John 6:16-59 – Five thousand people had just had a carb fest. Jesus had taken a boy’s small lunch and blessed it into enough to feed all of them. Baskets and baskets of bread were left over. The disciples had just witnessed and been part of a miracle. But they still didn’t quite get who Jesus really was….
It was getting late and beginning to get dark. While Jesus lingered with the people, the disciples got in a boat to head across the lake to Capernaum. They had rowed for about 3-3/12 miles out without Jesus. It got stormy and windy. In this same story in Matthew, it says that Jesus had gone into the hills by Himself to pray. For much needed alone time with His Father. But He was very aware of the weather and of the difficulty that they were having rowing their boat. And so He walked out to them. Yeah, ON the water. Three plus miles from land. He could have calmed the storm from the shore where He was, safe and secure. But then they would not have seen Him at work and God would not have gotten the glory. He wanted to be with them in the storm. As He got closer, they saw Him, but didn’t recognize Him. They thought He was a ghost. It says they “cried out in fear”. I imagine them screaming like little girls 🙂
He told them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” In the Matthew version, it tells of Peter getting out of the boat to walk to Jesus. As his eyes were on Jesus, he remained on top of the raging waters. But when he looked down and focused on the storm and the fear of the situation, he began to sink. Again, Peter cried out for Jesus to save him. And, of course, Jesus reached out His hand to pull him up to safety. It was then that they recognized Him and let Him into the boat. And as soon as they let Him in, the storm turned to calm and they safely reached their destination.
So many analogies here. Storms of life. They’re gonna happen. Sometimes we row out on our own thinking we can handle things ourselves. Jesus shows up, knowing fully well that we need Him in the storm. He walks out to us to join us in the boat on those perilous waters. But we are so busy rowing and overwhelmed by the darkness and storm, that we don’t recognize His presence and become terrified. We scream like little girls on the inside. And if we do take a step of faith toward Him, like Peter, we often get distracted by our circumstances and feel as if we are sinking in the difficulties we are facing.
And then we hear it. Above the storm and the wind, we hear it. His voice saying, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” We see His hand outstretched towards us to save us and help us up. And whether our storm continues or stops, we suddenly know a calmness and a peace, just because we realize His presence.
We got to sing this song this weekend as special music at church. Seems so appropriate for this passage….
