| church of Christ |
| TA Baisden |
| The day Jesus' walked on water |
| Matt. 14:22-34, Mark 6:45-53, John 6:16-23 Jesus walking on water does not appear in the Gospel of Luke as it does in these three Gopsels. |
| Did this day begin as any other for Jesus, the Bible does not give us an hour to hour account of that day but it does tell us something of his day. In Matt. 14:10-12 it tells us of John the Baptist's being beheaded and the giving of this head to Herodias in a charger and that John's disciples came and took the body(doesn't say they took the head) and buried it. In Matt. 14:13-14 it tell's of Jesus hearing about the death of John on that day and it tells us on that same day that he went by ship into a desert place may to be alone but many people followed him, in fact it tells that Christ felt compassion on that day for the people and healed many. It tells us also on this day when the evening came that the apostles and disciples ask Christ to send the people away, so that they could eat and rest. But Jesus told them no need "You feed them". How they asked? Should they go and buy what they could with what money they had which was "two hundred pennyworth" (Mark 6:37). I'm sure that was not a lot of money to feed the thousands of people that were there on that day. Christ then asked them how much food was there, they told him five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus ask for them to be brought to him, and for all the people to sit down on the grass and put the men in groups of fifty or hundred (by putting them in these groups the men could be counted eaiser). When he had taken the bread and looked up to heaven and blessed them, they all ate till they were full. (5000 men plus all the women and children that were there) with twevle baskests of food left. After they had all seen this miracle(#1) the people that were there on this day wanted to make him an King an "earthly" one only because he could feed them without any effort on there part and they were ready to take him by force if they had too. The Bible tells us that they had worked themselves into quite a frenzy and Christ knew this. Jesus told his disciples to get on a ship and travel to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, maybe if the apostles/disciples had stayed they might have got caught up in the maddness on that day, remember they were still weak and not full of faith at that time. Christ would have known that. Jesus stayed behind and sent the people away himself. After sending the people away he went to a mountain and prayed maybe he needed or wanted to be alone, maybe he needed the strength and comfort that only God can give. For much had happento refect upon on that day, John was gone now and that king Herod and others would be focusing their attention to him and how even the people wanted to make him an earthly king, which sooner or later the Roman goverment would notice. The Bible tells us that Christ had seen the disciples/apostles in the evening rowing against a very strong wind but it also tell us that he waited for several hours and on the 4th watch of the night he walked on the water(miracle #2). In Mark 6:48 it tells us that he would have passed by them, for what reason the Bible does not tell us(of course we know he did not choose to pass by them after all). The disciples/apostles saw someone or something walking on the water but they beleived it to be a ghost or and evil spirit who had caused the storm on the sea. Christ called out to them to let them know it was him so they would not be afraid. In their mind's they still didn't understand the power's he had as the son of God. Apostle Peter as in so many other times though out his travels and times with our Lord acted before he really thought. Peter's heart was good and he had a great love for God and Jesus. (but even as many of us do today, as Peter did on this day our mouth's open to many times before our brain kick's in, which usually means trouble as well as sins for us). Peter called out and in his own way challenge Christ by telling him if he was Jesus show them. This is when the Lord called out to Peter to walk on the water to him.(miracle #3) Peter did walk on the water until he stopped focusing on Christ and started focusing on what he could see, hear, and feel, you see he trusted more on these things and he became frighten but it tells us that Christ with "One" hand(Matt. 14:31) caught him. The things of God are spiritual not earthly and this is how we are to worship him in spirit and in truth(John 4:23-24), not by the physcial things that we can see, hear or touch. In Matt. 14:33 it tells us that they worship him and confessed him to be the Christ when he got on board the ship, he did not object to their doing this because he was the son of God. It tells us that the wind ceased as soon as he was aboard(miracle #4) the ship. Also that immedatedly(miracle #5) (John 6:21) once Christ was aboard, the ship went to land remember they had been in the middle of the sea. Many things in life are to big for us to handle just as the sea was for Peter but if we turn to Christ nothing is to big for him to handle. Remember he will always calm "Our" trouble seas. Just as he did on this day so long ago. |