John 6:16-24

¹⁶When evening came, His disciples went down to the lake, ¹⁷where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. ¹⁸A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. ¹⁹When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. ²⁰But He said to them, "It is I; don't be afraid." ²¹Then they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading. ²²The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with His disciples, but that they had gone away alone. ²³Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

The Church from the very beginning has understood this story to teach that in the midst of trouble, Jesus may draw near and grant His blessing. At this stage in the history of redemption, it is difficult to distinguish the disciples from the Church. There wasn’t much more to the Church than the disciples. So we might say that the Church is in trouble. They are in the midst of a storm – and this, only because they are doing what Jesus told them to do! Consider Moses after his first visit to pharaoh (Exodus 5). John doesn’t tell us this, but both Matthew and Mark relate to us that Jesus was the One who had made them get into a boat to cross the sea to go to the region of Capernaum from Bethsaida (Not straight across, but across a portion of the sea). John’s emphasis in this chapter is the miraculous provision of bread and Jesus’ following teaching, but this miracle of walking on the water also possesses some theological significance closely connected to the imagery of the table of the Bread of Presence. Just as the former miracle demonstrated the provision for life, which Christ would accomplish, and even looked ahead to the Sabbath feast in the presence of God, this miracle seems to emphasize the fact of God’s presence and guidance in the midst of our Christian lives.

The disciples were rowing laboriously, and unable to make any significant progress due to the storm – certainly the case in our spiritual journey, in which, the greatest efforts of our own strength and will avail us nothing. Regarding the storm, it wasn’t unusual in the Sea of Galilee. It is well below sea level, and the sudden temperature changes that accompany the evening – John informs us that it got dark – cause winds that frequently brought storms on the water. Many of the disciples, at least four, were experienced fishermen, and had made their living on the water; they had seen this before, but you have to wonder if they were concerned for their lives. We don’t read that they were worried or tired or anything at this point, but they had been rowing for at least six hours and were only halfway across. They had to be tired.

And then, in the midst of their struggle, God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, having been watching them from the shore according to Mark’s gospel, miraculously arrives to strengthen them, and indeed to perform the work for them – just as He does today. But prior to His speaking to them, they were terrified. Mark explains that Jesus intended to pass by them (as in God the Father passing by Moses, thereby revealing His glory). Jesus had been refreshed from His time of solitary prayer; but they saw Him and thought He was a ghost. Perhaps He was aglow – spiritual refreshment can do that to a person. So they were terrified, but then Jesus spoke. “It is I.” In the Greek, it’s “I AM” (eimi ego). And His voice combined with these words has great power – either to overwhelm or to comfort. The unbelieving men in John 18:6 were overwhelmed. “When Jesus said, ‘I am He,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.” These men, His sheep, were comforted. Christ’s presence is alone enough to give us confidence and peace. That’s what this chapter is about, and this miracle shows us that, though nobody understand the full truth after the feeding of the 5000, Jesus made Himself known by walking on the water.

And also, just as He miraculously brought them at once, with no more expenditure of labor, to their destination, so when Jesus comes to aid us, He not only guides us to His eternal kingdom, but He does all the necessary work to bring us there. And so, this miracle, when coupled with the former, displays every element of life-giving and life-sustaining grace that the table of the Bread of Presence signified as fully accomplished in Christ.

So perhaps the lesson for us here is this: Don’t be surprised if you make a commitment to follow the Lord with all your heart and find yourself in difficulty. Don’t be surprised when you say, “I want to follow you Lord more closely than ever before,” and in the wake of a prayer like that, you find yourself in trouble, in a place of difficulty or struggle, under pressures and trials that you’ve never faced before. Instead, remember that God always has a purpose in trials. Philippians 1:6,29 Mark gives us in his account of the story at least one of the possible reasons for this trial – the disciples’ hearts were hardened. Thus, this trial was to encourage faith and to draw out the lesson that had not been fully drawn out in the miracle of the feeding of the 5000. What this miracle story is telling us – just as it told the disciples – is that this Jesus, whom we worship and with whom we are united by faith, is a Jesus who is prepared to walk into the storm to rescue His sheep. You can actually be brought to the point where the trial that you are now experiencing can be something that you’ll regard as one of the greatest privileges that you’ve been given, as perhaps these men did.

Put quite simply, the crowd panics when they realize that their source of physical nourishment has disappeared. They put two-and-two together, that there was only one boat and Jesus hadn’t boarded it and their blockade of the shoreline over night prohibited Him from passing unnoticed. He must have miraculously crossed the water! Another sign of physical super-humanity! They’ve got to find Jesus, and some boats arrived there at Bethsaida from Tiberias on the way to Capernaum, and so they decide to go. It sounds as if they have this noble search for the Messiah going on, but as we’ll see next time, when they track down Jesus, He’ll explain that their search was based solely on the physical bread that He provided. (Notice that John reminds us again here that Jesus prayed before eating (v23)!) Jesus calls His followers to seek true bread, living bread, indeed Jesus Himself as the Bread of Life. And this clearly fits with what John has been doing in this Gospel account. He’s displaying true saving faith in light of false faith – faith in the physical signs alone – and mere intellectual assent.