Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Mark 6:45-56 NIV
45 Immediately Jesus made his
disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to
Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After
leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
47 Later that night, the boat
was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He
saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.
Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to
pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on
the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because
they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take
courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then
he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were
completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood
about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
53 When they had crossed
over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As
soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55 They
ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they
heard he was. 56 And wherever he went—into
villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They
begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who
touched it were healed.
It Gets Personal at Times
It’s been leading up to this, the past few weeks. Things
that lay heavily on your mind. Things that just crop up, like the wind. Where
did that come from? I can figure out the direction and sometimes the storm that
brought this wind, but I really don’t know why it came when it did.
So, in the last few weeks of these “Pointing to Jesus”
episodes, I find myself, a simple layman, that loves to study the Word and look
to Jesus, right in the midst of this message, that is read above. Not only has
Jesus come to rescue imperiled disciples, Jesus has come to rescue me as well.
I’ll explain as we go along. And guess what? Jesus rescues you as well, just
ponder a little bit about it as we go along here, from your own personal
perspective. I feel like God plopped me right in the middle of that boat, along
with the disciples in my life at this time.
In this passage, Jesus goes off alone to pray. He dismisses
the crowd of people that He had just fed, and he sends off his disciples in a
boat to Bethsaida. I like how he “makes” them go. It’s like, Jesus really needs
this alone time.
Alone time is important for all disciples and people of
God. We need to pause in the hustle and bustle of our day to hear God speaking
to us. Prayer is not done in a vacuum though. Jesus uses His mountain time
prayers to call out to His Father. I remember hiking, alone to a high place in
the Smoky Mountains in the morning to pray. It was a place where the atmosphere
is a little thinner, a place where I felt closer to God. It was a place of
prayer where I could reach up to God and reach out in prayer. I reach up to
pray to God and I reach out to pray to God for those God has set in my life. I
kind of feel like Jesus was doing this as well. The scripture doesn’t say this,
but I think Jesus does this each day for us, even now.
I’m going to weave in and out of this reflection, my personal
experience of late. So, bear with me. Perhaps, a couple of months back, when I
go to get my infusion that helps me with Crohn’s disease, they took a blood
sample. They always do this prior to giving me the medicine. It takes three hours
for the drip to go into my blood stream, and after that another three days for
my body to change. The first day after an infusion, I’m tired, the second day,
I feel a little like I have a slight touch of the flu, and the third day I
start to feel the goodness of the drug. I’ve been doing this for decades now
and it keeps my Crohn’s disease under control. This is a good thing, since
several years ago, I had an operation that removed some key parts of my intestinal
tract. The doctors, the nurses and the medicine, have all been a blessing to
me. So, don’t get the idea that I’m looking for sympathy. All of this is a gift
from God to me.
Anyway, the blood test caused the Gastroenterologist to be
concerned with my low platelet counts. He didn’t think any of this was a result
of the medication. So, he ordered a fibro scan of my liver and an ultrasound of
my liver, to hopefully rule out any liver concerns. The fibro scan came back
with concerning results, of F4 and S4. Basically, F5 and S5 are the top of the
scale for fibrosis and fatty liver.
Now, back to prayer. I asked for prayer from some key
people in my life. It was kind of like the praying up and the praying out that
I just told you about above. I prayed out to God for help, and I asked for
prayer from others to reach up to God on my behalf.
Then the Gastroenterologist had me go to have a liver biopsy
taken at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. And he wanted me to go to a Christ
Hospital Hematologist/Oncologist to have my blood work reviewed.
Well, the liver biopsy was much more than I expected. During
the biopsy, which only takes about 20 minutes, they put you in a sedated state.
Ok, that was easy. Afterwards I had to be observed and my pain needed to be
managed for four hours in the hospital. Once again, I had wonderful gifted
care.
To make it simple, the results of all this is that I have a
badly damaged liver and blood that needs to be closely monitored for any
adverse changes. OK, I have a life that has been aided by surgery and medicine.
I’m in a body of decaying flesh after all. I can deal with this.
Please stay with me. I hate all this talk of myself, but in
the end, I will, without a doubt “Point to Jesus.”
Back to the scripture passage. The disciples are in the
boat, in the middle of the lake, and Jesus is on land. Jesus sees the disciples
straining at the oars and begins to walk to them. On water! Jesus’ compassion
and love goes beyond the physical limits that we see in this world in which we
live.
God’s love is like that.
Job 9:8 NIV
8 He (God)
alone stretches out the heavens
and
treads on the waves of the sea.
Psalm 77:19 NIV
19 Your (God’s)
path led through the sea,
your way
through the mighty waters,
though
your footprints were not seen.
Isaiah 43:16 NIV
16 This is
what the Lord says—
he who
made a way through the sea,
a path
through the mighty waters,
Face it. God created the
water and rules over all water and creation. And God uses the water with His
Word to bring salvation to all people. Think of baptism today, it is water with
Word that brings us the gift of salvation. Water that God gives to us along
with the Word, that God provides, to save us, without our having to do one tiny
little thing. Wow!
So, here Jesus sees the
disciples, me and you too, straining at the oars, fighting a storm of wind that
comes from who knows where. Kind of like I was straining against the initial
blood test. I didn’t know where that blood count came from. I didn’t expect
that wind to blow my way. I couldn’t predict the low platelet count. Why? Where
did this come from? I’m sure you too, as well, have had some wind in life, blow
your way that you didn’t know why it entered into your life. Think about it.
Sometimes the winds of
life are too much for us. Sometimes we are caught straining at the oars in the
wind.
But Jesus knows us. He
sees you and me and the disciples struggling at the oars and comes to us. Jesus
comes to us, to me, to you, in power. Jesus comes to us even in power over the
physics of water and walks right up to us. Jesus comes in the power of his
compassion and care, while we are in the midst of our distress and need. Jesus
comes to us at our desperate hour, even if it’s the middle of the night.
Jesus reaches out to us in
our struggles, with His prayer and His presence. Jesus is sympathetic to our
need. Sometimes struggles are for the
good, in our life.
Think back to the past few
weeks of these episodes of “Pointing to Jesus.” I have been going over miracles
of Jesus. I came to the realization, with the help of some learned people, that
miracles are accompanied by faith. Faith given to us from God. Sometimes, I
want a miracle to happen without faith. Sometimes I want an issue to, just go
away. But I now realize with this passage of scripture, how personal Jesus can
get with me, sometimes there is a miracle accompanied by God given faith that
is not what I expected. More of this as we go along here.
At this point in the
scripture passage above, and my entry into this scene of the Bible, personally;
Jesus gets personal. Jesus walks up on the water to the struggling disciples at
the oar, and to my, and our struggles, with whatever issue in life; and declares,
“It is I!”
Yea! The Creator of all
things, the Giver of all life, walks up to us on the water and tells us, “It is
I.” I like to think that Jesus walks up and says I AM. Kind of like when God
spoke to Moses about who He was. God is I AM. The One and Only God.
And when we hear this “It
is I.” When we hear this in the faith God gives to us; fear is driven out. The
wind is no longer a problem to strain against. The blood count becomes smaller,
the used-up liver is not such a big deal anymore. Whatever your problem in life
may be; when you realize that Jesus is with you and He declares, “It is I.” All
your problems, although still present, melt into a puddle of nothing. Fear
subsides. Why? Because now, with Jesus, you’re living with an irrational hope.
A hope beyond all hope, that doesn’t make a bit of sense in this world, but
makes all sense in the world in which we live with Jesus.
And next? And next, Jesus
gets into the boat with the disciples, with you, and with me. And what happens?
The wind calms down. The fear, the worry about tests results and next steps,
fades into the background of life. In a wonderful way the prayers of friends
and the prayers of my own have been answered. A miracle has just occurred in my
very own life that I can hold onto and grasp. Through the faith God gives,
along with the mighty powerful presence of Jesus in my boat, a miracle happens.
You see, Jesus uses us
weak, fearful beings in his ministry of salvation.
So, what was the result of
all this prayer? My prayer and the prayer of those I reach out to? We all spent
time alone with God, reaching up and reaching out. I especially spent time
alone while I was on my “windy sea of life.” And the result? Jesus comes! Jesus
comes on the stormy waters of my life and steps into the boat in which I am in.
And…
Think about this for your
own storms in your own life as well; Jesus communes with us. This is a
communion with God on the stormy seas in the winds of life. The results of our
life here on this earth may still be death, but that’s not the end. We are with
God.
And then, look at what
happens next in the passage.
The boat comes to shore
and there is yet another call for the disciples and for Jesus. Ministry continues
in love for all the people in the midst of their own life struggles. Beyond the troubles of our own life, we bring
the people to Jesus. As the people touch
the fringe or tassels of Jesus cloak, there is healing, grace, love, compassion,
and salvation.
Now, there is some awesome,
“Pointing to Jesus!”
God’s steadfast love endures
in creation. Yes, in the rainbow, God gives an eternal bond between Him and His
creation. For now, we know, as Jesus walked upon the water and stepped into our
boat of fear, that the love of Christ surpasses all knowledge and
understanding, today…. tomorrow… and forever! Thanks be to God as we “Point to
Jesus,” upon the water and in the boat! What a miracle!
Pause and enjoy this
YouTube music by Chris Tomlin --- Nobody Loves Me Like You
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