A Dark and Stormy Night

Introduction

Last week we saw the amazing miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000, but in reality, that was just men. Estimates show that the crowd probably numbered in excess of 15,000 once you start numbering women and children. Now, Jesus did this all with just 5 loaves of bread and two small fish that were offered up by a boy.

It was late, they multitude had traveled far to reach Jesus in the deserted place that He had gone to outside of Bethsaida, and many of them did not have food. It would have been a hard journey back to their homes on an empty stomach, and the disciples and Jesus realized this. So, in addition to filling them spiritually, Jesus fills them physically, and when he performs this miracle, the people begin planning on taking Jesus by force to crown Him king.

They recognize Jesus as the Messiah, but they do not understand His current mission.

It amazes me that this recognition came only after the meal. They didn’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah definitively while He was preaching, nor while He was healing people. It took the miracle of breaking the bread and fish in a miraculous way for the people to recognize Jesus for who He was. And this is the impact that the little boy had.

He had an impact on the kingdom of heaven that no one else had that day. The disciples, fresh off their weeks-longs mission of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven and performing miracles did not have the kind of impact on that day as this unnamed boy did. And the reason he was able to impact a crowd this large was because he had faith.

And this is where we left off last week. The multitude filled, 12 baskets full of leftover bread and fish, and a crowd of people that want to force Jesus to overthrow the government and be crowned king.

So let’s pick up where we left off in the Scriptures.

John 6:15–16 KJV 1900

15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. 16 And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea,

Matthew tells us where they end up after this voyage. Matthew 14:34

Matthew 14:34 KJV 1900

34 And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.

So, let’s do this Dora the Explorer style, and get out our maps like we did last week.

So, Jesus and the disciples are somewhere southwest of Bethsaida - where there is a desert place large enough to accommodate well over 15,000 people. Jesus puts them in a boat and says go to the other side. As we read through the passages, you will notice that Mark says that Jesus told them to sail to the other side toward Bethsaida (in Mark), and in John He tells them to sail to the other side toward Capernaum. This is just telling them which direction to face, not that they are going to sail to either of those cities.

It is clarifying that they are not going to sail to the other side of the lake toward Hippos or Gadara which were to the south, but they were going to cross the Sea of Galilee from east to west, where, Matthew and Mark both tell us that they make land in the region of Gennesaret on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee.

This following events have the perfect setting to be a scary story. Scary stories all have similar elements, and one of the themes that you find repeated throughout scary stories, is that many of them take place

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A Dark and Stormy Night

A dark and stormy night. And this is the title for the message this morning.

However, I must say, that the events that we are going to study this morning do not start at night, and it isn’t stormy… just yet…

The events that we will be seeing today are found in Matthew, Mark, and John, but because Matthew gives the most details about this story, then we will concentrate mainly on what he recorded about it.

Remember that the crowd is wanting to take Jesus and make Him king, so, Jesus intervenes. Matthew 14:22-23

Matthew 14:22–23 KJV 1900

22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. 23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

Jesus send His disciples to go before Him to the other side of the sea, where we have seen that they end up in the land of Gennesaret on the western coast. Meanwhile, Jesus dismisses the crowd and when they go away, He goes up to a mountain to pray alone.

We read earlier in John that it was evening when Jesus told the disciples to leave and that by the time they got in the boat and started to leave, it was dark. Jesus dismisses the crowd in the dark and climbs a mountain to pray in the dark.

So right now, it is just dark. It is night. Not stormy, but night, and for a scary story, this is a pretty good setup so far. And another setup for a scary scene has happened as well - the group is separated. More specifically, the leader is no longer with the group he leads.

It’s a dark night, and the disciples are alone. Where exactly are they? Mark tells us a detail. Mark 6:47

Mark 6:47 KJV 1900

47 And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.

In the middle of the sea. John 6:19 tells us that they had rowed about 25 or 30 furlongs. This would be about 3.5 miles. The Sea of Galilee at its widest point from east to west is about 8 miles wide.

You can see on the satellite image of the Sea of Galilee, Bethsaida is marked in RED. Slightly to the south east, about a mile and a half away, in PURPLE is a deserted area where the feeding of the 5,000 possibly could have happened. There is another area that is located a little further south that is considered another possible location for that miracle.

Now, if you look at the western side of the sea, in BLUE is another marker, and that is the area of the land of Gennesaret.

So, if you were to draw a line from the purple marker to the blue marker, right in the middle of that line would be about three and a half miles - the middle of the sea.

So, let’s read the rest of the story from John’s perspective before we continue.

John 6:16–21 KJV 1900

16 And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, 17 And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. 18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. 19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. 20 But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. 21 Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.

What an amazing event! What a miracle! Miracles really, there were are plenty that happen at this time. So, let’s break it down. If we reduce the story to the very basic elements, it is a story about the disciples facing a problem and Jesus overcoming that problem.

The Problem

So let’s breakdown the problem that the disciples are encountering. And there are several things that we are going to look at here.

The Reality of the Problem

First, I want to point out that this is a very real problem. This was a very real stressor. There are times when we find ourselves stressed out by things that aren’t even really going on. We overthink situations, conversations; we imagine what might be going on, and many times, at least many times for me, I’ve been completely wrong about it all and found that I stressed myself out for nothing.

But this is not one of those situations for the disciples. They have a very real problem that is causing them some very real difficulties.

John 6:18 KJV 1900

18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.

Matthew 14:24–25 KJV 1900

24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

The wind was strong and it was against them. This means they had to row to get to their destination. They could not depend on a sail. Now look at the time. It was the 4th watch of the night. Now, this does not mean that it was four hours after sunset (Sunset being around 6pm). The Romans had a system for breaking up the night into 4 “watches.”

The first watch was from 6pm - 9pm.

The second watch, from 9pm - midnight.

The third watch, from midnight - 3am.

And the fourth watch was from 3am - 6am.

The disciples were ordered into the boat at evening, and cast off as it was getting dark, so during the 1st watch. Now, what does that mean for them now that the storm is upon them? It means that these poor disciples have been rowing for about 9 hours - from about 6pm - 3am!

The disciples are in a boat that is being battered by the wind, not letting them navigate well. A normal crossing would have taken about four hours to complete, with some sources saying it could be done in two hours by experienced sailors. So after 9 hours of rowing and you’re only half way across, I’d say there was definitely a problem.

But that problem would have caused another - fatigue. Even taking it in shifts to row, 9 hours of rowing would be fatiguing. Take into account that they have been up all day ministering to others and immediately afterward rowing in a boat for nine hours, and you have a very tired group of disciples.

The problem was real.

The Beginning of the Problem

I want us to also note when the problem started. The wind was not blowing hard against them when they set off. John 6:18 says

John 6:18 KJV 1900

18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.

The word “arose” means to wake up. It was a sudden thing. The sea was calm, then it woke up. And it woke up while they were already making their way across it.

Note that the problem started for them after they were already obeying and it was at it’s peak when they were halfway across.

We have mentioned before that the disciples would have been tired upon entering the boat to row, but really, they were probably on an emotional high at that point. They had just witnessed Jesus take an impossibly small amount of food and feed thousands and thousands of people with it and still have leftovers. They had helped distribute the food. They had helped collect the leftovers. They had witnessed this same crowd come to a realization that Jesus was who He said He was, and they had even started to hear the people make plans to crown Jesus as their king.

What an amazing evening! This is probably what occupied their thoughts and their conversations at the beginning of the journey. Then, I imagine that as they got underway, some disciples began to doze off. And all of a sudden, in the middle of the dark, everyone is awakened by the waking of the Sea. Another of the Sea’s sudden windstorms is upon them.

Everyone gets involved in rowing and bailing probably bailing out water. It’s probably been about 2 hours, but as the hours roll by, their progress is nullified by the wind.

But help was on the way.

The Solution

The problem has been analyzed and broken down, but now let’s breakdown the solution to their problem,

Unrecognized Salvation

It is the darkest hour, both figuratively and literally as 3am is the time of the day that, statistically speaking, is the time of day when people are the most tired naturally (not even accounting for other external variables like working hard and rowing a boat for 8 or 9 hours), but help was on the way. The problem is, the disciples do not recognize the help. They do not recognize Jesus.

Matthew 14:26–27 KJV 1900

26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. 27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

They are afraid that what they are seeing is a ghost or an evil spirit. But Jesus, knowing their fear, cries out for them not to be afraid.

We read in John that when Jesus lets them know who He is, they willingly receive Him into the ship. Why is that?

The Power of the Savior

Because of the power of the savior. Think about it. They have just seen Jesus perform a great miracle in feeding the multitude. Just a couple of months ago, they had crossed this same sea and had seen Jesus calm the storm with a simple command from his voice. And now, they see Jesus, walking on their problem. Mark 6:48-51

Mark 6:48–51 KJV 1900

48 And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. 49 But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: 50 For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. 51 And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.

The wind and the storm is against them. It is the source of their problem. It is impeding their completion of the mission - to get to Gennesaret. The waves threaten the boat and are against the disciples as well. The disciples can’t make head way, they are rowing hard, and they are stuck in the middle of the sea. And along comes Jesus, there He is, not just walking on the water, not just walking against the wind and against the waves, but He’s going so fast He would have passed the disciples.

But here is another thing that we often do not consider. Has anyone ever been caught in a wind storm before? It is horrible. One of the things that you realize once you’re in one is that not only does the wind threaten to blow everything down and carry anything that is not tied down away, but if you are in it, it is loud. I hate the sound of rushing wind. It does something to my ears, and I can’t stand it. But even worse is trying to communicate with all that noise going on. You have to yell, even when someone is close to you. Did you notice that in every account, Matthew, Mark, and John, Jesus is recording as simply speaking to the disciples?

Mark 6:49–50 KJV 1900

49 But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: 50 For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.

The phrase, He “talked with them,” is very distinct from the phrase, they “cried out.”

This is the power of the savior. He’s walking on the problems, He is walking speedily despite the waves and the wind being contrary, and His communication toward us is unaffected by the problem of the wind or the sound of the sea.

The Reaction

What is the reaction of the disciples when Jesus tells them that it is Him, not a spirit? John says they willingly received him into the ship. Mark says that He gets into the ship and the wind ceases Mark 6:51

Mark 6:51 KJV 1900

51 And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.

But Matthew gives us an account that the others do not.

Matthew 14:27–33 KJV 1900

27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. 28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? 32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. 33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

Peter walking on water, well, this whole event here, is probably my favorite story in all of the New Testament. There is a lot that we can learn from these events.

For the rest of the time that we have, I want us to focus on the application of these truths for our lives.

The Reality of Problems

I do not think that this truth escapes anyone here. Life is full of problems. However, there has been so much twisting and manipulation of Scripture that there are those who actively believe, or subconsciously hold to the notion that Christians should not have problems. I want to once again dispel this notion. From Jesus’ own mouth we have the following statement:

John 16:33 KJV 1900

33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation…

And from the Apostle Paul we have the following statement he wrote to Timothy.

2 Timothy 3:12 KJV 1900

12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Not might, not maybe, not perhaps, not “there is a possibility,” but “you SHALL” have tribulation and suffer persecution.

The thing is, like the disciples in this story that we have just seen, the problems start once we start following Jesus. Once you make a decision to follow Jesus and obey, once you start living for Him, you will encounter problems. The problems are made for you to turn back. The problems are made to determine how far you will go to obey Jesus. And they will typically start after you begin your journey of obedience.

Notice also with the disciples that the problem began after they were tired, once it was dark. They would have naturally been tired, but they were also tired from a full day’s ministering to a multitude. They were physically tired after having rowed for a few hours. And then the wind arose. Then the sea came to life and was contrary to them.

Satan is no dummy. He knows when to attack. He knows when to bring problems along. He knows when and how to tempt us to turn back and to give up. The best time is to wait to through a problem at us until we are tired. That may be physical tiredness. It may be emotional or spiritual, or a combination of the three.

Problems are going to be a reality in the lives of Christians. Some problems will be real, some others will be perceived. However, the solution is always the same - Jesus.

The Reality of the Solution

As real as the problems are, the solution is even more so. Jesus is there for us. Over and over we have scriptures that tell us of God’s faithful presence. I want to note something that I just glossed over a we read the account of Jesus walking on water, but it is something that many people do not catch, and it is something that is of the ultimate importance.

Mark 6:47–48 KJV 1900

47 And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. 48 And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.

Did y’all catch that? Three little words that make a world of difference.

Mark 6:48 KJV 1900

48 And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.

HE SAW THEM!!

He saw them toiling, struggling. He saw their fatigue, their frustration. He saw their worries. And what that means for us is that Jesus sees us. This is one of those miraculous things that happened that night. Jesus, up on a mountain about 3.5 miles away from the disciples, in the darkest part of the night, during a storm, was watching his disciples. That is supernatural vision.

And we are watched over by the same God in the same manner. Jesus is really watching us. Psalm 23 gives us a perfect example of the care that God has for us.

But it would make no difference if Jesus only saw our troubles and couldn’t do anything about them. But just as Jesus walked on top of the problems that faced the disciples, He walks on top of the problems that face us too. He is there in our darkest hour, when we are the most fatigued, when there is no fight left within us. When we are at our weakest, Jesus is at His strongest. In fact, it is our weakness that makes His strength shine the brightest. He is the solution for everything, and what He asks us to do is simply to trust Him. He says to us - “Don’t be afraid.” And at this simple command, we can have trust and faith in Him.

Why? Because our biggest problems are nothing for God. What slows us down, what drives us back, what threatens to make us give up and snuff us out is nothing for Jesus. He walks all over those problems with ease.

What to Do When Problems Arise?

I want us to take a look at Matthew’s account now. He includes something that the other two Gospels do not include.

Matthew 14:26–29 KJV 1900

26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. 27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. 28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

What to do when problems arise?

Trust God

Jesus said “Don’t be afraid,” and Peter said, “I’ll see your ‘fear not’ and raise you a ‘tell me to go an walk on water with you.’” And Jesus said, “Come on down.”

So Peter goes and begins to walk on the water with Jesus. Now, I just want to make a point really quickly. Sometimes, we forget about this, but what was the weather like after Jesus said, “Fear not, it’s just me,”? Stormy.

What was the weather like when Peter asked Jesus to call him to walk on the water too? Stormy.

What was the weather like when Peter jumped over the side of the boat? Stormy.

What was the weather like when Peter started walking toward Jesus? Stormy.

When does Jesus tell us not to fear? When the problems are still at full force.

When does Jesus expect us to cast all our cares upon Him? When the storm is the strongest.

When does Jesus invite us to walk with Him? When everything around us seems to be going against us.

So, what do we do when problems arise? Trust God. Secondly,

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus

Keep your eyes on Jesus. Do not let them get distracted by anything.

Matthew 14:29–30 KJV 1900

29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink…

Peter began to walk on the water toward Jesus. At first, I imagine it was a bit of an adrenaline rush. This was exciting! But at some point, Peter took his eyes and his focus off of Jesus, and began to focus on the noise, the boisterous wind and the waves that it was causing.

He stopped focusing on the savior and started focusing on the problems once more, and immediately He began to sink. What does that tell us? That even if we are walking toward Jesus, when we take our focus off of Him, we will begin to sink.

But there is a lesson in all of this, because we learn from Peter what to do when we mess up and take our eyes off of Jesus.

Matthew 14:30 KJV 1900

30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

We ought to cry out to the Lord. Peter had a choice at this point. As he is going under, he has at least three choices. He can cry out to the disciples behind him, “Throw me a floaty! Come and save me!”

He can try to swim to Jesus on his own.

He can call out to Jesus.

These are the choices that Peter has. Make the wrong one, and he dies.

When we make a mistake and get distracted by our problems, we often begin to sink in anxiety as well.

At that point, we have options as well. We could call on others that are powerless to walk on top of our problems and can’t even maneuver a boat across them.

We could try to handle it ourselves.

We could cry out t the Lord.

Peter cries to Jesus, and look what happens. Matthew 14:31

Matthew 14:31 KJV 1900

31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

Many of you know that I like to watch movies. For a long time, I had a dramatization playing in my head whenever this passage was read. Peter, sinking in the water, cries out to Jesus. Jesus, runs toward Peter, and in a spectacular dive, manages to catch Peter by the finger tips and pull him up. But that is not what happened.

Look at the verse. “He reached out. He stretched fourth his hand.” How far was Peter from Jesus when he took his focus on the problems? Three feet away.

So many times we get along side Jesus and we start to focus on other things. It is then when we begin to sink. If that ever happens, if you ever find yourself sinking again into the anxiety that problems bring with them, put your focus on Jesus Christ and call out to Him.

Because when that happens, Jesus responds. Matthew 14:31-32

Matthew 14:31–32 KJV 1900

31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? 32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

“Why did you doubt?” Jesus asks Peter. Why, after you had gotten right up to me, why did you start to doubt?

And they make their way back to the boat. At this time, before they enter the boat, what is the weather like? Stormy.

What does this teach us? That even when we are as close as possibly to the lord, it is possible to take our eyes off of Him. We need to be intentional about our relationship with the Lord. Don’t think, “Well, last month was a really good month of spiritual growth. I think I will just stop being so zealous reading my Bible this moth. I’ll skip a few days.

In that moment, your troubles gain power. Do not take your focus off of Jesus., but if you do, know this - He is ready to stretch out His arm and caught it.

And when Peter and Jesus made it into the boat, the storm ceased. Not only that, but John says that land. John 6:21

John 6:21 KJV 1900

21 Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.

Our problems are nothing for God. He has a reason and a way through them. And we need to desperately trust God and keep our eyes focused on Him.

Invitation

Are you in trouble? Do trials and problems seem to be surrounding you? How many would say, “Mike, there are things in my life that are causing me anxiety. I feel like I am getting fatigued. It is so hard to continue to do the right thing, and sometimes I feel like giving up. Anxiety is mounting and I feel like I have been going at this for so long and making no headway. Would you pray for me?”

For the unsaved - The problem you have is sin. It separates you from Jesus. But Jesus has conquered sin and death and wants to give you salvation.

Life Group

1. What stood out to you? Comments or questions?

2. Can you recall a time when everything seemed to “hit” at once—tired, stressed, and then a new problem showed up? How did you react?

3. Do you tend to underestimate your problems or exaggerate them in your mind? How does that usually affect your faith and emotions?

HF

4. The sermon highlighted that problems often intensify after we start obeying Jesus. Where have you seen that pattern in your own walk? How did it test your faith?

5. How does it affect you to know that, like the disciples, you are seen by Jesus even “in the middle of the sea” in the darkest watch of the night?

6. Peter starts with faith, then shifts his focus and begins to sink. Where are you most prone to “take your eyes off Jesus” even when you’ve already stepped out in obedience?

Application

7. What is one current “storm” (real or perceived) in your life where you need to intentionally hear and respond to Jesus’ words, “It is I; be not afraid”?​

8. Practically, what would it look like this week to keep your eyes on Jesus instead of the wind—specific habits, Scriptures, or choices you need to make?