Elder Brian Haferkamp preaches on John 6:16-21. He reminds us that Christ is with us and his presence is a comfort to our souls.
In this account of Jesus walking on the water John's focus is on Christ's presence and what that means for his disciples.
Much of what Jesus has done up to this point has been outward focused, not focused on his disciples. We might say evangelism over discipleship. The disciples were called and have watched Jesus heal, perform miracles, and teach others. In chapter 6 we see Jesus taking his disciples aside and showing them something they need to understand if they are to do the work ahead of them.
In verse 15 we see that because Jesus fed the 5,000 men on the hillside the people were going to take him and force him to be their earthly king. Rome, with all of its power, glory, and authority could not make bread from nothing. A king that could provide everlasting food for his people would make them a great people. Even King David never did that!
So after the people ate, Jesus withdrew to a secluded mountain spot. Jesus sent the disciples down to the sea and told them to row their boat to Capernaum while he went up on the mountain alone. The accounts of this event in Matthew and Mark confirm that Jesus sent the disciples away before he dealt with the crowd.
Jesus asked the disciples to row toward Capernaum, which is not straight across the middle of the Sea of Galilee, but it is on the northwest shore, about a 6 mile trip.
While rowing across the Sea of Galilee the disciples were caught in a storm. I have never been there myself but I’ve read and seen videos where sudden eastern winds would come down from the Golan Heights on the eastern shore. Wind, cold, and rain sometimes come out of nowhere and cause large waves on the normally placid sea. The disciples didn’t set out on this journey until it was almost dark. So in the night a storm rises up and comes over the sea as the disciples are rowing.
In 1986, two brothers found what is known as the “Sea of Galilee boat.” During a major drought the water levels were very low and, on the northwest shore of the sea, these two fishermen saw something large sticking out above the water at the shoreline. Over a period of a week or two archaeologists excavated and took the boat to be cleaned up and preserved. Several studies concluded that the boat was used sometime between 100 BC and 100 AD. The boat also confirmed written evidence that this was the typical construction of boats on the Sea of Galilee at the time.
The boat is 27 feet long, 7.5 feet wide, and about 4.5 feet tall at its tallest point. The construction was flat and shallow so it could allow for fishing along the shoreline. Often we are given the picture of the disciples and Jesus sailing on a large sailing vessel with a large mast. This boat would have also had a mast for sailing, but was far from large. You should go online and take a look at the boat. I think it will help you to understand what the disciples were up against in this story.
So the disciples are on the Sea rowing against the wind and fighting the waves. I looked up rowing times for a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. From my very amateur estimations, the trip Jesus asked the disciples to make should have taken 2-3 hours to complete.
John’s account tells us that the disciples had rowed 3-4 miles, so a little more than half way. The accounts in Matthew and Mark tell us that it was the fourth watch of the night, most likely 3-6am. So the disciples had painfully rowed through the night, from nightfall to the very end of the night and into the next morning. They were making little headway because the wind and the waves were against them.
Jesus then comes alongside them and they are terrified. And what does he say?
John 6:20
20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”
With one word, Jesus calms their hearts and minds. “It is I; do not be afraid.”
Throughout the scriptures, God comforted his people by reminding them of his presence.
In the Exodus, God provides a physical manifestation of his presence in the pillars of fire by night and cloud by day.
Exodus 13:17-22
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” 18 But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. 19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” 20 And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. 21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
Exodus 14:5-31
5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, 7 and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. 9 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
15 The LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
19 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.”
26 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. 29 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.
Earlier, in the book of Genesis, God comforted Jacob on the eve of taking his family to live with his son, Joseph, in Egypt.
Gen 46:1-4
So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” 3 Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. 4 I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes.”
Then, coming out of the Exodus, God comforted Joshua as the nation was about to enter the land of Canaan.
Joshua 1:1-9
After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. 5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
When King David tells Solomon that he is to build the temple he says this to him:
1 Chronicles 28:20
20 Then David said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the LORD God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.
Finally, when Jeremiah the prophet, is called as a prophet God assuages his fear with the assurance of his presence.
Jeremiah 1:4-8
4 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 7 But the LORD said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the LORD.”
God assures us of his presence and that is meant to be a comfort to us. Why would that be a comfort in times of trouble? It is because of who he is. Let us remember what our theology tells us about God:
God is all-powerful
God is all-knowing
God is love
God is grace
God is mercy
God is all-present
God is eternal
God is faithful
God is holy
God is sovereign
If this is who God is--and this God is for us and not against us--what do we have to fear? The Apostle Paul puts it this way:
Romans 8:31, 37-39
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God’s presence is meant to be a comfort to us. His power, his holiness, his goodness, his love--these are meant to dispel our fears, give us confidence, and remove our doubts.
When God sends us out into the world--into the fight; into the storms--he never leaves us or forsakes us.
Deuteronomy 31:8
8 It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
Matthew 28:19-20
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Out on the sea in the middle of the night, the disciples may have been wondering what happened to Jesus. They might have been thinking some of the same thoughts that their fathers thought as Pharaoh chased Israel into the wilderness. Why did Jesus send us out here to die? Where is he?
And yet he was not far. My guess is that Jesus was on the mountainside overlooking the sea and watching their struggle. And when the time was right, he came near and comforted the disciples with his presence. He was never far away and he had not left them. In fact, it is possible that he was interceding for them in that storm; asking the Father to protect them.
I read this in a book this week and thought it was timely:
Storms serve a purpose: They expose dangerously weak foundations and invite new construction to our internal worlds.
Jesus sent his disciples out into a storm. He asked them to make a journey he must have known was both dangerous and difficult. God does that. He calls us into dangerous places. He calls us to speak boldly. He asks us to wait an interminable amount of time. He gives us more than we can handle. He calls us to labor physically, emotionally, and spiritually for long periods of time.
In the journey of obedience there are fierce storms. Storms coming from outside of us in the way of the words, emotions, and thoughts of others. Storms coming from within us in the form of doubt, fear, and the inability to see what’s ahead. How many times you’ve gone through storms often doesn’t matter. You still must fight the world fighting against you and your own internal struggles.
There is a truth that we need to know and take with us today: God will never leave nor forsake us.
If you are laboring at the work that God has given you, he is with you. If you are struggling with internal doubts or you’re wondering if God even cares about you anymore. Be assured that he sees you and he has promised that he will never leave or forsake you. Bid him come, step inside the boat with you, and to comfort you with his presence. When Christ is in the boat with us we feel the lightness of his burden and ease of his yoke.
I want us to see one more thing about this story. Look at verse 21:
21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
I see the mercy of Christ here. These men had been rowing all night and were only halfway to their destination. They were exhausted and afraid. They were beaten by the waves and painfully making headway. Then Jesus comes to comfort their hearts with his presence. But he is also compassionate. He sees that they are worn out and brings them in the rest of the way.
In Exodus 34, when God passes before Moses, he says this has he passes:
“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
This is the first of many times that God reminds his people that this is who he is. It is his character that he is gracious and merciful. Getting back to the story of the disciples, we see his mercy on display as he miraculously gets them where they need to go without forcing them to continue to labor. He has quieted the storm and waves and removed the physical struggle of rowing. There was purpose in the rowing and purpose in the storm. Now those have served their purposes.
Maybe you find yourself out on the open waters today. The storms outside you are tossing your little boat and the doubts about God’s love and care for you are raging within. Maybe he has called you to do something and it’s like you’re not getting anywhere. There is a headwind and you are rowing--you’re exerting your effort the best you can--but you just aren’t going as far or as fast as you’d hoped. Maybe you’re here today and you’ve been doing your best to row your little boat without Jesus. You’ve tried to power through the winds and storms of life and you’re exhausted.
I want to encourage each of you today that Christ’s presence is a comfort; a gift and a mercy; a help in time of trouble. When Jesus gets into your boat--when he comes into your life with power and presence--the winds die down, the wave-tossed conditions turn to still waters, and you are given rest from your struggle.
If you have never known the peace of Christ--if your entire life has been rowing your boat against a headwind in a storm-tossed sea--then ask Christ to come and get into the boat with you. He is there and he makes his presence known. Invite him into your boat. Ask him to come into your life and be your Lord and Savior. The wind will soon die down and the waters grow peaceful. He will take care of the rowing and give you the rest you have been longing for.
If you are in Christ, the storms will come. They will come out of nowhere and some of them are terrifying. Know that God has sent you out into the storms both with himself and with others--your brothers and sisters in the Church. If God is for us, who (or what) can be against us? He will never leave us nor forsake us. When the time is right, we will be present with him and he will calm the storms and mercifully take over and get us where we need to go.
“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness...
8 It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
Amen.
