the journey will be difficult. The sea is a place of fear. But Jesus sends the disciples out alone to cross the sea. God forces us out of the safe route into the dangerous one. We like the easy path. We enjoy the comfortable trail. But God has commanded us into uncertain territory. God forces his people into talking about the Bible in front of mockers. God has called us to more than baking casseroles, writing nice cards, and visiting the sick. He has sent us out on the sea where the real danger is. We like to stay close to the shore and feel we are giving the Lord our best. We like to do the easy works of the church, and make excuses about the difficult tasks. But the same God that sent the disciples into the dangerous sea is sending us out of our comfort zones.
FORCED INTO FRIGHT
The disciples are abandoned on the sea alone. Jesus is alone on the mountain praying. Instead of rushing to rescue the disciples, Jesus is calmly praying by himself. Jesus is even watching them struggle and fight the sea. They are roaring but gaining no ground. This is an intimating experience. The disciples need help and Jesus is just watching. There is no mad dash to save. No immediate relief from anxiety.
Maybe you have never been stack on a body of water before and felt helpless. I have experienced this feeling before. It was scary. During fifth grade camp, my partner and I traveled out on the lake. We were highly confidence in our abilities as seamen. We traveled some distances until the land seemed far, far away. At this time, we realized that the wind picked out severely and we needed to travel back to shore. This was easier said than done. We roared and roared, and farther and farther the winds pushed us. Finally, we cried out for help, and two of the adults rescued us. We could not even make it back to shore. We roared to the closest shore and walked the rest of the way.
But Jesus does not run out to them like the adults at camp. He watches from a distance to see how the disciples would react. In fact instead of saving the disciples from fright and fear, he intends to walk to the other side. He has no intentions of stopping to assist the apostles. The text says “He intended to pass by them” in verse 48. Jesus is not going to stop and relief these men of their anxiety? He is just going to let them deal with the situation? Does he not know that they are afraid? The disciples need help and Jesus is just going to walk by them. This is not the Jesus that we like. We like the Jesus that is going to solve all our problems. We like the Jesus that is going to take away my fear. I want the Jesus who is going to relief me of my doubts.
This is the Jesus the world wants. Just look at all the books on the Christian bookshelves in stores. Even a lot of my brothers and sisters in church write these books. There are titles of “Out with Doubt”, “A Doubt Feel Faith,” and “Never Doubt Again.” We want to remain any doubt in faith, any uncertainty, and fear. We want the Jesus to solve the problem and make the anxiety go away. Fear is painful. Peter Steinke says “Under pressure, people demand answers and assurances. Their expectation is that leaders will bring stability, provide safety, and offer quick solutions. There is the expectation that the leader will do all of this with a minimum of disruption and no surprises.” People want Jesus to deal with everything. Don’t test me is the cry of this generation.
FORCED INTO FAITH
Finally, in verse 49, the disciples think they see a ghost. They were frightened. But Jesus having compassion on their weakness comes to them. He tells them in verse fifty to “take courage, I am.” When he says “it is I” he is literally saying, “I am.” This is the name of God in Exodus 3:14. He is assuring his disciples that God is in their mist. They do not have to be fearful because God is with them. In fact God has been with them the whole time. Mark provides a glimpse into the purpose of this account. In verse 52 the text says “they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.” The disciples did not learn the lesson from the incident of the loaves. So what was the lesson? Look at Mark 6:37 “But He answered and said to them, "You give them something to eat!" And they said to Him, "Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?" Jesus tells the disciples to handle the problem of feeding all the people. But the disciples were still thinking through the flesh and not the spirit. Jesus said long ago in Matthew 17: 20 “"Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ’Move from here to there,’ and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you.” The power was in the apostles already. They just had to trust that God would deliver them. They had missed the lesson on faith again.
Christians today see God us out there or beyond this world. That we need God to break into this world to deliver us, but the presence of the Lord is all around us. The disciples should have trusted in God’s power. Jesus does not have to be in the boat. Jesus has the power to deliver no matter where we are. God is not out there, but in us, around us, working through us. Paul says in Acts 17:28 “for in Him we live and move and exist.” We have everything we need to live through the difficult times.
Sometimes, God allows us to remain in pain and suffering. He lets us go through seasons of doubt. Not to destroy us, but to make us stronger. We grow in faith during these difficult times. The old saying goes “whatever does not kill you, makes you stronger.” Jesus knows that the faith of his people needs to be strengthened. This does not happen without difficult times or with doubting. Fear leads us into a deeper walk with God. Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” Sometimes God has to stay on the shore so his people will develop faith.
Fred Craddock tells the story about how he and Nettie got acquainted in New York City with a minister who had no arms. He was born with nothing from here. No arms. He was telling us one day there in New York about the experience of learning to put on his own clothes without any arms. He said his mother always dressed him, and he’d gotten to be a pretty big boy. She fed him, she dressed him, she fed him, she dressed him. One day she put his clothes in the middle of the floor and said, “Dress yourself.” He said, “I can’t dress myself, I don’t have…” She said, “You’ll have to dress yourself,” and she left the room. He said, “I kicked, I screamed, I kicked, I screamed, I yelled, “you don’t love me anymore!” Finally, I realized that, if I were to get any clothes on, I’d have to get my clothes on.” After hours of struggle, he got some clothes on. He said, “It was not until later that I knew my mother was in the next room crying.”
Sometimes God is in the next you crying, but you have to put your own faith on.
