Sermon Tone Analysis

Title: Walking on Water – June 5th, 2011

Pastor Chuck Gohn – Bellevue Christian Church, Bellevue PA 15202

Primary Passage: John 6.14-24

Media Used: PowerPoint Sermons: “Walk on Water”

Video Used: Sermon Spice Video: “Walking on Water”

Good morning!

If you have you Bibles open up to John 6.14.

We have been going through the book of John and learning about the miracles and ministry of Jesus .

Last week we looked at the miracle feeding of the 5,000.

Next week we will be looking at the Bread of Life Discourse it is where Jesus spends a great amount of time reminding his followers that he is the Bread of Life; i.e., the supernatural provision of God.

But sandwiched between those two stories is the short story of Jesus walking on water.

It is a story contained in three of four Gospels and like some of the other Gospel stories sometimes there are slight variations in some of the stories.

We shouldn’t be alarmed by this.

It does not mean that there are errors in the Bible, rather it should affirm the reliability of the baby.

Just like three or four people who witness an accident or crime scene would see that scene from different perspectives i.e., pick up certain details or place more emphasis on certain aspects of the story, it is the same with the gospel writers.

Each gospel writer is viewing the event from their unique perspective and place emphasis on certain details of the story based upon the audience that they are attempting to reach.

We are going to look at the book of John and use the other gospel versions of the event to patch in the story so that we might have a complete picture of the story of Jesus walking on water.

A little refresher about where we were last week in the book of John; Jesus wanted to get away because he was grieving the loss of his friend John the Baptist.

So he goes the other side of the lake and before he knows it the crowd follows them.

So rather than ignore them he ministers to them because he sees them as sheep without a shepherd.

So he does what he does naturally , he heals the sick, he casts out demons, he teaches them, he encourages, them.

And the crowd grows and so the disciples get concerned and Jesus turns to Philip and says: “where will we buy food for these people to eat?” and Philip replies: “8 months wages would not be able to purchase enough food for these people to eat!”

And so he looks to Andrew and he says: “well there is this boy here who has 5 loaves and 2 fishes but how far will that go?” Jesus basically says: “let me show you”.

So he takes the bread and gives thanks and before they know it Jesus has multiplied the loaves and fishes and begins to distribute the food to the crowd.

So much food is available that there ends up being 12 baskets left to give to the poor or others in need.

The people were so impressed by that they wanted to take Jesus by force to make him king.

So that is where we pick up the story.

So let’s read through John 6.14-24.

Now of the three gospels that contain this story John’s gospel is the most sketchy about this story.

He gives the impression that Jesus went off to a mountain and the disciples hop in a boat and go to the other side of the lake.

But as we read this story we find that the disciples did not voluntarily get into the boat but rather Jesus had to make them get into the boat.

We see this in the gospel of Matthew and Mark.

Mark 6:45 says:

Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Mark 6.4

So this verse gives the idea that maybe the disciples did not want to get into the boat and we ask “why?”

Why would the disciples not want to get into the boat?

Maybe they were fearful for Jesus.

After all the people wanted to make Jesus king by force.

So maybe they were worried for Jesus.

Or maybe they were worried for themselves.

Maybe they could see that a storm was brewing and maybe they didn’t want to be alone on a boat without Him.

Whatever the reason the point is that Jesus was up on a mountain and the disciples were alone on the boat on the Sea of Galilee.

And all the gospels are consistent on the fact that when they went out on the boat after a few hours a storm came up.

John writes:

By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them.

A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough.

(John 6:17–18)

So they are in this boat and a storm came up.

We said before that the sea of Galilee because of its basin shape was prone to storms coming up quickly.

The winds would come through the mountains and valleys and hit that lake and stir up the waters and create a storm.

So the disciples found themselves in a lake in a storm.

And not only were they in a lake in a storm, but they were in the middle of the lake.

In other words they were the farthest point from any shore.

Mark tells us that:

When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land.

Mark 6.47

Now about this time, the disciples may have been having a little bit of a flashback.

If you know your gospels you know that there was another storm that the disciples had earlier found themselves in.

And this event is described in Matthew 8.23.

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.

24 Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat.

But Jesus was sleeping.

The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us!

We’re going to drown!”

He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”

Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

(Mt 8:23–26)

So this current experience of being on the lake in a storm, in the middle of the lake probably brought a little flashback to them.

The difference this time was that Jesus was not on the boat.

He was on a mountain praying.

All they knew was that he was not where they wanted him to be i.e., on the boat with them in the storm.

So they are probably grumbling at this time about that as they rowed against the wind probably saying something like: “where is Jesus when we need him?, at least in the earlier storm he was on the boat even though sleeping and we were able to wake him up, but now he is now where to be seen.

Maybe he is neglecting us.”

But the gospel of Mark seems to imply that just because he is absent physically he is not absent spiritually.

Mark goes on to say:

He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.

About the fourth watch of the night he went to them, walking on the lake.

Mark 6.48

Jesus saw the disciples straining at the oars.

But it was night, it was pitch black but Jesus saw them.

He didn’t see them with binoculars.

He was not seeing with his eyes but with his divine power.

He had not neglected them, he was not unaware of their plight.

And at some point late in the night during the fourth watch he decided to go to them on the water.

And for those unfamiliar with nautical terms, the night watch is broken up into four watches.

The first watch would go from 6PM to 9PM, the second watch would go from 9PM to midnight, the third watch from midnight to 3AM, and the fourth watch would run from 3AM until 6AM.

So Jesus waiting until 3AM to come to them.

At this time they were physically exhausted straining against the oars.

They were probably mentally exhausted and angry .

They were likely spiritually exhausted and yet Jesus comes to them.

And he comes to them in a very unorthodox manner.

A way in which they had never experienced him.

He comes to them walking on water.

They saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified.

But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.”

John 6.19-20

And about that time, they are thinking this is something new.

We had seen him utilize water when he turned water into wine, we had seen him when he sat at the well with the Samarian woman and offered her living water, we had seen him at the water pool of Bethesda and healed the lame man, but this was something new.