Three boys are at school bragging of how great their fathers are. The first one says, "Well, my father runs the fastest. He can fire an arrow, and start to run. I tell you, he gets there before the arrow." The second one says, "Ha! You think that's fast! My father is a hunter. He can shoot his gun and be there before the bullet." The third one listens to the other two and shakes his head. He then says, "You two know nothing about fast. My father works for the city. He stops working at 4:30 and he is home by 3:45!
This morning we are looking are still in the Gospel of Mark and we are going to look at Jesus and the disciples. Mark 6:45-52 this is a rich passage. Jesus tells the disciples to go to the other side of the lake. He turns and dismisses the crowd himself. He then goes up the mountainside overlooking the lake and prays. Looking down he is watching the disciples, they are struggling. The wind has come up which was common on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus prays and watches until the fourth watch which would have been between 3AM and 6AM. He then walks out to them. They disciples struggling to row the boat, they are battling the wind, see Jesus walking on the water and they are terrified.
They Jesus walking on the water and they think he is a ghost, they cried out and Jesus has to speak to them to calm them. “Take courage! He yells, It is I. Don’t be afraid.” He then climbs into the boat and the winds die down and the disciples can’t believe their eyes. They are completely amazed at what Jesus has done. Yet they still didn’t understand. Four things we want to take from this the first being.
Jesus on the Mountainside
I love the imagery here, you can see Jesus talking to the disciple and then turning dismissing the crowd. He goes up on the mountain side and prays all the while he is watching the disciples. He sees them struggling and he prays. It give meaning to Romans 8:34 (NIV) “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
Two things I take from this. Jesus took the time to pray, prayer was important to him. He’s had a long day, he just feed over five thousand people, he must have been tired, but prayer was necessary for him. We need to develop the same attitude. When you have a long day what is it you do to ‘unwind’? Do you come home sit on the couch with the remote and maybe a beverage you like? I beat though it’s not go and pray. Think of the difference in your life if you spent some of your time praying for the day. Jesus was watching the disciples and praying for them I’m sure. We need to watch over our families and pray from them also. What a great Fathers Day idea. We need to pray for our children, our spouses, our homes, our finances, our lives.
Jesus on the Water
Jesus decides to go out to the disciples, so he walks out to them. Jesus is walking on the water and as he approaches the boat scripture says “He was about to pass by them”. I really struggled with this part of the verse, why it was in there. He sees them struggling and it looks as if he is going to walk right past them. There are two thoughts here. First it is written from the perspective of the disciples. From the disciples view it looked as if Jesus was going to pass them by. How many times does it feel like in the middle of our struggles, Jesus is passing us by? The second thought is he was ‘making himself visible’ to the disciples. He was encouraging them.
In the Old Testament, God told Moses in Exodus 33:19 “the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence” Moses drew strength from the presence of the Lord. Jesus may have been trying to do the same thing. He wanted to encourage them in the mist of their trouble. But notice he doesn’t stop the struggle.
Jesus during the Struggle
Jesus watches them and tries to encourage them, but doesn’t remove the struggle. It is only when the disciples panic thinking he is a ghost, does he step in. Tanner Bixler was recently in the Sacramento Bee telling about his climb up to the top of Mount Everest, the highest point on earth. Mount Everest stands at 29,035 feet high. He spent months in training for the climb. Running stairs with a backpack loaded with books. At the foot of the mountain he spent two months practicing the climb, before the actual one. When he got to the high camp right before the summit attempt he was exhausted. He had seven hours to rest in the death zone before they would move. He went to his tent and started to eat and drink water although he had no appetite. He began the final climb in the dark using headlamps. Bixler’s oxygen apparatus froze up, slowing him down and making him even colder. The wind picked up and his face mask iced up to the point he could hardly see. When he blinked his eyelids would freeze shut. His toes, fingers nose and ears where totally numb. One of the experienced guides fixed his oxygen and gave him a new hat. He had frost bite on his ears and face. At 7:30 a.m. May 24, Bixler reached the top. He stayed for ten minutes and had his picture taken.
I see this story and think about the guide, just when he felt he couldn’t go on the guide did just enough to get him over the top. He fixed his oxygen and gave him a new hat. I think in life Jesus does the same thing for us. He does take away the struggle but he does just enough to get us to the top. I think we need to struggle, we need the challenge. What would be the value of life if everything came easy? Our faith is no different, Christianity is easy, and living your faith isn’t easy. It’s not meant to be, but you can’t give up. You can never grow to maturity if you don’t work at it. That is why Paul use the pictures of farmers, athletes and military men to
describe the faith. It takes hard work; it’s going to be full of disappointments, but Jesus comes along side us and spurs us on to greater things. For the disciples Jesus got in the boat and calmed the storm, because they couldn’t fully understand who he was. This despite all they had experienced, all they have seen.
Jesus is watching us
What a wonderful picture this morning for Father’s Day. He gives us all a perfect model to follow. We need to watch over our families, pray for them and encourage them. We might even get in the boat with them if needed. Jesus did all of this and more. He continues to this day. From Heaven Jesus watches his children struggling and he comes along side us and encourages us. He prays for us and at times he gets in the boat. But the one thing is we are never alone. He never leaves us alone in our troubles. It might seem like we are alone, it might seem as if he has ‘passed us by’ but he doesn’t. What we need to fear is getting to the point where our heart become hardened and we can’t understand. The bible close this portion with “They were completely amazed, (52) for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.”
If we don’t believe, if we don’t think Jesus can do all things. If we believe he has left us behind, we can also harden our hearts. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and believe he can and is with us all the way because he is.
Fathers this morning I want to encourage you to watch over your family, to pray for them. Families do the same for your Dad, encourage him also and pray from him.
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