Sermon Tone Analysis

From Fear to Faith; Jesus Walks on Water

Text:

Thesis: If we do not grasp who Jesus truly is, we will never be able to move beyond our fear and in to faith.

Intro: (I hope you’ll forgive me, this morning, as I will spend a little more time than usual on this introduction)

The events of this passage only occur in Mark and John, Matthew also includes the story, but adds in that Peter got out of the boat and walked with Jesus on the water.

It’s not really clear why Mark, who likely got the bulk of his information from Peter, didn’t include that aspect of the story - perhaps Peter was ashamed, but most likely, he did not want the focus on himself.

John also does not include the story of Peter walking on the water, likely because - like Peter - he wanted the attention on Jesus and not someone else in the narrative.

But what we have been seeing take place in our text is that Jesus is now beginning to unveil, more and more, His divinity.

And more and more, His disciples are miss the point.

Until this night on the sea...

His disciples are the only ones who witness all of this - the 12 are the only ones who experience this night on the sea.

The next morning, John records that the crowd that had eaten the bread and the fish come back, and they realize Jesus is gone, but they knew he didn’t get in the boat with the disciples, so they don’t know where he is.

So they hitch a ride with some boats from Tiberias and go to Capernaum to look for him.

They meet up with Jesus and they say, “Hey, when did you get here?”

(John 6:25) but Jesus’ reply begins as a rebuke of them.

He basically tells them, “You don’t want me, you wanted breakfast.

You thought since I made all that bread I’d feed you more bread.”

His exact words, John tells us goes like this:

They think he means they can perform miracles, so they say John 6:28 ““What can we do to perform the works of God?”

So Jesus clarifies when he replies, “This is the work of God - that you believe in the one he has sent.”

(John 6:29)

They don’t think that’s enough, they begin saying, “What other miracles are you going to perform, what other thing can you do?

Will you send manna down from heaven like Moses did?” (Because they’re probably still hoping for some breakfast)

And Jesus tells them, “I am that manna from heaven, I’m the bread of life!

And unless someone has me in their life” - he speaks metaphorically, saying they need to eat this bread, eat his flesh and drink his blood - “then if you don’t do that, you’re not going to have eternal life.”

(John 6:43-58)

Ultimately, many of his disciples - not just his followers, disciples - turn back and no longer follow him.

Not the 12, but many of the rest of them.

And this is the point of John’s text and the point of our text today in Mark: If we do not grasp who Jesus truly is, we will never be able to move beyond our fear and in to faith.

If we don’t get who Jesus is, we never move beyond our fear and into faith.

So who is Jesus?

Jesus is our Redeemer

He made them go so as not to be a part of the revolution, Jesus understood that the 12 disciples were weak.

They’re already tired, they’ve not gotten the rest they had intended to get because the crowds kept coming to Jesus.

They’ve been working with the people, feeding them, so Jesus makes them get into the boat and go.

In fact, the word “made” is the Greek word “anakasen” (ηναγκασεν), which means he forced them to go, he ordered them, He strongly urged them to leave.

Why?

Because John tells us, after feeding the 5,000, the crowd wants to make Him King and rebel against Rome.

The disciples would have been tempted by this.

They’d expected this for 2 years.

Now they’ve got an army of 5,000 men, freshly fed and ready to rumble.

Judas, of all people, would have been chomping at the bit to get that party started, so Jesus, knowing this, sends his disciples away - “Go on, get out of here, we’re not doing this”, and He dismissed the crowd.

We often think of Jesus as our Redeemer because He saves us from our past sin, that He redeems us in our sin, but Jesus also saves us from sins we might commit - He keeps us from sinning.

That’s what a Redeemer would do - Saving us from sins we might yet commit so that we do not commit them.

Jesus redeems the disciples by keeping them from taking part in a potential riot.

Jesus instructed us to pray Matthew 6:13 “And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

He’s not going to lead us to sin, but keep us from it - that’s one of the qualities of Him as our Redeemer.

James reiterates this:

So He is redeeming the disciples here - in that He is keeping them from sin by sending them off.

Now, if you notice in the text, He tells them to go to the other side, to Bethsaida - and I said last week, that Luke (Luke 9:10) made it clear they were already at Bethsaida.

So how does that work?

It’s likely there were two regions known as Bethsaida - Bethsaida Galilee and Bethsaida Julius was the area with a range of mountainous hills that had steep slopes, with the tops being nice plateaus - perfect for “going up the mountain to pray”.

And the disciples would have likely headed to Bethsaida Galilee, which was farther south than Gennesaret where they’ll ultimately end up.

Of course, we’ve seen Jesus go up a mountain to pray already in Mark’s Gospel - He’d gone up a mountain when he called the disciples (Mark 3:13), and Jesus does this because this is what prophets do.

Moses goes up Mount Horeb when he first speaks to God through the burning bush (Exodus 3:1); Elijah goes to Mount Horeb as well in 1 Kings 19 (v.

8).

They go to get alone with God and that’s what we see Jesus doing here.

Because He isn’t just “a” prophet, He is the Prophet.

So He goes up the mountain to pray.

Then...

The ship is in the middle of the sea - and this gives us some idea as to how strong the winds must have been.

This is a fishing boat, at the most it was really designed and built to stay closer to the shower, within a couple miles of it.

But our text says it’s been tossed out into the “middle of the sea”.

The disciples are struggling.

Even from the shore, Jesus can see them - which alone tells us He had amazing eyesight - able to see them a few miles away, in the dark?

Sure, the moon may have been out, and it might have been a clear night, but still...

Still He sees their straining.

(βασανιζομενους) He saw their basanizo-menous - It’s a word used for torture, or torment.

Here it literally means He saw their “harassment in rowing”.

A lot gets made about this - this can quickly become one of those motivational, good speeches, “God sees your struggle, God sees you being harassed, God sees your pain and your torment”, and you know what?

He does.

But Jesus knew they were going to struggle, Jesus knew they were going to have that torment, that harassment the minute He sent them out without Him in the boat.

Jesus knew you were going to have struggles in this life, He knows you’ll be harassed, tormented, suffer pain and heartache.

Yet Jesus lets the disciples struggle anyway.

He doesn’t rush in to make everything better.

They’ve been doing this for some time, He sent them away around sundown and now it’s “about the 4th watch” that means it’s almost 3 AM and the disciples still haven’t reached their destination.

It is then Jesus places His foot upon the surface of the water and begins to walk.

With the intent to pass by.

He doesn’t do this because He doesn’t care - He doesn’t intend to pass them by and leave them as they are.

Don’t misunderstand this.

The words used for when Jesus is going to “pass by” are the same Greek words used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, for when God passes by.

In Exodus 33, Moses says, “Show me your glory!” and God says, okay, but you can’t see my face.

Moses was a tortured man, Moses was a man who had been harassed by the people, and in the midst of all of his struggles, He said “GOD SHOW ME YOUR GLORY,” and God passes by.

Elijah, when he has been threatened by the evil queen Jezebel, he’s a fugitive on the run, and God says, Elijah, what’re you doing here?

(1 Kings 19:9)

And Elijah says, “God I’ve done all I can, I’m the only one standing for You, and I’m tired, I’m done.

I just wish you’d take my life because I can’t do it anymore,”

1 Kings 19:11 “Then he said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence.”

At that moment, the Lord passed by.”

I want to tell you something, God doesn’t always fix your problems, God doesn’t always heal the sickness, God doesn’t always calm the storm, but when you cry out to Him, He is faithful to pass by and a glimpse of His glory is all we need.

That glimpse can sustain you, it can refuel you, it can retool you, because Christ has Redeemed you, with His blood upon the cross, with that empty tomb, and who He is inside you is greater than the world around you.

No words of people can trouble you, no pain of this earth can shake you, no demon from hell can touch you, because you belong the God who merely has to pass by and the light of Jesus Christ eliminates the darkness of this life.

Most of you know me, you know I don’t say this for hype and for amens, but some of us need to remember who we are in Christ, and who Christ is in us.

He did not call you to be tossed by the winds, He’s made you a warrior and

Psalm 144:1 “Blessed be the Lord, my rock who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for warfare.”

If you are in Christ, you are an heir of the King, an adopted Son or Daughter of the Lord of Hosts (Galatians 4:7), and when the world keeps pushing you back, you stand your ground with your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace (Ephesians 6:15), and you stand your ground.

If we do not grasp who Jesus truly is, if we don’t grasp the glory and the power He holds, if He is not our Redeemer, we will never be able to move beyond our fear and in to faith.

Jesus is our Rescuer

Mark makes it clear - despite how some people in history have tried to remove the miraculous from this story - Jesus is not on a sand bar, He is not walking on some very thin ice (the grass was green, if you remember last week, and the weather is likely warm), and he’s not wading through shallow water, either.

Jesus is walking on the sea, and the disciples, in fear, see Him as a ghost, or a phantom.

Now we can’t blame them too much, I’d probably drive off the road if I was going 75 miles an hour down the interstate and looked out my window and saw someone running alongside my car - and that’s basically the equivalent of what’s taking place here.