Jesus Walks on the Water

Seeing Jesus in His Miracles—Part 4 of 7

January 22, 1989 PM

John 6:15-25

Introduction:

After the feeding of the five thousand, (remember that Jesus had gone to the remote region trying to get some "time away,") Jesus was still very weary, and needed some time alone. So he sent the disciples back to Capernaum in their boats and went alone up into the hills to pray. A series of things challenged the disciples:

I. A TIME OF CHALLENGE

[ Scene: The Sea of Galilee lies 600 feet below Mediterranean Sea; channels of valleys cut toward the mountains of Lebanon in the north; Mt. Hermon. Winds whip down the valleys— treacherous storms blow up. One does just NOW!]

The certainty of change.

It was a quick transition for the disciples. From the excitement of a disaster (not having enough to eat with thousands hungry) that was turned into a triumph (the feeding of the 5,000); from the "starring role" of miracle-helper and from gathering in baskets of left-overs, the disciples had gone to rowing against the wind, in the dark, with water slopping into their boat.

The mystery of the adverse winds and waves.

Christians experience dark hours when they cannot see/know the Presence; we are NOT called to be fair-weather sailors. So— the gales stirred up the sea. Why? The scriptures don't say. Did Jesus "cause" the wind? Or did it begin with a storm far out over the Mediterranean Sea miles and miles away? Who knows? Does it help to know? GOD PERMITS SOME THINGS WE BLAME HIM FOR. Some things we can/never will understand this side of heaven.

The mystery of the timing of Jesus.

The disciples were on the sea at Jesus' direct command. They were NOT out of His will for them. But they certainly were without the comforting re-assurance of the presence of the Master. Sometimes JESUS SEEMS NOT IN ANY HURRY TO ALLAY FEARS:

Certainly He does see; He does care. But He does not always do what we might THINK He should do. (Martha said: "Lord, if You had been here my brother would not have died.")

Even God's people, on His assignment, for a time experience fear and danger and storms. But Jesus has NOT deserted His own; He knows. And He will never abandon His own!

II. A TIME OF REASSURANCE Jesus came!

He came in an unexpected way. He just about always does! The very elements that threaten and terrify are the stepping stones, the pathway on which Jesus comes.

He makes Himself KNOWN. There are times when we must hold on in naked faith— there are times when we have no assurance. But in this case Jesus, Himself, assures them it is He: "It is I! Don't be afraid!"

The Presence of Jesus is assurance. They invited Him aboard! And immediately the boat was where they were headed (at His command in the first place!) Sometimes we must build an altar where we are— that the fire may fall where God intends it to do the task assigned!

Jesus bids us be like Him! (Matthew records the episode of Peter asking Jesus to let HIM walk on the sea, too: Peter on the sea... the significance... I'll come to that again, perhaps ???)

III. BUT WHAT DO WE SEE OF JESUS HERE?

(Our series is "Seeing JESUS in His miracles: AND THIS IS ANOTHER CANDID CAMERA SHOT OF JESUS AT WORK)

He still needed that time alone with God the Father— and he got it!

He was the Master of His disciples. They moved at His command. He gave direct commands to the disciples: they knew what the next step was. And He was obeyed.

He was AWESOME: A GLIMPSE OF HIS MAJESTY HERE— beyond the mere "trick" of walking on the water— the elements knew their Master. Something of the TERROR of the night comes through in the telling— first of the storm— then of the seeming apparition— but then of the AWESOME LORD! ("He is NOT "safe" but He is good" is what one character said of Aslan the Lion in the C.S Lewis series in the Chronicles of Narnia.)

He was in CONTROL! (That is beyond "command.")

He permitted Peter (and us) a hint/glimpse? of the FUN/JOY of mastery! There are deeper lessons than that, I'm certain, and yet I have the sense that it was no big deal to Jesus to walk on the water!

IV. APPLICATION(S):

Some people here just NOW may be in a "night-storm" of trouble- financial crisis— absent friends; perhaps facing the reality of DEATH: [we ALL will one day pass through the waters of death: we will see Him then ... "When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee..."]

There is STRONG ENCOURAGEMENT in this miracle! This glimpse of our great Lord, Who is not just strong in so-called "religious" matters, but is Master of the entire Universe, including, and maybe especially, the "material" Universe! ... THE LORD JESUS CHRIST'S Kingdom is a kingdom wider in its range and more profound in extent than we are capable of understanding.

I CAN SEE THREE LESSONS:

  1. Jesus can "use" the surges, billows, waves, unrest. Christ's commands to us, as we carry them out, will be opposed. But He can overrule, He does see us; and our part is not to whine or complain.
  2. Jesus comes to us where we toil. NO one cries out to Him in vain; He does not turn deaf ears. If we are following His commands, the wind may be against us. We may be afraid, but Jesus has never turned a deaf ear to the cry for help, for assurance, for succor. He may seem "late" by our measuring, but He comes all the same! And the worst of the trouble is gone when Jesus comes and shares it with us.
  3. What we see Jesus do, we can ask to do, too!

    The Christ-life- the way God expects us to LIVE as we walk with His Son, Jesus Christ, is in many ways as foreign to the way we "naturally" live as literally walking on water. (How many people have said, "I can't LIVE like that!") But when Jesus bids us, we like Peter, can begin to "walk on water." Not in a literal sense now, of course. And not perfectly, unhesitatingly. Like Peter we get our eyes on the waves and stumble and start to sink down. But by God's grace Christians can do some things even harder than walking on water! Sometimes we can be Christ-like through transforming love.

It is natural to be small and petty. It is natural to love friends and hate enemies. Perhaps the hardest thing of all is to find grace to forgive real injustice. The desire for vengeance is great, especially when we have been offended. Jesus enables us to forgive from the heart, as He forgave His enemies:

Don Ratzlaff in his book The Christian Leader, from Ernest Gordon's Miracle on the River Kwai: (and I quote)

The Scottish soldiers had been forced by their captors to labor on a jungle railroad, and they had degenerated to barbarous behavior, more and more acting like animals. But then something happened:

"A shovel was missing. The officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot. .. It was obvious that the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody corpse and carried it with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing. Indeed, there had been a miscount at the first check point.

"The word spread like wildfire through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others! ... The incident had a profound effect. . . the men began to treat each other like brothers.

"When the victorious Allies swept in, the survivors, human skeletons, line up in front of their captors . . . [and instead of attacking their captors] insisted: 'No more hatred. No more killing. Now what we need is forgiveness.'"

To forgive like that, to my mind, is as impossible as walking on water. And I know that concentration-camp stuff is extreme— but a lot of what Jesus expects us to do is just about as hard. To love our enemies. To love people, and use things, and not the other way around. All that stuff in the Sermon on the Mount about not even harboring anger or resentment in our hearts against those who despitefully use us.

Jesus did those things. But He is God. But He says to us: YOU CAN DO IT, TOO!

#58 I Lay My Sins on Jesus (all three verses) "I long to be like Jesus, Meek, loving, lowly, mild; I long to be like Jesus, the Father's holy Child."