Mark 6:45-52--Jesus Walks on the Water

Mark 6:45-52
English Standard Version
​
Jesus Walks on the Water
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 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.

---

This passage comes immediately on the heels of Jesus feeding the 5,000.  Remember that Jesus and His disciples were trying to get away for rest after the apostles had returned from being send out as a kind of "advance team" to all the surrounding towns and villages.  The crowds wouldn't leave Jesus alone, so Jesus tells the disciples to get in the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side of the Lake to Bethsaida and He would find them and catch up with them later as He wanted to send the crowds away and then spend some time in prayer--John even adds that the reason that Jesus needed to send the crowds away and go into the mountains by Himself was because the crowds were trying to forcibly make Him king.

Much time will pass between the time that Jesus' disciples got into the boat and when they will see Jesus walking on the water--probably 9 to 12 hours.  Was Jesus praying this whole time?  We're not sure, but we do know that Jesus saw and heard His disciples in need when they were far off, in the darkest part of the night, and in the middle of the storm when there would be close to no visibility.  He did not see them with natural sight, but with the eyes of the LORD that see everything, and He heard their cries for help that were prayers to the LORD--something only God should be able to do.  Jesus gets up from His intimate time of prayer with His Father and walks out on the water but we are told that when He does so, it looks at first as if He is going to simply walk past them through the storm (maybe to show them that they have nothing to fear and that they will get safely to the other side), but they cry out in fear and He turns around and calls back to them saying, "I AM! Fear not!" (For some reason the translators didn't make this an I AM statement, but the text does not say "It is I," it says, "I AM!").  Hearing the covenant name of the LORD would have shaken the disciples even more than the storm they were in which is why Jesus had to say, "Do not be afraid."

Mark (probably because it's the account being told by Peter) does not include the part about Peter saying, "Lord, if it's you, bid me to come out on the water," and Jesus saying, "Come, Peter, join me!"  It doesn't talk about Peter walking to Jesus as long as Peter kept his eyes off the storm but as soon as Peter looked at the wind and the waves--the same storm that was there before he got out of the boat and the same situation that Jesus told him not to fear--he began to sink and had to cry out, "Lord, save me" (Remember that Jesus' name means "The LORD Saves" or "The LORD's Salvation"). Jesus immediately reached out His hand and rescued Peter and then asked him, "Why did you ever doubt?"  Again, that's not here in the book of Mark, because there is another objective here if we look at Mark 1:1.  This gospel is written so that we may know and believe that Jeus is the Christ (the Messiah) and the Son of God.  These miracles here are some of the same "signs" that John records in his gospel that he says are evidence that should persuade us that Jesus was who He claimed to be.  Remember the purpose statement that John makes at the end of his gospel, "30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20: 30-31).  So, since this story is also found in John 6, we can assume that part of what we are to learn from it is that Jesus is the Son of God, just as Mark and John have written that He is.

We have seen Jesus have authority over sickness, disease, and all kinds of infirmity, even giving sight to the blind which was one of the signs for the Messiah.  He made the fish go into the nets of Peter, James and John so that their nets could not contain the miraculous catch when He told them He would make them fishers of men.  He spoke and the unclean spirits listened to Him (we'll see that again in our next passage).  He raised the dead back to life, and He made those who were unclean to be clean again.  He fed the 5,000+ with only five loaves and two fish and now He calmed the storm.  There will be other miraculous signs, but these are some of the important ones that Mark decided to include in his "no frills" gospel that tells the essentials of the story of who Jesus was and how He brought salvation to both the Jews and the Gentiles.  That last part is something we are going to see in our next story as we'll see Jesus in the land of Gennesaret (a Gentile area) and He will also perform a mighty sign there, but the reaction of people in that area will be different than that of the Jews who wanted to make Jesus king, or the disciples who worshiped Jesus in holy fear.  They will tell Jesus that He needs to go away because He is upsetting their way of life.  We'll see that next time.