Wednesday in the Word - John 6.15-21

Our "Wednesday in the Word" covers the passage found in John chapter 6 and verses 15 through 21, which read,

v.15 - So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.

Jesus has just performed the sign of the feeding of the 5000 men not counting women and children.  The crowd must have been totally blown away by what they had just experienced.  "This guy needs to be our king.  Free food.  If Jesus can do this and give us physical food without working for it, what other physical comforts could He get us?"  They were conversing amongst themselves and devising up a plan to force Jesus to take the place of their earthly king.  Jesus would be a king like King David of old.  The Israelite nation would rise again to prominence that it once was.  The people could see no downside to this forceful action to write-in Jesus on their ballot.

Jesus knows what is going on.  Jesus always knows what is going on.  You don't even have to say it out loud because Jesus knows what is going on in our hearts and minds.  He has shown this divine ability over and over again.  Jesus heads to the mountain to be alone.  What is Jesus doing there?  One thing we know that He is doing, because it is mentioned at other times that He is alone, is praying to the Father.  We need to take note every time that Jesus is praying.  Instead of arguing with the crowd or giving a speech about His real reason for being there, Jesus retreats to pray.  Jesus would speak of those things but first was the need to pray. 

"Am I going to my mountain to be alone with God before I try to answer the situation?"

v.16, 17 - Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum.  It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.

Jesus has not yet come down the mountain.  The disciples are instructed to head out back to their home base of Capernaum.  Jesus will catch up with them.  They secure a boat that would hold them all and board to take the night voyage.  It looks to be a nice quiet vesper cruise with at least 4 fishermen on board who had made this trip many times before.  They were following Jesus' instructions and maybe some of them were grateful to get back home for a little while.  They each have a personal size lunch box of food, leftovers from the great miracle, and so they are all set for the night.  

v.18 - The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.

The quiet night cruise on the water turns very quickly.  The Sea of Galilee was famous for this.  The storm system could come over the hills that surrounded the sea and stir up the waters in quick order.  "All hands on deck," was probably the cry of the fishermen to all on board.

v.19 - Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened.

They are battling against the waves.  They are trying to force the boat to go in a direction that the forces of nature had other ideas about.  I don't know about you, but I have been in this scenario and it gets very tiring rowing and paddling against the waves and wind.  

In the midst of this, in their tired state, Jesus appears walking on the water toward them.  It is dark.  They are tired.  They see something they have never seen before.  They are afraid and first impression from the other Gospels is that who or what they see is a ghost.  What other explanation would there be?

v.20 - But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."

The "prayed up" Jesus comes to them in their time of need.  Maybe some of them were saying under their breath during all the rowing against the wind, "Whose idea was it to go out on a night like this?  We could have stayed on the shore for the night and left in the morning.  Where is Jesus now?  We sure could use some help on these oars.  One more set of arms might make the difference."  I am thankful that Jesus identifies Himself.  He says like the angels, "do not be afraid."  When Jesus shows up in the midst of your storm, maybe a storm that is not of your own doing but just living a life of obedience to God, will you let Him into your boat to take control?

v.21 - So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

Isn't it amazing how quick Jesus can turn things around?  As quick as the storm came upon them, quicker yet, Jesus gets them to shore.  They had been laboring three or four miles and getting nowhere and Jesus appears and they are immediately across the sea without another row of the oars.  You have the miracle of the feeding of the 5000; you have the miracle of Jesus walking on the water; and now you have the miracle of a vessel with at least 13 aboard being somewhere immediately.  The great turnaround to a storm situation of life.  What triggered the turnaround?

Jesus showed up and they received Him into the boat.  Is it possible that Jesus shows up a lot in our lives but we don't let Him into our boat?  We don't listen to His instruction when we are in the midst of the storm.  We say, "That won't work."  We rationalize why Jesus' way won't work in this modern day storm that we are facing.  So we go on rowing against the wind and not taking it literally that Jesus has showed up through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the specific instructions of the Bible, or the family God that He has put us in who have resources that could be utilized that were given by Him to care for His own.  

"Will you receive Jesus into your boat?"

Let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, storms are not a problem for You.  May we not be afraid when we see You but recognize that it is You coming with Your Holy Spirit, Your holy Word, and Your holy family of servants.  May we lay aside our human oars of human efforts and receive Your heavenly abilities into the equation of what we are facing.  Amen."

Pastor Adam