Friday, May 07, 2004

IF YOU ARE SO PERFECT, TRY WALKING ON WATER.
(0r, disciples in training)


“He saw that they were straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he came to them, walking on the sea.” (Mar 6:48)

It had been a long day, a day of preaching, feeding (a very large crowd) witnessing a miracle, and now trying to row across a storming sea. “By this time the boat was in the middle of the sea and was being battered by the waves, for the wind was against them.” So there was no doubt that the disciples were weary as they struggled at the oars.
Mark records: “He saw that they were straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. “(Mark 6:48)
I haven’t tried to row across a raging sea, let alone at night, but I have rowed some boats in my life and if you are not use to it, it will wear you out! These men were used to physical labor of this magnitude, remember some were fishermen and there were no outboard motors in those days!
So here they are, hard at work, trying to make way across the sea, against the wind. With fishermen on board, I would think they would realize the problem and not fight against the wind, but return to the near shore with the wind helping them.
Why were they going against the wind? Because Jesus had told them to go to the other side:
“Jesus immediately had his disciples get into a boat and cross to Bethsaida ahead of him, while he sent the crowd away.” (Mar 6:45)
Those who are familiar with the events that unfolded here know that Jesus walks across the sea to the disciples on the boat, they think they see a ghost, Peter tries to walk on the water and
fails, Jesus rescues him and the storm ends.
The question is, why did this all happen? Because Jesus wanted to teach his disciples a lesson on faith, “Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped blowing. The disciples were utterly astounded, for they didn't understand the significance of the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened.” (Mar 6:51-52)
Earlier Jesus had fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish and the disciples still didn’t understand the faith lesson they witnessed.
So Jesus puts them into a storm, walks on water to them, and still they are astounded.

Often we get lost in Peter and his attempt to walk on the water, he looks at the storm and starts to sink and we build a lesson on faith around this, but look at what Jesus did.
(1) He demonstrates the power of God by feeding five thousand people.
(2) He demonstrates God’s control over the elements by walking on the water.
(3) He demonstrates what God can do when He allows Peter to walk on the water.

So we have two miracles and the disciples didn’t get it, and they were there, eyewitnesses to the whole thing!
We see Peter’s faith growing, but it is not the faith we read about in Acts and in his epistles, yet.
It is a sad commentary that we read that their hearts were hardened-meaning that they refused to believe what their eyes had seen. But, I would expect that when times were hard later, they would remember what Jesus could do from this experience and draw comfort from this.
You see, this is an account of disciples in training. It is easy to be critical of the disciples, but they were learning to be the apostles we read about in Acts. The result of their training is that their faith would be there when Jesus wasn’t there. Let's not be critical of the disciples, after all they are human too! They had to learn and they had the master teacher.
Jesus taught them many lessons, some hard like this one, and some not so hard. But train them He did.
So, the next time you think your so perfect, why don’t you try to walk on water?
Just remember, you might be in training for something God has in mind for you.
Until next time on our front porch.