I hope the gospel reading bothered you at least somewhat, or perhaps quite a bit! Our gospel reading picks up right after the Feeding of the 5000 miracle. We can understand that Jesus is very tired after that event. Even if you were a full time caterer with all sorts of equipment and professional staff you’d still feel wiped out after feeding thousands of people. Jesus, with only the disciples to help him and no cooking staff at all, is certainly wiped out. He wants to be alone to pray and rejuvenate. So he sends his disciples away while he stays behind.
Actually, he doesn’t just send the disciples away. He doesn’t say, “Go, do what you want for a bit. I need some time to be alone and to pray.” No, he gives them specific instructions. The gospel tells us that after the feeding Jesus immediately made his disciples get into the board and go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida. The crowd is still there and only after sending off the disciples does Jesus dismiss the crowd. The disciples, then, are following Jesus’ specific instructions.
You think, or at least you’d hope, that if you were following God’s clear and specific instructions you’d get some help in the task ahead. Maybe you’ll accept that the task will be difficult and dangerous, but you expect God’s help. But the disciples set off in what appears to be calm water. It seems as if only later does the wind pick up and the disciples are straining to get across.
At this point we’re through six chapters of Mark’s gospel. Mark has told us, the readers, that Jesus has power over nature. Mark has also told us that Jesus can discern what is in the minds of other people. In other words, we know that Jesus is all knowing and all powerful.
With that in mind, shouldn’t the disciples have an easy time across the lake? Jesus hasn’t sent them out to do anything dangerous. And they aren’t doing anything particularly remarkable. They are just to row a routine trip across familiar waters.
But they face an adverse wind. We aren’t told that this is a particularly dangerous situation. You may remember from chapter 4 that Jesus is asleep in the boat with the disciples when a windstorm arises and the boat is being swamped. No, this time it’s just an adverse wind. The disciples can handle it. It's just hard. We feel a bit of compassion from Jesus when Mark tells us in verse 48, “When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning.”
Ah, good. Jesus sees their distress. Jesus is going to come and help.
That’s the way we want God to work. That’s the way we think God does work. Those who are doing God’s will will receive help in time of need. We’ll overlook that Jesus didn’t calm the wind, and we’ll overlook that Jesus sent them out there in the first place.
But then what does Jesus do? Verse 48 continues, “[Jesus] came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass by them.”
What!?! Jesus is going to just pass by them? Aren’t these guys doing exactly what Jesus has instructed them to do? Aren’t they fighting against the wind on his orders? …when he himself could have calmed the wind and made this routine crossing easier. Shouldn’t Jesus at least acknowledge their difficulties? Is Jesus really going to leave them alone to battle this on their own?
If I’m going to do God’s will, whether it be difficult and exciting, or dull and routine, I certainly don’t want God to just ignore me when I’m in distress!
Yes, there’s plenty about this text to bother us.
Let’s look at it more deeply as Mark intends.
First, once before Jesus has sent the disciples away when he went off by himself to pray. When he came back from that time in prayer he made a major shift in his ministry. He went from ministry in Capernaum to going on a preaching tour in Galilee. This time Jesus also makes a major shift in his ministry. The Feeding of the 5000 was much more than just showing he could fill the bellies of lots of people without much food to start with. The Feeding of the 5000 is Jesus revealing himself as the great shepherd of the sheep. Prior to that miracle Mark says they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then Jesus teaches them; and ultimately feeds them. In the Feeding of the 5000 story Mark includes the details that Jesus has them all sit down in orderly fashion on the green grass. All of this is shepherding care. It is God’s care for the masses. As readers of Mark, we see the role of Jesus expanding. He is teacher, healer, provider, shepherd, and more.
So then why the abrupt shift to sending the disciples into harm’s way and ignoring them in their distress? Because it is a way of revealing more about Jesus.
We need to turn to Job 9, which we had as our scripture poetry. In 9:8 we read, “who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea.” In 9:11 we read, “Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him…” And we didn’t read it, but also in Job 38:16 we find God challenging Job with the words, “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?” It goes on, “Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare if you know all this.”
In Job God shows that God is beyond what a human can ever understand, or ever hope to control. Mark probably has more in mind too. In our first reading from Exodus Moses says to God, “Show me your glory, I pray.” And God said, “I will make my goodness pass before you.”
So, in this simple statement that Jesus intended to pass by them Mark is showing us a lot of things. He is touching on God being beyond what we can comprehend or control. He is touching on God’s goodness passing before them, just like Moses and the Israelites. And a sentence later we have this reinforced when Jesus says to the disciples, “Take heart, it is I.” Or more literally, “Take heart. I Am.”
We remember that God’s name in the Old Testament is “I Am.” So, what may have caused fear in the disciples and felt like neglect was really and ongoing and deeper revelation of who Jesus was in their midst. They were struggling. God was with them. God was not using supernatural means to protect them from harm, but God was in their midst through it.
So let’s look at the whole picture before us. You probably know well that I cringe whenever people say, “God has a plan for my life.” I get it. I understand the desire for your life to have a specific and unique purpose. And I understand the desire to feel God’s protection around you; especially as so much of life can feel out of your control. But that line of thinking runs into problems all too often. Why does one person get help and another doesn’t? Why do good things happen to bad people while bad things happen to good people? There is too much in life that is fundamentally unfair if you take that approach.
The “God has a purpose for me” approach is behind where I started today’s sermon when I talked about Jesus sending the disciples into difficulties and then walking by them in the midst of those difficulties. It feels unfair. It’s not the sort of things we want from God.
But this Bible passage encourages us to have a different approach. God has a plan, yes. God has a grand plan for the whole of the universe. And you get to have a part in it; an important part. So don’t feel left out or diminished. But God’s grand plan may not include you have an easy time of it.
The disciples were sent out onto that lake. Jesus knew they would struggle. He knew the wind would be against them. He knew his presence would frighten them. But all of it was a means by which God’s glory could be revealed. Jesus did not walk on water in order to show off. His ego didn’t need that. Jesus walked on water to show the disciples, and through them show the world, his saving power, his love, and his ongoing presence.
When something is unfair, puzzling, or perplexing, go ahead and let God know it. It’s fine to get upset with God. But don’t ruminate on it trying to make it make sense. As we find in the book of Job, much of what God does is beyond our ability to comprehend. We trust God anyway, not so that we understand, but because we know God is truly up to something good for the whole of the world.
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