What Is A Disciple, Part 2: In The Eye Of The Storm Series

What is a disciple, Part 2: In the Eye of the Storm

Mark 6: 45-52; Matthew 16:22-33

We are in the second week of talking specifically about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. You might remember last week we said that “A disciple is someone who imitates the example of Jesus and who follows the instructions of Jesus no matter how often he gets interrupted by the world. And today, we are going to look specifically at one disciple, and how you see all three of these things happening in one story.

Before we start, I want to give you a test. While you are watching at home, I want you to call out the answers to these questions. Boys and girls, you guys can play this too. If you are watching on Facebook, or are on a handheld device where you can type in comments on YouTube, feel free to type your answers. It’s an easy test. There are only two questions. Ready?

1. How many disciples, or apostles, did Jesus have during his earthly ministry? [Pause] Good. Twelve. I told you it was easy. If you said anything other than 12, you’re overthinking it. Or you’ve been away from church too long. Ready for the second question?

2. Name the twelve disciples. STOP!! Okay, who was the first one you named?

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say, I’ll be it was Peter. And why not? In every list of disciples, Peter is the first one named. Most of the best known stories of Jesus from the Gospels feature Peter. And since we are studying the gospel of Mark, you might be interested to know that most scholars believe Peter was Mark’s primary source for his gospel. One of the earliest church historians, a man named Papias of Hierapolis, who died in 130AD said that Mark became Peter’s interpreter, and “wrote accurately all that he remembered.” So did Irenaeus, who died in 200 AD. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius—they all said Mark based his gospel on the preaching and personal recollections of Peter.

So when we read the story of Jesus walking on water on Mark 6, we know first off that Mark wasn’t there. He wasn’t one of Jesus’ disciples, so we can assume that this is Peter’s recollection of the story. So let’s look at this story, told to Mark, by Peter, and recorded in chapter 6, verses 45-52.

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[g] 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.

Ok. I’m gonna go out on another limb and guess that this probably isn’t the first time you’ve heard this story. It’s probably one of the most famous stories in the gospel. It’s found in three out of four of the gospels—Matthew, Mark, and John.

So, since you are already familiar with this story, let me ask you something else: What’s missing from the story? …. That’s right. You’re looking at this going, wait a minute. Did I skip a paragraph? Where’s the part about Peter walking on the water to Jesus?

Mark doesn’t tell it. It’s not there. You didn’t miss a verse, Cindy didn’t mess up the powerpoint. The story of Peter walking on the water to Jesus is not there.

Now, don’t freak out. I’m not saying it didn’t happen. It absolutely happened. That part of the story is told in Matthew 14, and you can flip over there because we are gonna talk about that too. But don’t hear me saying that the Bible can’t be trusted, or that the bible contradicts itself.

I’m just saying that when Peter told the story to Mark, he left himself out of it. And I think I know why. We’re gonna circle back to that at the end of the story. But before we get there, I want to talk about three truths we learn from this story about what it means to be a disciple.