Sermon Tone Analysis

45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

46 And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

47 And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land.

48 And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them.

And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.

He meant to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, 50 for they all saw him and were terrified.

But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

51 And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased.

And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret

53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore.

54 And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him 55 and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was.

56 And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment.

And as many as touched it were made well.

Intro:

As a kid I loved spending the summers in Oklahoma with my grandparents.

I loved being out in the country with Grandma and Grandpa Dugas;

getting to shoot guns with grandpa, roaming around the pastures and forest, eating Grandma’s cooking, watching grandpa do woodworking.

I loved going to Mamoo and Pawpaw’s as well.

I loved camping and shooting fireworks, riding the 4-wheeler

I loved watching John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies, playing in the jungle that was their backyard

My grandparents were fun to be around and they were very loving to me and so I really enjoyed be around them all the time

and I always missed them when I went back home

There was one thing I did not like about staying with Mamoo and Pawpaw though

every Tuesday we would have to drive up to Ponca City from Stillwater, about an hour drive each way

and visit Granny, Pawpaw’s mom

Mamoo and Pawpaw also didn’t like going and didn’t bother keeping that a secret

But, Granny was alone up there and needed to be checked in on each week

I loved being with my grandparents because they were so wonderful to me and I tried to do all I could to show them I loved them and appreciated them

however, with Granny it was a different story

She just was not fun

her house was boring, the drive to her house was boring, everyone was miserable

and Granny was pretty surly and didn’t know how to keep her negative comments to herself

For Pawpaw’s sake and the fact that Granny was family I would be kind to her

however, my kindness was short of genuine

I didn’t dislike Granny, but I didn’t like her either

I had an affectionate apathy toward her

I would go through the motions of being a good great-grandson while I was at her house, of doing my familial duty, but outside of this nothing

With my grandparents I had an affectionate adoration, but with Granny it was affectionate apathy

As Christians, when God only gets our attention and energy when we are going through the motions, doing our religious duty

when worshipping Him on Sunday, when our daily prayer time and bible study are all going through the motions, fulfilling our religious obligations then we are giving God affectionate apathy

when we leave Him out of the rest of our lives and don’t have a deep and genuine appreciation for Him we are not reverent adorers like we should be

When in your life do you find yourself living in affectionate apathy toward God and when do you reverently adore Him?

How could your life be transformed for the better if you were more of a reverent adorer?

Exegesis:

Jesus and His disciples have finished feeding the people and likely themselves now

Jesus now sends His disciples away once again

while the disciples depart Jesus also sends the crowd away

it took hours to feed all of those people supper so it is now getting extremely late and the people are probably fully willing to cooperate with Jesus’ dismissal

It is like after midnight and Jesus has been teaching and serving all day, one would think He’d at least take a nap or something

Once everyone is gone, He still doesn’t stop

He goes and spends time with God, His Father in prayer

The most refreshing and fulfilling thing Jesus can do at that moment is to spend genuine time with God

Jesus finishes praying and sets out to meet His disciples

theyve already been on the water so the least sensible way of reconnecting with them is to try to catch up with them out on the water

However, this is exactly what Jesus does

Being God, you’d think He’d just appear where they were or to Bethsaida where He sent them

Kind of like getting beamed up in Star Trek or apparating in Harry Potter

or being taken in a whirlwind like Elijah or carried by the Spirit like Philip to use a biblical analogy

Jesus decides, instead to walk on water, which is pretty cool too

Along the way Jesus sees that the disciples are really struggling against a strong headwind

now they dont seem to be in mortal danger like the last time they encountered a storm on the water

but they are having a bad go at it

The way the next phrase is translated in English doesn’t quite capture Jesus’ intention properly, it just doesn’t translate literally very well

the idea behind this phrase in the Greek is that Jesus wanted to pass by them

in other words, He wanted them to see Him walking on water so they could see another picture of His deity, to have more evidence that He was God

only God could walk on water, and on very choppy water nonetheless

When the disciples see Him they are terrified

they think He is an actual ghost or a sea demon, it was a common belief among the Jews that demons lived in the sea, an idea that was probably reinforced when the legion of demons drove those 2,000 pigs into the sea

Jesus knows what they are thinking and feeling and He commands them to have courage and not be afraid that it is Him

There is something significant that is again lost in the English translation and its the fact that in Greek He says

ἐγώ εἰμι, which literally mean I, I am.

Who else identified themselves as I am?

Yahweh right?

Yahweh told Moses I am that I am, tell them I am sent you

In fact, in the Septuigant, the Hebrew Bible translated into Greek used in ancient times,

When Yahweh says this to Moses He says ἐγώ εἰμι

Jesus is very much on purpose calling Himself Yahweh

He is demonstrated in word and deed that He is in fact God

He is literally walking the walk and talking the talk

Jesus further demonstrates His power by calming the winds and seas without so much as speaking word

Last week the disciples kept missing who Jesus was

this time they miss Him even more embarassingly

He has just done all of this, and do they respond in reverent adoration?

Mark tells us they respond this way:

λίαν περισσός ἐξίστημι- exceedingly, beyond confused

They see all of this and are exceedingly beyond confused

I want to ask these guys: what are you confused about?

Jesus is God, it’s literally that simple

Mark tells us that the disciples missed Jesus’ power and divinity when He fed the 5,000 as well;

and that their hearts are hardened

What Mark is saying here is that their hearts were closed-minded or blind

The chapter then closes out with Jesus in Gennesaret serving the people once more

go to Gennesaret; people immediately recognize Jesus and word spreads through whole region and people come from all over; people are bringing their sick to be healed; everywhere He goes people are coming to Him for healing and believe even touching His garment will make them well like the woman with the bleeding

I am; solitude with God; lack of faith; prayer; Who is Jesus; Knowing God

πωρόω- blind, close minded, cause difficulty understanding or comprehending

- ghost

People hear about Him all over the region and everyone who can is bringing their sick and infirmed to Jesus to be healed

λίαν περισσός ἐξίστημι- exceedingly, beyond confused/unable to make sense of the situation/ out of one's mind

They thought Jesus was a phantasm, a ghost, perhaps even a sea demon, since it was believed that demons dwelt in such places.;