I remember clearly one day when I was at uni. It was exam time and my mates and I were waiting to go in for this programming exam. It was worth like 70% so you had to pass this to pass the subject. We were waiting around and one of our mates wasn’t there. Which was ok, we were all nervous and early, but as the doors opened letting us in, Borgy still hadn’t turned up. I quickly got out my phone and said, "mate, we are going in, we will meet afterwards".
Well, it turns out my mate had slept in. He thought the exam was the next day. He heard my call and got the message and raced over to uni as fast as he could. But he couldn’t get into the exam, he was too late. He ended up going to the course convenor and after making up some story about having a flat tyre, the course convenor said, “well I guess I’ll see you next year”.
And my friend had to do the whole subject again because he missed the final.
In this story the disciples are like my friend, they miss a key point and they fail and then they have to do the whole thing again. This is a low point in the Gospel of Mark with the disciples.
Prayer
Just after Jesus had fed 5000 men and who knows how many women and children, He sends the disciples off while He stays behind and prays. Remember they first came over to this place to get some rest, but instead at the start of this break, Jesus spent the whole day teaching and feeding the crowd. Now it is nighttime and instead of sleeping it off, Jesus is praying it off. He is spending time with His Father. Jesus does this a bit, at the start of His ministry, at the end near the cross in the Garden of Gethsemane, and here he is again, praying by Himself with God.The main point of this talk isn’t to pray more, but it is worth a question, how often when you feel stretched and tired do you then spend a long time praying? I don’t think I really do. I make it a point to go to the weekly and monthly prayer meetings at church, as those events kinda give you space and time to pray for longer periods - even if you don’t say anything out loud.
Jesus Himself thought prayer was necessary, how much more should we be depending on our Father to provide and look after us and the cares of the world?
Pass by
So later Jesus sees the disciples struggling on the lake. Was he still up the mountain or on the lake or how did He see in the dark? It doesn’t say. This could be a miracle. Either way, He goes out to them walking on the lake. And then there is this really strange bit, and I don’t know if it was your first question when you heard this bit. Verse 48, it says Jesus was going to pass by them. What’s with that?
Why would Jesus who saw the disciples in need, then decide to pass by them? Did He change His mind and turn this lake crossing into a race, boat vs feet? Who is going to win? Was He going to leave them in their own struggles in the middle of the lake?
What is with Jesus going to pass by them?[1]
Old Testament background
In Exodus 33 and 34, Moses asks God to show him His glory. Moses wants to see God face to face. God says “yes” and says that He will pass by Moses, and show Him his goodness and Godness. But Moses wasn’t allowed to see God’s face, for no one can and live. So, God puts Moses in a rock and passes by him, allowing Moses to see his back (or hindquarters I think an older translation[2])
Elijah also ended up in a rock with God. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah is on the run for his life from the Queen who wants to kill him. Elijah just had a big showdown with the prophets of a false God Baal, but then the Queen wanted him dead, so hides in a cave. God then asks what’s up and tells Elijah to go out of the cave and stand on the mountain for His presents is going to pass by. And then there is a wind, an earthquake and fire, but the God comes in a whisper with some words of comfort and instructions.
With both Moses and Elijah God passed by them, and He revealed something important about Himself to them. God was showing Himself to these people.
I think Jesus was going to do something similar to the disciples. After coming down the mountain and seeing their struggles Jesus was going to do something, He was going to pass by them, and reveal something about Himself to them. But it didn’t go down that way. The disciple wasn’t ready, they were scared, they didn’t understand. They needed courage
It says in verse 49 they thought Jesus was a ghost. They put Jesus in the category of UFO, the tooth fairy and Santa Clause. They weren’t ready for Jesus; they didn’t think He would be there to help. They mistook God for a ghost.
The lesson of the loaves
Jesus speaks up and say, “it is I”, or I AM. He tells them to have courage, and uses the phrase for God’s name and in verse 52 what does it say:they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.Last week we looked at the feeding story. Do you remember that? Jesus was the Good Shephard who provides for the lost sheep. He feeds them with teaching and with food. He provides for their needs. And with this story, I want to push it a bit harder and say Jesus isn’t just the Good Shepheard, He is God.
He is the great I AM, He is the one in control over demons, and disease and death. He can heal and provide. And the disciples all know this, they have all seen this and been a part of this, but they do not get it.
I don’t know how long you have been in Christian circles and heard the same thing over and over again. This statement that Jesus is God might not be blowing your mind, you might be thinking, yeah yeah I get this. The disciples probably would be thinking something similar, but when faced with hardships, with difficulties, they didn’t see Jesus as God. Do you call out to God? Do you not just think Jesus is God, do you trust Him as God?
That whatever you are facing, Jesus has you and you can trust Him. Learn the lesson from the bread. Jesus can provide, Jesus can satisfy. He cares for the lost, He cares for you. He is God.
Off course
In Gennesaret Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees and calls them out on their fake religion.
In Tyre Jesus heals a sick child from a distance, because her Mum, not a Jew, begged for her child to be healed.
In the Decapolis, Jesus heals a deft and mute man
In chapter 8 Jesus feeds 4,000 people and then they get to Bethsaida.
If you have been following Mark at Youth, let me know, have you seen Jesus doing anything like this before? Jesus healing and confronting the Pharisees? Or feedings a large crowd with not much? Chapters 4-6 is a bit of a repeat of Chapters 7 and 8.
These are the same lessons over again. The disciples didn’t get it the first time. Jesus was going to reveal something of Himself but they weren’t ready, they didn’t get it. Their hearts were hard. But Jesus doesn’t cut them off. He takes them again from Gennesaret to Bethsaida, showing them again, who He is.
And by the time we get to the end of Chapter 8, we have Peter sayings Jesus is the Messiah, and in Chapter 9 Jesus goes up a hill and reveals His glory to three of the disciples and who else turns up? Moses and Elijah. The other two guys who had God pass by them.
For us
This is an important lesson and Jesus takes the disciples on the same trip again, so they get it. So they don’t go off course. Jesus doesn’t try and get a new bunch of disciples; He doesn’t get all strict and huffy with them about them not understanding. He continues to walk with them, showing them that He is God.
Do you listen to what He says and obey him? You may think you are not great, that others are better than you, that your life is miserable. That things are unfair. But God says you are loved. That you are worth dying for. Do you believe what He says? Because of what Jesus has done for you, you are invited into the family of God and seen as pure and right. He is your saviour and God, who rules now, and seeks to make you more like Jesus.
And do you obey Him? If Jesus is God over your life, it means to give Him the keys to all the rooms of your life. Not just on Sunday, not just on Friday nights. But your whole timetable. God want you to seek first Him, to be more like Jesus with your humility and love for others, and to seek joy in this life from God and nowhere else.
A life lived under God is radical, is rebellious and sometimes not easy. And this is what we are asking you to do at Youth. There are massive implications for having Jesus as your God, but for tonight, in the time we now have, it is worth reflecting if He is, and what that means for us if we say that He is God over us.
I’ll pray
Heavenly Father,
Thankyou for Jesus who shows us God, for He is God. Help us not to be like the disciples with hard hearts, but help us to now just know you but to trust you.
Amen
[1] I first heard this in a talk I downloaded, it was from England but I think it was an Aussie speaking, maybe Simon Manchester. Other commentaries also go the same route into this “pass by” line.
[2] I think I heard Don Carson say this
[3] This going off course idea was again taken from my memory of that talk from England by that Aussie.
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