I have been enjoying studying the miracles of Jesus. When I began this series, I thought I was just going to talk about Jesus being a healer and showing proof with all the miracles He has performed. Yet, there is so much more to every story, every passage we have looked at. Today will be no exception. Three of the four Gospels share the story of Jesus walking on the water. We will look at Matthew, Mark, and John today to read what happened on the heels of the last miracle we studied, where Jesus fed 5,000 men not including women and children with two fish and five loaves of barley bread.
Matthew 14:22-26 And straightway Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship, and to go before Him unto the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, He was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
Mark 6:45-48 And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while He sent away the people. And when He had sent them away, He departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the land. And He saw them toiling in rowing: for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night He cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.
John 6:14-19 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force, to make Him a king, He departed again into a mountain Himself alone. And when even was now come, His disciples went down unto the sea, And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.
What an incredible turn of events! Jesus is being recognized as the "prophet that should come into the world" but it was before His time. When the people wanted to take Jesus and make Him their king, He got out of there and went alone to pray. It must have been so difficult for Jesus to know that His Kingdom was not of this world but He knew that the people saw something more in Him than just another man. He has authority over all powers and even nature, which is something no one ever experienced before. Jesus convinces the disciples to get in a ship and head toward Capernaum while He stayed on the mountain alone praying.
Sometimes I think when the noise of the world drown out the ability to even think clearly at times, we need to retreat and get alone to pray. We must do what Jesus did in the times of overwhelm and chaos from the multitudes all trying to get to Him. I have seen clips on television where fans would trample one another just to get close to a celebrity and they practically worshiped them. The celebrities would be so overwhelmed by the crowds that sometimes security would have to remove them so they did not get hurt. I think this must have been similar to what Jesus faced but on a much larger scale. He is the Son of God and has power no other person on earth has. He is healing people, delivering people, demons are being cast out and forbidden to return, and He is teaching people, feeding them, and His following continued to grow. This was partly why the Jewish religious leaders of that day were offended at Him and jealous.
Jesus sends the disciples ahead of Him and He lingers back to pray, but then something happens. A storm blows across the sea. Jesus sees the whole thing. He sees the storm and He sees the disciples fighting against the wind and sea and struggling. None of the disciples know He is anywhere near them. Have you ever felt like you were in a ship on the open sea fighting angry waves and wind that was trying to capsize your vessel? Did you feel like Jesus was anywhere near you?
Matthew 14:27-32 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water. And He said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught Him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.
Mark 6:49-52 But when they saw Him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out; For they all saw Him, and were troubled. And immediately He talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: It is I; be not afraid. And He went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.
John 6:20 But He saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid.
Peter got to walk on the water when He realized it was Jesus and not a ghost. Then he saw his circumstances and panicked. He was walking on the water with Jesus but the things going on around him made him afraid and he began to sink. He would have drown if Jesus had not saved him from the stormy sea. He was an avid fisherman and I believe he could swim because another place references Peter jumping into the water when he was fishing after the resurrection. I believe the sea was so tumultuous from the storm that he would not have survived if Jesus did not rescue him.
Sometimes we take a leap of faith and things are going great as Jesus is telling us to follow Him but as we take our eyes off His and look at our surroundings we lose our bearings and begin to sink in the overwhelm. It is a lesson for all of us to focus on Jesus and not on the things going wrong around us. Each of these accounts tell us that Jesus immediately tells them to not be afraid and He announces who He is. I believe He does that with us, too. If we would open our spiritual ears to hear His still, small voice I believe we would hear Him saying, "Do not be afraid. It is I." What a comforting image.
Matthew 14:33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped Him, saying, Of a truth Thou art the Son of God.
Mark 6:53-54 And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew Him.
John 6:21 Then they willingly received Him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.
The supernatural miracle to me is the timing of their departure from one shore to their arrival on the other. They had only rowed about four or five miles away from the shore when this terrible windstorm on the sea wreaked havoc on their ship. Jesus comes in and saves the day like He always does for His children, and then when He gets into the ship they are at land again, but this time they are in Gennesaret.
Sometimes we are doing all the right things to the best of our ability and we are going where God called us to and we run straight into a major storm! It can leave us questioning if God really told us to do what we are doing. It can make us wonder if we are in His will, how can these tragic circumstances be a part of His plan for our lives. Jesus knew the storm would rock their boat and He did not warn them, but He watched them and He came to them!
Notice that once they welcomed Jesus into the ship, the Bible says "willingly received Him" then they were immediately where they were supposed to be. They supernaturally arrived at their destination because Jesus was on board. Trust Him in the storm you are facing and watch Him deliver you to destinations you were heading much quicker than you ever could have made it on your own!
Friends, it has been another incredible journey through the miracles of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for you! I hope and pray that something I shared here today has been strength for your journey and light for your way. God bless you!
~Bridgett Owens
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