The Fearful Response

This morning, we come to the last response to Jesus’ ministry in Mark 6:45-56. Let’s consider this passage in two points: The Emergency at Sea and the Evidence of Jesus’ Nature.

First, consider the Emergency at Sea. Matthew, Mark, and John all record this miracle alongside the feeding of the 5000. Mark uses his favorite word, “immediately”, to emphasize this relationship. This connection is important for a number of reasons. For one, we find in verse 45 that Jesus immediately “made his disciples get into the boat.” We know from John’s account that the crowd was riotous over Jesus’s power and intended to force him into a political coup. It’s probably the case that the disciples were caught up in this as well. We know that they had political aspirations for Jesus. We know that they wanted to be first and second in his kingdom. So, it’s reasonable to think that they experienced the feeding of the 5000 in much the same way that the crowd did. The connection is also important because of what both miracles say about Jesus’s divine nature. As verse 52 says, until the miracle of walking on water, the disciples had yet to understand what it all meant.

So, something clicks for the disciples with these two miracles. But, this miracle begins, not with confidence, but with fear. Jesus commands them to get in the boat and go ahead to Bethsaida. As we noted last time, they are already in the region of Bethsaida, so it is probably the case that Jesus just intended them to skip from one cove to the next, using the boat as a way to put some distance between them and the crowd. But, the Sea of Galilee was an unpredictable and fearful place, even for men like the disciples, who were incredibly experienced. Because it is below sea level and surrounded by mountains, storms can arise at any moment. Even today, it is difficult to predict the weather on the Sea of Galilee. So, no sooner had the disciples set out along the shore to Bethsaida, than the winds picked up and pushed them out to sea. We are told in verse 48 that they struggled to make headway because the wind was against them, and they struggled against this wind until the fourth watch of the night. If they left when it was just evening (6 pm), and it is now the fourth watch (3-6 am), then they have been struggling against the wind and the waves for at least nine hours.

Being on a wind-and-oar powered boat in the middle of the sea can be a terrifying thing. I used to own a sailing kayak that had outriggers. At one time, I could fit my whole family on those outriggers, and we would sail around the Little Lagoon down in Gulf Shores. On a few occasions, I even got it out into the gulf and sailed close to shore. Even on a calm day, the waves of the gulf are intimidating when you are sitting eight inches off the water with nothing to bring you back to safety except your arms. And, if the wind is against you, there is no way to make any progress. When that’s the case, there is a special kind of terror that can well up. For the disciples, this terror took on a spiritual dimension. To the ancient mind, the sea was not a force of nature, but a god of chaos. In the Babylonian creation story, the god Marduk creates the world from the slain body of Tiamat, the goddess of the sea. In Canaan, Baal was reverenced above all because he was the god of the storm. He was feared as the “Rider of the Clouds”, the one who directs the winds and the waves. Even these Jewish men were not immune to such superstitions. When Jesus comes to them, walking on the water, their first thought is not to remember their master who just created bread and fish and had previously stopped a storm with a word, but to shake in fear at the possibility of a phantom at sea.

Fear is the antithesis to faith. It remands us to superstition, believing that we must appease the gods to escape the terror. Like the sailors taking Jonah to Tarsus, who offered sacrifices and even threw a man overboard to escape the storm, we too can pursue appeasement over faith. We might negotiate with God, saying, “Lord, if you remove this terror, I will give up this or that.” We might assume a cause and effect, thinking that it is because of some past sin or failure that we now face this calamity. Fear also robs us of a clear view of God’s character. Like the disciples who yelled and screamed and beat against the waves while never thinking to pray, in a moment of fear, we can think that the only way out is by brute force and will power. We heard it so much during the COVID pandemic that it became a cliché: “Faith over Fear”. But you know, it wasn’t wrong. Of course, hindsight is always 20-20, but perhaps, instead of shutting down our churches for months on end, we should have been faithful to the weekly worship we are called to, all while we prayed for healing and deliverance from that plague. Perhaps, instead of isolating in fear of our neighbor or even our family, we should have seen human connection and compassion as two of our highest callings, trusting the Lord to bless us in our faithfulness.

This brings me to my second point: the Evidence of Jesus’ nature. As I mentioned at the beginning, this miracle, in connection with the feeding, are set up as a turning point for the disciples. They are turning points because they make manifest the divine nature of Jesus Christ. In the feeding of the 5000, we clearly see that Jesus is able to sustain us and meet our most basic needs – a work that only God can do. And, here we see that Jesus is the Lord of Nature – a position that only God has. We find this divine nature of Jesus in four ways. First, in verse 47, we are told that Jesus was alone on a mountain while the boat was out in the sea. Then, in verse 28 it says that he saw them. How did he see them? It is dark and stormy. They are likely some four miles out in the middle of this sea. How does he see them in such detail that he knows that they are struggling to make headway. Well, it’s because he does not see them with his eyes, but with his divine omniscience. Jesus, as the divine son of God, has two ways of seeing because he has two natures. On the one hand, Jesus is the son of Mary, born as a man, under the law of Moses, to face the curse of sin on our behalf. In that human nature, Jesus hungered, grew tired, cried, sweat, bled, and died. But, on the other hand, Jesus is the Son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, from all eternity past – the very Word of God. In that divine nature, Jesus knew the thoughts of men, cast out demons, raised the dead, fed the thousands, and saw his disciples in their struggle.

Second, verse 48 tells us that, sometime between three and six in the morning, Jesus comes to his disciples, walking on the water. To the ancient Babylonians, the sea was a goddess of chaos that must be conquered. To the Canaanites, the storm was a god who thundered in his anger. But, the one true God hovered over the face of the deep at the beginning of creation – brooding over it like a mother hen. Yahweh spoke, and the sea obeyed, bringing forth the dry ground. He commanded, and the springs of the deep broke out and flooded the earth in judgment. He directed Moses to stand at the shore of the Red Sea with his staff, and the waters parted so that his people could cross on dry ground. The true God is not afraid of the sea. He rules over it. As Job admits in Job 9:8, “He alone stretched out the heavens and walked on the sea as well as the earth.” Or, as we read earlier from Psalm 77:19, “Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters.” Who could walk on water, but God himself. In doing so, Jesus reveals his divine nature in a special way to his twelve disciples in their greatest moment of fear and doubt. In that moment, it finally clicks for them. Mark records that they were “utterly astounded.” Matthew adds more detail, telling how Peter leapt out of the boat in faith and walked with Jesus, and then they all fell down and worshipped him. This is the right response to the divine Son of God. It is not to see him as a divine vending machine who can give us food whenever we ask. It is not to see him as a perfect king who can give us good government. The right response is to worship.

Third, Jesus reveals his nature by calming the storm. In verse 51, Mark says that when he got in the boat with them, the wind ceased. Nine hours of rowing and bailing and screaming to the heavens, and in an instant, all is calm. What was the difference? It was not their effort or their faith or their fervency in prayer. The difference was that Jesus was in the boat. Recognize in this story the intentional contrast between the disciples and Jesus. The disciples can do nothing right. They can’t make headway, even though they are experts. They are superstitious. They are terrified. They are helpless. Jesus, on the other hand, gives direction to his disciples, to the crowd, to the water, and to the wind. Brothers and sisters, this is the very nature of the Gospel – our complete helplessness and Jesus’s complete ability. We are helpless in the tumult of our sins, but Jesus is completely able to save.

Finally, Jesus reveals his nature by indiscriminately healing the people of Gennesaret. When they make it to the shore, they get out of the boat and are immediately swarmed by a crowd. People went into the countryside and found all the sick and needy and brought them to Jesus. Again, we find here the common grace of Jesus, as he heals everyone who would reach out and touch his garment. We also see in this his supernatural power, as he heals without even a word. Just a touch is enough. In the Gospels, Jesus heals in every way possible. He speaks and a girl is made well from miles away. A woman touches his robe, and she stops bleeding. He spits on the ground to make mud that he rubs on a man’s eyes, and the man can miraculously see. See in this that there is no magic to the way Jesus healed. He did not use a talisman or invoke some incantation. The power was not in his methods but in his nature as the divine Son of God.

Friend, don’t let fear keep you from faith in Christ. You may fear the loss of control that comes with submission to Jesus, but Jesus is the compassionate Lord who knows your every need. You may fear the opinions of men, but Jesus is the divine king who will conquer all.

Brothers and sisters, this divine son of God sees us in our struggles, and he has complete control over anything and everything we might fear. So, may we worship him as the Lord who makes his path in the sea and who rules over the waters, and may we find ourselves continually and utterly astounded by the wonder of his majesty.