Mark 6:45-56

Jesus Walks on the Water

45Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

47When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50because they all saw him and were terrified.

Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." 51Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

53When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.



BACKGROUND READING:


Genesis 1:1-10; 26-31


Genesis 3:16-24


Psalm 33



Dig Deeper

To this point Mark has been building a solid case to demonstrate Jesus’ sovereignty over the natural world as well as his claim to be the true King, the Messiah of God’s people. Mark wants his readers to understand exactly who he thinks Jesus is. This story is another note in the crescendo in chapter 8 to which he is working. That is the point when Jesus will ask his disciples if they still don’t get the point of the miracles; do they still not understand that they are signs pointing to who he is and what he is doing? It is because their hearts were hardened. This is the first point that will explicitly mention that the disciples have yet to understand who Jesus is, but it won’t be the last.


Mark is about to start a long section that has to do with the exact point of drawing distinction between those who can see what is going on and those who can’t. He has given us, his readers, however, plenty of information to this point, to be able to see clearly by the time we get to that section. Mark is inviting us to weigh the evidence and see whether we will be like the disciples, watching the events but not drawing the right conclusions, or like those whose hearts were softened, whose eyes were opened, and who could see the incredible thing that is breaking into the world.


Many have seen this story as a clear indicator of Jesus’ divinity. It certainly doesn’t detract from that correct conclusion, but I don’t believe this is the conclusion that is primary on Mark’s mind. He is building us up to the point in chapter 8 when we will realize, along with the disciples, that Jesus is the Messiah. The realization that Jesus was also divine would come later for the disciples, it wasn’t an automatic conclusion from the fact that he was the Messiah.


In Mark’s point of view, Jesus walking on the water is more about him being human than being divine. The job of the Messiah was to restore the humanity of man that was lost in the Garden of Eden, with the opening of the door for sin to enter the world. In demonstrating his power over storms, waves, bread, and fish, Jesus is, in Mark’s mind, pointing to the fact that he is not only Israel’s Lord, but the world’s Messiah that is ushering in God’s kingdom. It is breaking in here and now. The Messiah was coming to take dominion back from Satan and return to those who would choose to follow him and be part of his kingdom. In walking on the water, Jesus is not so much demonstrating his divinity, as he is his genuine humanness. But this humanness is being done the way it was supposed to be, with man having dominion over the natural world (that should not be taken to argue, as some have, that Adam had the ability to walk on water and do the things that Jesus did).


Mark wants us to see the rightful King of the universe, long exiled, now returning. He is the last Adam, since his time with the beasts in the wilderness, striding through his garden to set things right.


At this point we should remember that if all of this seems to difficult to accept, then we are in good company. Mark’s reference to the disciples should not be taken, necessarily as a criticism. It is a mere admission of the facts. They didn’t understand, but they wanted to. His point in mentioning this detail is that it will take a suspension of the way we normally think about the world in order to truly understand who Jesus is and what he is really up to.



Devotional Thought

In Christ, we are given the authority to take dominion over the world and spread the age to come in the present age. Is that how you see your Christian mission? What is one specific way that you can spread symbols of the age to come to those around you in the present age?