Mark 6

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. 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.

Sometimes you just have to shake your head. For instance, consider the website article, “Did Jesus walk on water? Corn flour effect explained.” In it, the author explains that if you combine cornstarch and water you create a non-Newtonian dilatant fluid that hardens under stress. Thus, one could create the appearance of walking on water if one mixed enough corn flour with the water. Here is how one gentleman who does not believe in the miracle of Jesus walking on water theorizes that the appearance of this miracle might have been created.

I am not sure if they had corn in Judea two thousand years ago, but they might have had something similar, which when mixed with water, exhibits thixotropic properties. Someone close to Jesus or maybe Jesus himself may have experimented and made this little discovery. Afterwards, creating the first FX effect in the history of mankind would not have been difficult.

They could have created a long, narrow trough and placed it just below the water surface. While outside the trough, you’d have normal, semi-polluted water of the Galilee Sea, inside the trough, you’d have a mix of water and thixotropic substance, which would allow a casual demonstrator to appear as if walking on water.

This would surely amaze the crowds, especially if performed in the evening hours when the subtle details of the performance are less obvious.

Cornstarch. This was actually demonstrated on “The Ellen Show,” by the way, so there is that. The same gentleman theorizes that Jesus was most likely actually walking on sediment.

My theory goes for an earthquake in the region, which caused the bedrock beneath the Galilee Sea to shift. In turn, this would cause layers of sediment at the bottom of the lake to rise, mixing with water and turning it into a gel-like substance.

At the time of chaos and panic, no one would pay much attention to the thixotropic properties of the water, unless they were keen of mind and action, as Jesus obviously was. A simple reason for wandering into the deeper water would have been to salvage lost fishing boats. The earthquake could have torn off their mooring and cast them offshore.

Poor fishermen would probably have been very afraid to attempt rescuing their boats, especially if the water was turbid and misbehaving. However, a brave man determined to set example for his followers would have waded out into the deeps – only to discover that he could actually walk on water.

You’d have a sea rescue operation turned into miracle, all by accident.[1]

Of course, one can also create the appearance of walking on water if one is actually walking on ice. An article in the Journal of Paleolimnology recounts a study of “temperature records of the Mediterranean Sea surface” that employed “analytical ice and statistical models” and that found results suggesting that “temperatures dropped to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (-4 degrees Celsius) during one of the two cold periods 2,500 –1,500 years ago for up to two days, the same decades during which Jesus lived.”[2]

So maybe Jesus was walking on cornstarch and water.

Or maybe Jesus was walking on sediment.

Or maybe Jesus was actually surfing some rare ice.

Or maybe Jesus is the Son of God.

One wonders at the ingenuity of minds that want so desperately to escape the conclusion that God is with us. For the men on the boat who saw Jesus walking on the water, that was their conclusion: Jesus was God with us. This is the lesson for us as well. As we consider this text, let us set aside our skeptical desire to explain away and look at this rather through the eyes of the those who saw these events occur. Furthermore, let us consider what Jesus was doing in and through this miracle.

Jesus taught the disciples the terrifying but crucial lesson of attempting to pass them by.

Prior to our text, Jesus and the disciples attempted to retreat for a season of rest only to find themselves with over five thousand people hungry for both the word of God and bread. Jesus miraculously fed them all in demonstration of His power and majesty. Now He sends the disciples back over the water. Once again, they find themselves in a predicament on the Sea of Galilee.

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. 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.

This time, the disciples are hindered in their progress by a great wind that “was against them.” Jesus, Mark tells us, comes to them “about the fourth watch of the night.” The “fourth watch of the night” refers to “the Roman custom of dividing the night into four watches,” thus, “the time would be between 2:00 and 6:00 in the morning.”[3]

So Jesus comes to them early in the morning, “walking on the sea.” What an unbelievable demonstration of power! What a beautiful miracle this is!

At the end of Mark 4, Jesus demonstrated His authority over the sea a first time by rebuking the raging storm into stillness and silence. The disciples were stunned at that earlier display of power. What must they have thought of this! Jesus comes walking on the water.

Of course we know something of what they thought, for Mark tells us that the disciples “thought it was a ghost.” This was perhaps a natural thought to have, for one does not normally see one’s friends walking…on water! The sea exerted a powerful influence over the minds of ancient people. It was respected. It was also feared. Truth be told, however, it is likely the case that many of us view the sea in the same way today, with a mixture of awe and fear.

The disciples assumed that this figure coming to them in the dark early hours of the morning was some sort of sea apparition, some specter from the deep, perhaps the soul of a drowned fisherman or perhaps some other kind of spirit.

This is all very strange, but at this point in the story things take an even stranger and unforeseen turn, for Mark tells us at the end of verse 48, “He meant to pass by them.”

You may think there is no humor in the Bible, but you would be mistaken, for the thought of Jesus simply walking past the disciples is too much to comprehend! Again, what must the disciples have been thinking. “Wait, it’s Jesus…but wait…is He walking past us?!”

Why did Jesus mean to pass them by? What would He do such a thing? To get at this, we need to put beside it another enigmatic statement from our text.

^51b And they were utterly astounded, ⁵² for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

When we think back to “the loaves” we recall another strange statement that seems to parallel Jesus passing them by in terms of being largely inexplicable.

³⁷ But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.”

I would propose that these two odd statements are related.

³⁷ But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.”

^48c He meant to pass by them

How are they related? In both instances the disciples are facing a major challenge, a God-sized task. In both instances, they are flummoxed by the immensity of the problem and are paralyzed by their inability to solve the problem. And in both instances Jesus bluntly asserts that they can resolve these issues by speaking and acting in a way that assumes they can do so.

Put another way, with the feeding of the five thousand Jesus assumes that they could feed the five thousand by simply telling them that they should do so.

On the Sea of Galilee, Jesus communicates the same assumption by attempting to pass by them so that they might follow Him on to the shore.

Jesus’ assumption rests not in the ability of the disciples to resolve these problems themselves, but rather in the idea that at this point in their walk with Him they should begin to believe enough in Him and in the fact that He is with them to demonstrate His power through their lives received through face and manifested in obedience.

He tells them to feed the five thousand because were they truly to trust in Jesus and truly to understand that, as His disciples, they are called to continue His life and mission in the world, they could do so through His power!

He means to pass them by on the Sea of Galilee because at that point in their journey together they should have seen Him, recognized Him, understood what His miraculous power meant, and followed Him in faith.

There are two ways that Jesus works miracles for the disciples: externally by doing it Himself in front of them or internally by doing miracles through them as they truly trust in Him.

Jesus is teaching them the terrifying but critical lesson of passing them by, of assuming that they will, by faith, follow Him and in so doing be freed from the paralyzing fear of viewing the world simply on its own terms.

“Then feed them!” He says before the five thousand.

“Well, come on! Follow Me!” He says by attempting to pass them by.

He is calling them and us to greater acts of power through greater exertions of faith. Had the disciples truly understood and believed, the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand could have been done through them! Had the disciples truly understood and believed, that boat would have begun moving without Jesus having to get into it as they followed Him. And if we truly believe, we would see God begin to work in and among and through us in ways we cannot yet imagine!

“Truly, truly, I say to you,” Jesus said in John 14:12, “whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

Many times we complain that Jesus is walking right past us and seems to be unaware or indifferent to our struggle, our plight, our pain. What if what we see as indifference is really the lesson of leadership, Jesus calling us to follow Him?

Shepherds lead their flocks. They do not drive them. A group of tourists in the Holy Land were told this lesson by their tour guide on the their bus: “Shepherds lead their flocks. They do not drive them.” Just as he said this they came to an intersection through which was passing a large flock of sheep…and behind them a man who was driving them forward. The tourists laughed at this with some embarrassment for the poor tour guide’s mistake. “Apparently,” one of them said, “you are mistaken, for there is a shepherd driving his sheep.” To which the tour guide responded, “That’s not the shepherd. That’s the butcher.”

Jesus passes us by not to leave us but to lead us. Shepherds lead their flocks. Butchers drive with fear and power. Shepherds lead with love and trust.

Do not begrudge the lesson of Christ’s passing by!

Do not begrudge the love that calls upon you and me to trust, to believe, and to follow.

Jesus demonstrates yet again that He is God.

There is another statement communicated by Jesus in this text, and it is one that we have also seen before. By walking upon the sea, Jesus communicated His divine nature. He does this in a few ways.

First, to return to the language of Jesus meaning to pass them by, we must return yet again to Exodus, a book that Mark points back to in many ways throughout his gospel. “The language of ‘passing by’ may refer to how God’s glory ‘passed by’ in the Old Testament (Ex 33:19; Job 9:11),” writes Craig Keener, “which also described God as ‘treading’ upon the waves (Job 9:8).”[4]

In Exodus 33, we see Moses asking permission of God to see Him. The image of “passing by” is noteworthy.

¹⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” ¹⁸ Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” ¹⁹ And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” ²¹ And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, ²² and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

If Mark is alluding to this image, then the implications are quite powerful.

^48c He meant to pass by them

^19a “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’

^22a and while my glory passes by

^22b and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by

Who is this Jesus who means to pass by them but the God who earlier passed by Moses? Behold the glory of God incarnate in the divine Son! He is the God who passes by and before. Interestingly, the images of passing by and walking on the sea are combined in Job 9.

⁸ who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea; ⁹ who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south; ¹⁰ who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number. ¹¹ Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

Amazing! And then we have Jesus’ interesting self-identification when He steps into the boat. “It is I,” in verse 50, “is literally ‘I am,’” writes Keener. “Although the former is the primary meaning here, in this context it is possible that Jesus…also intends to allude to a particular nuance of the latter meaning: ‘I am’ may refer back to the God of the Old Testament (Ex 3:14; cf. comment on Mk 6:45-48).”[5]

That Jesus uses the divine title given to Moses in God’s commissioning of him to go to Pharaoh is telling and staggering! We read this in Exodus 3.

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.

“I am who I am!” God says to Moses.

“I am!” Jesus says to the disciples.

Unbelievable! The implications are unavoidable: Jesus is God. “Treading the waves is something that only God can do,” writes David Garland.[6] Indeed!

We are left then with a most amazing thought: this Jesus is none other than God with us, God among us, God come to us, God redeeming us. This Jesus is no mere man. Neither is Jesus merely a great prophet. He is the God who alone can walk upon the waters, subduing the chaotic deep, putting beneath His feet the monsters of the sea. He alone is the God who can feed the crowd of thousands with just a little bread and a couple of fish. He alone is the God who can heal and who can save!

Jesus truly is the one and only! He is passing you by not to abandon you but rather to lead you. Follow this Jesus! Follow this King! Follow Him today!

 

[1] https://www.dedoimedo.com/physics/cornflour.html

[2] https://www.livescience.com/othernews/060404_jesus_ice.html

[3] John R. Donahue, Daniel J. Harrington, The Gospel of Mark. Sacra Pagina. Ed., Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. Vol. 2 (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002), p.213.

[4] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. (Downers Grove, IL: 1993), p.149.

[5] Craig S. Keener, p.149.

[6] David E. Garland, Mark. The NIV Application Commentary. Gen. Ed., Terry Muck (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), p.262.