Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Walking on Troubled Water

Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home.  After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.  Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land.  He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves.  About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water.  He intended to go past them, but when they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost.  They were all terrified when they saw him.  But Jesus spoke to them at once.  “Don’t be afraid,” he said.  “Take courage!  I am here!”  Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped.  They were totally amazed, for they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves.  Their hearts were too hard to take it in.  Mark 6:45-52(NLT)
When I put myself in the boat with the disciples, and it’s 3:00 AM, and the storm is about to swamp our little boat, AND with all our scurrying around to keep the boat from sinking, suddenly there’s a guy strolling around ON the water as calm as your neighbor out walking the dog…well, it’s just a little weird, thank you!
But if that first sighting was weird, what came next had to have made every disciple wonder if maybe they need to see a psychiatrist.  It turned out to be Jesus, and their master simply says, chill out, I’m here.  And then he climbs in the boat and the wind stops; they’re safe, all is well, and they hardly notice it because their minds are reeling from having seen a man walking across the water.  (Mind you, this is well before hover boards!).
Mark reminds us that the reason the disciples were so confused is because their minds were still reeling from the previous day when Jesus fed a crowd of many thousands with just a boy’s lunch. 
The explanation Mark tacks-on about why the disciples had such a hard time getting their minds around what just happened was a severe case of weak faith, due to hardened hearts.  Mark was in a position to judge this; it’s difficult to admit hard-heart syndrome, but this apostle’s truthful assessment of his own heart, and that of his brothers in the boat, makes sense, because it happens to all of us.  Let’s face it, when troubled waters threaten, we all do the same things:
1.      We worry – the disciples couldn’t help remembering all those other times those familiar, unfriendly waters had threatened life and limb.  We all have our troubled waters.  We worry, and…
2.      We waffle – the men in the boat were doing what they knew to do, struggling against the waves.  Just the day before they had witnessed the miracle of Jesus caring for the crowd, multiplying fish and loaves to feed them.  And now, it was back to life as usual.  And that’s the issue with waffling; the miracle was to teach all of us that Jesus wants us to look to Him much more than struggle with waves!  We worry, waffle, and…
3.      We wonder – the disciples didn’t know what to think because they were wondering HOW Jesus could do that…calm the waves of an angry sea just by showing up.  They had their eyes on the miracle instead of the Master.
Our hearts can be either hard, or receptive.  The key ingredient is a mind trained to look past the circumstances to the heart of the One behind the circumstances.  It’s not so much WHAT is happening to you; it’s more a matter of WHO is driving what’s happening to you. 
The mere fact that Mark opens his own life for our inspection, that we might see a heart that had not yet fully-trusted Christ, should speak loudly to what must be done.  If you’re going to follow Jesus, there must be a surrender of the heart…fully.  Just this week I heard it (again) in a sermon that the Lord requires our commitment to Him if we would be His disciples.  And the only kind of commitment that is genuine is 100%.[2]  Lacking that, we will always wind up worrying, waffling, and wondering what happened.
For You Today
As you walk through this day, if the water gets more than a little troubled, remember Jesus will walk on it – or anything else He needs to – to come to you.  So, don’t worry, waffle, or wonder; it’s not the waves He’s watching, it’s you!  Return the look; keep your eyes on Him.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com
[2] Paul Leland, Bishop, Western NC, United Methodist Church, Annual Conference sermon, 6/24/18 (my paraphrase of the Bishop’s remarks)

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