Mark 6:45-52 — Against the Wind

Mark 6:45-52

Photo: Greg K. Dueker

Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, 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.”

And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

Comments:

After the feeding of the 5000, Jesus put the disciples in a boat and sent them off so that he could dismiss the crowd (that were wanting to make him king). I tend to wonder if the disciples were more in agreement with the crowd at this point. After the dismissal of his disciples and of the crowd Jesus went up on the mountain to pray. I know that I probably would have wanted to take a nap. Yet we see that prayer was Jesus’ priority and certainly a source of strength.

In v. 48 we see that Jesus was alone on the land and the disciples were in the middle of the lake and rowing against the wind. No, they weren't just rowing, they were straining at rowing. The wind was against them. It's hard enough to ride a bike into a stiff wind, much less row a boat into a howling gale! I think that if we were in the boat we might ask questions like, "Why did Jesus ask us to cross the lake again today in this wind?" which might lead to doubts like, "Didn't Jesus know there would be a storm tonight?" and "Maybe we misunderstood him. It can't be his will that we cross over the lake or the wind would be in our favor." We all too often judge God's will by our circumstances. We need to learn the hard truth that sometimes he wills that we row against the wind of circumstances.

Jesus didn't come immediately to their physical rescue, however, he did see them and most certainly was praying for them. Jesus knows that character is built in difficult crossings. They had just been so buoyant at the things they had done as they had traveled and preached. Then Jesus had fed over 5,000 people miraculously that evening. If they were like us today, then they might have begun to take some responsibility for the miracles. A contrary wind brings us back to reality. It helps us to realize our weakness without his help, our fearfulness without his presence, and our amazement at his power.

The Apostle Paul would one day write something similar out of his own times of "painful headway", 

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)

Kinneret Lake before Sunrise

Something else I notice about Jesus in this brief account—while he is praying on the mountain the disciples are not out of his sight. At the right moment, in the pre-dawn darkness, he comes to them on the lake and is revealed to them in a whole new way…but they didn’t fully understand it until later. Just because we are facing hardship or “making headway painfully” doesn’t mean we are outside of God’s will for our lives. Just because we don’t see Jesus in our situation doesn’t mean he is not near, or that we won’t see him in a new way soon. Just because we don’t understand Jesus’ plans doesn’t mean that they aren’t good.

This was not the last time that the disciples would see Jesus unexpectedly and think they saw a ghost (Luke 24:37). Perhaps I should call this post "The Ghost of Easter Future" as Jesus works to prepare their humbug hearts for what is to come.

I pray the Lord keeps my heart soft to respond to him in trust even when I don’t understand, and that I can continually take heart in him for he is greater than all my fears and failures.