John 6:16-21
Weathering the storm.
Anyone in here like thunderstorms? I
do. I have found associations of summer thunderstorms as a child growing up in
the 80s. These were the times when the power always went out with every
thunderstorm. I can remember playing marbles with my cousins at my uncles’
house. Sitting at the kitchen table playing cards with my parents and my sister
at my grandma’s house.
Yet, I have also been caught outside
in storms as well. Those are not so fun. Trying to run for shelter. Trying to
drive home from Durham in the middle of a storm and having to pull over in a
parking lot somewhere because it was raining so hard my wipers could not keep
up. It is no fun being caught in a
storm. Tonight, Jesus disciples are caught in a storm on a boat with no
shelter. I want you to turn to Matthew 14:22-33. I know we are in John 6:16-21
and I am going to read that but for our purposes tonight I need you to turn to
Matthew 14:22-33. We are going to study Jesus calming the storm. This happens
in Both John and Matthew. Matthew gives a more detailed account and that is the
one we will be going through tonight since it is the same event.
Matthew 14:22-33
22 Immediately
Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side,
while He sent the multitudes away.
We know from last time in John 6:16 that
the people were getting ready to try and make Jesus king and why not? This is a
guy who just fed everyone to the full and it didn’t cost them anything. It
would make a catchy campaign slogan “Vote for me and eat for free!” However,
Jesus knowing that His kingdom was not of this world sends the disciples away
into the boat and then sends the multitudes away as well.
23 And
when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to
pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.
So what does he do next? Go and join the
disciples? No He goes up to the mountain by Himself to pray. Why does He do this?
Well this is actually his second attempt at doing this on this particular day.
He tried earlier in the morning and that was when the multitude tracked him
down. So now He finally has His alone time. Brethren, If our Lord took time
away from everything to commune with the Father in prayer why do we think we
don’t need to do the same?
Specifically what was Jesus praying
about? Scripture doesn’t record but I got a good idea of what. You see at the
beginning of Matthew 14 Herod has John the Baptist executed. John’s disciples
take the body, bury it and then go and tell Jesus. When Jesus hears it he
departs to a deserted place to mourn and pray and that is when the multitudes
track Him down.
Three early martyrdoms are recorded in
the New Testament: John the Baptist in ca. AD 31, Stephen in ca. AD 35 and
James the apostle in ca. AD 44. So, John the Baptist, friend and cousin of
Jesus becomes the first Christian martyr to die for his faith, and for his
unwillingness to compromise that faith. Jesus gave testimony of John when He
said in Matthew 11:11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there
has not risen one greater than John the Baptist” Jesus mourns for this loss,
Jesus mourns knowing that John is the first of many who will lay their life
down for their testimony of Him.
We should note that not only does Jesus
take time to be along with the Father but that Jesus takes time to mourn. In
our immediate society we want to speed through everything. We should never rush
our mourning or those that do. However, we do not grieve as they who have no
hope according to 1 Thess 4:13
24 But
the boat was now in the middle of the sea,[a] tossed by the waves, for the
wind was contrary.25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to
them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the
sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.
The Disciples were sent out on the boat
at evening time. This would have been around 6pm. Jesus goes to them during the
fourth watch of the night which was between 3-6AM in the morning. They have
been out on sea, tossed by the waves all night long. So tossed by the waves and
the wind was contrary doesn’t seem that bad I mean who hasn’t been on a boat
and it bounced around a bit? Well this is where the English is sorely lacking.
Greek for tossed is basanizo = to vex
with grievous pains, to torture. Contrary = enantios = hostile &
antagonistic in feeling or act. So it better translate the disciples had been
out at sea for almost 12 hours and they were tortured by the waves because the
wind was hostile towards them.
The Sea of Galilee location makes is
subject to sudden and violent storms. When cool air from the east drops over
the warm air coming from the sea it can make for quick and furious thunder
storms in a short time. The disciples were caught in one of these storms and
they faced imminent death because of it.
Jewish
people of the time feared the Sea of Galilee; they described it as “an abyss, a
fearsome place of darkness, chaos and hell.” Now being caught in a terrible storm
in his horrible place they are seeing ghosts and they know that death has come
for them. At the end in their fear and despair they cry out. Beloved take note
here it is at this very moment that Jesus speaks to them. This is when He
speaks to us in our brokenness, in our fear, in our despair.
27 But
immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be
afraid.” The
So what does He say to them? Be of good
cheer. It is I! Do not be afraid. Now minus any of you that are secretly British
does anyone here go around saying be of good cheer? No? Thought so. It’s pretty
close to our use of “Cheer up!” Now when do you use cheer up? When someone is
sad over something trivial like your favorite team lost, your favorite band
broke up, it’s raining and you wanted to go outside, or you just found out that
Burger King no longer offers the Angry Whopper. It’s typically not something
you use for someone who’s in a life threatening situation. Why should they cheer up? The storm is still
going, the boat is about to sink. Is His presence enough to cheer them up? Is
His voice enough to calm them down? Is it for us? Should it be?
The entirety of 2020 has been in
unprecedented territory. Fear has a tendency to reign supreme in the face of
the unknown. Fear crouches in our hearts, hollows out our insides, breaks down
our defenses. It gnaws and eats away at all the ties that bind us to God and to
one another. When we turn on each other in fear God weeps and hell rejoices.
Nothing makes us so conscious of the
reality of powers opposed to God in our lives than this loneliness, this
helplessness, this fog spreading over everything, this sense that there is no
way out, and this raving impulse to get everything you can for yourself and who
cares how it effects anyone else? Fear takes away our humanity. This is not
what a person made in the image of God looks like.
This passage tell us that it’s normal to fear!
Yet, we don’t have to be afraid, we
shouldn’t be afraid. This is what makes us as Christians stand out from
everyone else. In the midst of every
situation where there is no way out, where nothing is clear, where it is our
fault, we know that there is hope. We know our redeemer lives!
Jesus is Lord over all and that makes Him
Lord over fear; it knows him as its master; it gives way to him alone. We must
look to Christ when we are afraid, think
of Christ, keep him before our eyes, pray to him constantly. When we keep our
eyes on Jesus we can walk on water. Jesus saw Peter’s fear and spoke 3 simple
words.
“It is I.”
There’s a lot of debate over those 3
words. I think it’s a declaration of deity. It’s the same phrase used in Exodus
3 when Moses says “Indeed, [when] I come to the children of Israel and say to
them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What
[is] His name?' what shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I
AM WHO I AM."
28 And
Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on
the water.”29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the
boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the
wind was boisterous he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying,
“Lord, save me!”
Peter encouraged by these steps out of
the boat! Mind you the storm is still going on. He has been brought up to be in
fear of Sea, and it’s very unlikely that he knows how to swim. He starts to
walk on water and then the wind becomes too much and he starts to sink. Many of
us look down on Peter for doubting and sinking but how many of us would have
stepped out of the boat? How many of us are ok with following Jesus until the
storms come? Until the wind is boisterous? Until we actually have to make a
change or confront the sin in our lives? . There are daily chances to roll over
and play dead. So here is Peter, scared and sinking and He cries out the wisest
words He will ever say “Lord, save me!”
31 And
immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O
you of little faith, why did you doubt?” What is the Lord’s response? The
same one He offers us. Immediately. Immediately. Jesus saves him. He could have
calmed the storm that very moment. He could have let Peter float. He could have
waved his hands or blinked his eyes and Peter would be standing on the water
like it was ground. What did He choose to do? He reached out His hand and
caught him.
John
10:28 “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither
shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” Later on in life I bet Peter had many
occasions to doubt and I bet he recalled these words and remember when the Lord
reached down and brought him up.
32 -33
And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in
the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
What we’ve yet to consider is the entire
point of this passage. When Jesus sent them out on the boat they were following
his orders. They went into an area they were afraid of, that they knew was
dangerous and that they knew that the Lord had sent them too. Jesus being God
knew that He was sending them into a storm, knowing that they would tried and
tested. Yet He sends them anyway. Why is this? Why does God do this to us? Why
does He knowingly, willingly send us into the storms of life? Look at the end
result brethren.
Those who were in the boat came and
worshipped Him saying “Truly, You are the Son of God.”
Now! Now we’ve got some good solid
Christology! This is a watershed moment for the disciples. Prior to this the
only time any disciple had referred to him at the Son of God by that specific
title, is when Nathan does so in John 1 upon first meeting Him. Which is rather
funny when you think about it. It’s more along the lines of them saying “Oh!
You really are the Son of God!”
Prior to this they had seen miracles of
healing, they had seen miracles of feeding and they had just watched Him walk
on water, calm a storm and teleport them to dry land in a boat.
In addition to that they knew Satan had
referred Him as the Son of God, Demons had called Him the Son of God, and God
The Father had called down from heaven when he said “This is my beloved Son!”
Yet, it’s not until this moment that
they finally submit themselves fully to this truth! How do I know this? Because
of what it says “and worshipped Him.” They had been with Jesus and been part of
his ministry close to 2 years at this point. Yet, now is the moment it clicks.
How could they be so stupid? How Could I be so stupid?
If you were talk to 10 year old Glen I
would tell you that God was real, The bible was His book, Jesus was His Son. I
could have told you about his death, burial and resurrection and that church
was a good thing. 17 year old Glen would
give the same answer. Yet, while I knew that truth and I believed that truth, I
still had not bowed my knee to that truth.
We can know the truth, we can
believe the truth, but it is in worship that we bow our knee to that truth. We
acknowledge who is God and who isn’t and that’s the only successful way to
weather the storm.
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