April 22 - Get Out of the Boat!

April 22 – Get Out of the Boat!

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. (John 6:16-24)

Jesus had taken off up a mountain at the end of yesterday’s passage to escape from those who thought to make Him king.  The disciples left without Him, probably figuring that He’d hitch a ride with someone else – maybe He had even gone ahead of them. 

The wind came up, rough weather hit and they saw Him walking on the water toward them – and they were terrified!

The disciples were still unable to understand the power behind the man, Jesus.  He wanted them to think bigger than themselves – to expect great things because He was with them.  There was no longer any reason for them to limit themselves to the little bits of life that they understood.  He was the Word made flesh – all of creation recognized His touch – it came from Him. 

They didn’t understand so they were terrified.

Terror, fear, anger … those are easily feelings that we get when we don’t understand something or are faced with something we’ve never before experienced.  Rather than head into the fray and enjoy the moment … we react and steer clear.

In the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 14:22-33), the story is fleshed out a bit more with Peter attempting to get out of the boat and walk on the water with Jesus.  He made it until his fear overtook him and it required Jesus’ hand reaching out to him to keep him from going down. 

As you move through this passage, you see that the disciples wanted to take Jesus into the boat.  Just at that moment, they reached shore.

Peter got out of the boat … walked to Jesus … got afraid and began to sink … cried out to Jesus, who caught Him and held him upright.  Jesus did NOT get into the boat where terror was reigning. 

We need to set aside all of those negative emotions and discover what it is that we can do – when Jesus calls us out of our boat.  He won’t call us out unless He’s prepared to reach out His hand and catch us.  And He’s not going to get in our little, tiny boats with us.  There is a great, big sea that He wants us to traverse … with Him.