Tag Archives: storms

Jesus Walks on the Water

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While reading the Gospel of Mark I got to the phrase in 6:48  where Jesus was walking on water it says, “He was about to pass them by.”  That phrase bothered me as it does not “fit” the mental image of Jesus and what I thought He would/should do.  More on that phrase later because I am starting with Mark and his version of the Gospel and the Sea of Galilee.

In the Holman Study Bible the introduction to Mark makes the point that most all of the Gospel of Mark happens around the Sea of Galilee.  It seems that Jesus would go to the “other side” to get away from a crowd or to get rest and usually the “other side” Galilee - Sunrise - Sept. 09, 2012offered its own version of busy.  If you read much about the New Testament Mark’s Gospel was the first gospel to be written.  Mark and Matthew are structured and worded the same and some scholars think both writers used another source that has been labeled Q for their inspiration.  Peter is frequently mentioned as helping Mark with the details and some even say that Mark just wrote Peter’s gospel and it was mentioned in some literature that Matthew just copied Mark’s writing while adding his own details.

The Sea of Galilee is a harp-shaped lake that is 13 miles by 7miles and is roughly 150 to 200 feet deep.  The mountains that surround the lake run east-west an can create extreme winds and waves (bibleplaces.com).  Waves in the middle of a lake are not usually breakers like you see along the shore but given the size of the boats that they had a strong wind and 3 or 4 foot waves would have been a serious problem.  It is feasible that on a clear night from up on a mountain that Jesus could have seen the boat since they were only three to four miles out from the shore.

Joyce Meyer made an observation about the two seas in Israel that are connected to the same river.  The Sea of Galilee has water that comes in and goes out while the Dead Sea only has in coming water and no channel for any to leave.  The point was to check your life and see how you are using the talents and gifts you have.

Story Comparison

Mark, Matthew, and John are the three gospels that have the story of Jesus’ walk on the water.  The basic story is the same but there are variations in the accounts.  I think each writer recorded what affected him the most.  To say that for Matthew and John is no big deal because they should have been on the boat but I would like to make the case that Mark may also have been on the boat that night.  In fact I would like to think that Mark was an eye witness to every thing in his gospel and that is why it is centered around Galilee and the Sea, he was allowed to go with Peter, Andrew, James, and John when they were in the “neighborhood.”  I say that because he was probably their nephew – see Acts 12:12.  So the phrase “He was about to pass them by” would be something a young teenager might think instead of a man who was about to try water walking (Peter).

This story really starts with Jesus sending out the Twelve to do ministry.  When they came back Jesus knew they would need time to reflect and rest so He got them into the boat and set off for some quite time.  But since the Sea of Galilee is only seven miles wide the crowd that followed them would have been able to see the sail on the boat from shore (Mark 6:32).  The feeding of the 5000 men, which means it was probably a larger crowd than that, is recorded in three Gospels.  Jesus felt they needed to feed them and wanted the “successful” ministers to continue using the anointing they had just been walking in.  (I will add to the story again and say that the five loaves and two fish were Mark’s lunch that had been packed by a doting mother or aunt; what an impact on the second generation of leadership.  No, that cannot be proved but it makes a nice twist to the story.)

In John the feeding of the 5000 is considered one of the Seven Miracles that confirmed Jesus as Messiah and it was probably the most public one as far as people who saw it firsthand.  After this miracle Jesus had concerns that the crowd may try forcing Him to be king (John 6: 14,15).  Jesus walking on the water is also considered one of the Seven Miracles and it would have been the most private of those miracles and was only intended for the disciples in the boat to witness.  This story does not end once Jesus is in the boat; each of the three Gospels has a slightly different version to finish the story.  They all end up on the other side but it seems they are different places.  Mark and Matthew put them at Gennesaret while John ends the story in a synagogue at Capernaum (Jn. 6:59).  The people at Gennesaret wanted healing, the crowd that was fed wanted more bread and a better sign (miracle) than feeding them.  I think the crowd is why Jesus got the Disciples in the boat he did not want them caught up in the hysteria about a physical kingdom. (see the Problem with the Miraculous)

The word “immediately” jumped out of the stories while I was studying this out (in the NIV).  There really are four uses of the word as Mark and Matthew duplicate two – Jesus getting them in the boat and Him speaking to them while He was on the water.  The other two are in Matthew and John – Matthew, Jesus immediately grabs Peter and in John the boat was immediately at the shore.  The reference in John is the only mention of this and in it self would be a great miracle.  For some reason I really had to separate “immediately” from the thought of “suddenly” in this story.  “Suddenly” would be a surprise while “immediately” shows thought with a quick action.

A Sinking Peter

Peter was possibly older than most of the other disciples and certainly could run a business so him being a “leader” within the group may have come naturally.  So if he had continued to walk on the water, instead of sinking, my guess is that everyone on the boat that night would have been out walking on the water.  Faith is contagious and if Peter could do it all of them would have braved it up and asked but since fear is also contagious when he sunk no one else dared to ask!

Why a Ghost

Mark and Matthew both use the term for ghost when describing how the disciples saw Jesus as He was walking. That word phantasma (Strong’s 5326) is only used twice in the New Testament, here in this story.  You have to wonder why a ghost and not an angel?  They had just been living in the miraculous on their mission trip and had just seen a great miracle with the loaves and fish.  Did they slip back to superstitions because of the storm and being tired?  Why not an angel coming to help them?  Maybe this was a problem that Jesus had to work out of them and get them to start thinking Heavenly minded. Pastor Joel Osteen noted in a sermon how they were used to seeing Jesus in the day walking on dry land but could not recognize Him in a storm at night walking on water.  I just wonder if Jesus was in a “transformed” state allowing Him to walk on the water so He may have actually been shining while He came to them.

Walk on By

Back to the phrase that started this study, “He was about to pass them by.”  Even if this was a boy’s impression it was recorded but with no explanation as to why.  We know Jesus saw them having trouble and purposely walked to them.  He did not have to go that close if He really just intended to meet them on the other side.  So why would He get close but not that close to His men as they were having troubles?  I have no clue!  Maybe He wanted them to call out or it could have been a lesson in believing for the miraculous.  How about He wanted them all to get out and follow Him on the water.  Since it was just for the disciples it may have just been a display of power so they would shift their thinking back to “God matters” instead of physical kingdoms.

http://www.bibleplaces.com/seagalilee.htm

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/geo/Galilee.html

The picture is courtesy of  http://ferrelljenkins.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/galilee_sunrise_fjenkins090712_301t.jpg  If you like photos of the Holy Land and other places that connect with the Christian/Bible story you need to see his blog.

For Moore

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Storms change things cleaning away the past and redirecting the future.Rocky,s house                 Bad storms, like tornadoes and floods, destroy and take precious Memorial for Childrenthings from us, some more precious than others.

But when things of the past are gone your dreams can still be found.  They                                          are yours and you alone change them.

Hope was not carried off in the wind and water.  So if yours has been misplaced find Jesus, He has plenty and He shares.

Miracles and Storms

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Miracles, miracles, and miracles.

Matthew 21:21! Killing trees and removing mountains, ok how many of you as baby Christians went outside after reading that and tried to kill a tree? How long did you wait to see if it was dead before you decided that you did not have enough faith? Ok, did you ever do the James and John act and tried to call down lightning on something or someone? Remember they got rebuked. All of this resurfaced after listening to a great sermon on Elijah by Steven Furtick of Elevation Church. His main point was not the rain or “fire of God” but they made me think again about miracles. Yes, I believe in miracles and that God still does them today.

Father God in the Old Testament certainly handled things differently than in the New Testament. Jonah’s storm, Elijah’s drought, lightning, and rainstorm and don’t forget Moses’ plagues He certainly stepped in and used weather and “supernatural happenings” to make a point to/for His kids. That maybe is the key right there, God used His nature to make a point to/for His kids. (Forgive me, I don’t do well with “Mother Nature” anymore; please make mine Father God.) The only New Testament figures that I could find who would have that sort of power are the two witnesses in Revelations 11.

As I thought about Jesus as our example and His miracles this simple truth hit me hard. Jesus never called down lightning, asked for an earthquake, or created a violent wind. Jesus calmed storms He did not start them. He calmed storms to prove His Lordship over them. Jesus healed, fed, and comforted people. Well, what about when He said you would do “greater things” in John 14: 11-13. That phrase may also mean “more.” Jesus used the same phrase here as He did about sending the Holy Spirit – when I go to my Father. Doing better than raising the dead, don’t think so, but how about more often than He did. Smith Wigglesworth had quite a few documented cases. What if every believer raised someone!

Ok, what about Matthew 21, He promised, well I guess the next time you are hungry and are about to be crucified expect that fig tree to die. But until then do miracles like Jesus; focus on healing, feeding, and freeing that will be a lot better than a dead bunch of trees and no mountains.

Me and the Man

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The man and I have crossed paths several times in my Christian walk.  The first time that I remember is a weekly meeting at a rehab unit in Charity Hospital of New Orleans.  I was the speaker and he was my sermon; I compared what he did to what I had been like before I was saved. I got right to the end of my sermon and had to let someone else give the altar call because I was crying so hard.

We meet again a few years later when a fellow teacher gave morning devotions and she focused on Mark 5:15.  He was “fully clothed and in his right mind” there were multiple points received from that message but it is not uncommon to get that as an answer in the morning if you ask me how I am doing.

I guess all of the fellowship over the years came together when I wrote the poem on the next page of this blog.  It is meant to be a witnessing tool as you write your testimony below ours.  It started as a writing contest entry, not sure it ever made it.

But this is a Bible study blog so if I may, I am going to give a few other things I have seen along the way. I will direct the study from Luke 8: 22 to 9:2 it is similar to Mark 5 and Matthew 8 but I like Luke because he had to “study to show himself approved” because he was “not around” like Matthew and Mark had been. Actually, Bible scholars will tell you that Mark wrote his book first and the other two followed and some argue that all three used a common undiscovered document. By the way, if you Google this topic be ready to be bombarded with all kind of things, the one that I found most amusing was the argument that Mark did not know his geography. Gee, he was alive at the time and had probably visited the region with his uncles when they were fishing. (Gerasenes is too far from the Sea of Galilee.)

The reason I start with Luke 8:22 is the phrase “one day.” It frames this as part of the story and the fact that they got hit with a storm as Jesus was about to do this great work is not surprising.  The thousands of whining demons, pigs near a kosher country and Jesus conversing with Legion I will leave those topics to your own Biblical beliefs and backgrounds; I want to focus on other things.

The people of the Gerasenes or the Decapolis were afraid and asked Jesus to leave which he did. I personally feel the reason that they wanted Him to go was that if He could do that miracle what He must be saying is real and they knew they would have to make a choice and a change.  They were probably not Jewish because it was a Roman area, like Lo Debar it was on the east side of the Jordan and perched on a hillside.  According to Wikipedia, it was a very secure place and one of importance.

Then there is Jesus’ reaction to the man’s request to go with Him; Jesus refused, yet in chapter 9 He sends out the Twelve. Jesus had a plan and it seemed that he could be useful for the Kingdom all on his own.

The map is from http://bibleatlas.org/gadara.htm or Biblos.com  if you have never used this website give it a look it is very interesting and useful.

Fights and Wars/Battles – Psalm 144

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After writing about Attacks, Test, Storms and then revisiting Test and Storms I realized that I was not finished and that the attacks and storms part seemed lop-sided.  I guess when you are in them it seems one-sided and that you are always the one getting beat-up and there is little you can do about it.

We know that is not true but we still need to be reminded of the fact that part of the Christian life is battling against the works and deeds of Satan. Three verses that help me are:

1.  1 Samuel 30:6 But David found strength in the Lord his God. (NIV)

2.  Proverbs 21:30 + 31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle but victory rests with the Lord (see Lord). (NIV)

3. Psalms 144:1 Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight. (KJV)

To just read one of David’s psalms is good but I like to put them into his story; read them in the context where they may have been written. (see The Writer)  I put Psalm 144 somewhere in 1 Samuel 21 & 22.  This is a very trying time for David (he is running from Saul, did not kill Doeg the Edomite, and is worried by the King of Gath) but he reminds himself and God that he has been trained to do battle.  He sees a big picture, which is hard when you are attacked, that God is his fortress and asks for help from God in verse 5 – 7.                     (see Storms Revisited)

The King James reads differently than the New International Version in that the words are war and fight and not war and battle.  Using my Strong’s Concordance I looked up these words.  War/battle is used over “three hundred times in the Old Testament, indicating how large a part military life was to an Israelite.”  And the word fight (used 149x) comes from a primary root word that means to feed or consume and the implication is to battle or destroy. There is a separation of the idea between battle, a single encounter, and war, a series of encounters. You can draw some interesting parallels from hands being matched to war/battle and fingers with fighting.  The hand is the larger/stronger part and yet the fingers are part of the hand.

Wars/battles can include storms, trials, and attacks and go on for a long time where battles are those single attacks or pesky trials that hit quick and are over.

But I have to remind myself (the three verses), we are to be attacking, trying, and storming the enemy’s work also.  God trains us for war, gives us tools and resources to confront evil and its work, and will even fight with/for us if the battle gets too big.