Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Last week we looked at the exchange between Peter and Jesus in Matthew 14 just before Peter stepped out of the ship and walked on the water. I’d like us to back up a few verses and look at another interesting occurrence during this event. Before I do this, I’d like to point out the account of Jesus walking on the water to the ship is recorded in Matthew 14, Mark 6, and John 6. However, Peter walking on the water is only recorded in Matthew 14. Although the accounts of the three writers (The Holy Spirit is the Author) are somewhat different, they are not in contradiction to one another. They complement each other. We’ll see this as we study the three accounts.
Matthew 14:22
And straightway Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship, and to go before Him unto the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.
Mark 6:45
And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while He sent away the people.
John 6:16-17
16 And when even was now come, His disciples went down unto the sea,
17 And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.
Notice the three separate accounts of the start of the same event. Each of them is largely the same with some additional information here and there. This additional information will, to the ill-informed, cause one to say there is a contradiction. How many people have we spoken to that state, “The Bible is full of contradictions?” Plenty. However, there are no contradictions in God’s Word.
Matthew and Mark say Jesus had to constrain His disciples to get into the ship and go to the other side. Constrain means to, “compel or force (someone) to follow a particular course of action.” Why did Jesus have to compel or force His disciples to go to the other side? Remember, many of these men were professional fisherman and the others lived around the Sea of Galilee all of their lives. People learned to gauge the coming weather by the skies and the winds. The disciples could see a storm was brewing, and they didn’t want to be on the water in the storm. Jesus had to essentially force them to go. Was Jesus being irresponsible to force His disciples to go out into a certain storm? We’ll answer this later.
Notice Mark states, “unto Bethsaida” and John states “toward Capernaum.” This would seem like a contradiction, but it isn’t. They are located in the same region, six miles apart. Capernaum is on the way to Bethsaida. Capernaum is by the sea while Bethsaida is located inland a couple of miles. Plus, John writes “toward” Capernaum which is the same direction as Bethsaida.
Now, let’s skip over everything between the start of this journey to the finish of the journey. Let’s see what The Scriptures say about the finish of this journey.
Matthew 14:34
And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.
Mark 6:53
And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore.
John 6:21
Then they willingly received Him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.
Notice Matthew and Mark state, “they came to the land of Gennesaret.” But weren’t they going toward Capernaum on the way to Bethsaida? The “land of Gennesaret” is a region which encompasses Capernaum and Bethsaida, about four miles long and a mile or two wide. It was a very fertile and populous region in Jesus’ day.
Now, let’s look at John’s account. It doesn’t mention a final destination by name as does Matthew and Mark. However, it has an incredible statement: “and immediately the ship was at the land….” Notice “and immediately?” This implies Jesus stepped into the ship and essentially transported the ship to land. Now, this is hard for some people to accept. They may accept Jesus and Peter walking on the water, but they can’t accept Jesus transporting the ship, immediately, to land. They may accept the storm stopping immediately upon Jesus stepping into the ship, but they can’t accept Jesus transporting a ship to land. They may accept Jesus blessing and breaking the fish and bread loaves and feeding the 15-25,000 men, women, and children earlier that same day, but they can’t accept Jesus transporting a ship to land. Wow, what a day!!
Jesus explains in Mark 6:52 why people have problems believing any one of Jesus’ miracles.
Mark 6:52
For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.
Go and read the account in Mark 6:45-53. The disciples had just experienced Jesus feeding the huge multitude with two fish and five loaves, until they were full, and then gathering twelve baskets of bread fragments. They had just seen Jesus walk on water to them, they had just seen Jesus step into the ship and calm the waters, yet they were in amazement. This means they still had not settled it in their hearts that Jesus is The Son of God, The Messiah promised to them by the prophets. How does this apply to us today? How many times has Jesus performed for us and around us, yet, the moment a “storm” appears, we panic? We begin to talk about the storm and not God’s solution. We describe the storm in great detail, yet we won’t decree God’s Word, God’s solution, Word for Word. We can give more facts about the storm than we can Word to overcome it.
Mark 6:52 tells us the disciples’ hearts were hardened. The Greek word for “hardened” is “poroo,” which means “to make the heart dull; to grow hard, callous, become dull, lose the power of understanding.” I know you have the same question I had about this passage a few years ago. “Lord, how is it they just witnessed the miracle of the loaves, yet their hearts are hardened?” The Holy Spirit pointed me back to the first part of Mark 6:52, “For they considered not the miracle of the loaves.” The Holy Spirit then asked me, “why was Joshua and Caleb the only two that believed among the twelve spies, yet they all saw the same thing?” I remember thinking about it when The Holy Spirit then said, “how does faith develop in a Believer?” I answered, “by meditation.” The Holy Spirit then said, “and what is meditation?” I answered, “thinking on and speaking The Word over and over, contemplating it.” The Holy Spirit replied, “yes. This is what I spoke to Paul in Romans 10:17. Joshua and Caleb’s faith was developed because they thought on and continuously spoke, or meditated, My Word, and the events they had seen Me perform. When I said the disciples ‘considered not,’ this means they did not meditate upon what they had seen that day. They were like Martha who was so caught up in preparing the meal, she lost sight of The Word which was right in front of her. The disciples were so focused on the upcoming storm, they lost sight of meditating what they had experienced that day.” Now it made perfect sense to me.
If we are to meditate, we must make an effort to divorce our thinking and speaking from that of the world. We have to make a conscious effort to continually meditate God’s Word in our life: for those things we are currently facing and then as a student, or warrior, preparing for the next challenge. It’s easy to get caught up in speaking all about our problem because it satisfies our senses and emotions, which are solely natural (physical). The Spiritual doesn’t care anything about the senses and emotions of the natural (physical). The Spiritual is only concerned with one’s agreement with The Word of God.
In closing this message, one other thing to point out is Jesus exercised Romans 4:17 by “calling those things that be not as though they were.” Jesus and His disciples WERE GOING to the land of Genneserat. When Jesus had to constrain His disciples to go, he firmly gave them a commandment. There was no doubt in Jesus’ mind as to where they were going and if they would get there. Jesus never wavered from going to the other side. We, too, must be this way in our daily living. We must “see” the outcome in our Spiritual eye of the heart, decree it, and from then on praise and thank God for the outcome as if it were already manifested in front of us. Jesus made it very clear in John 14:13-14 that anything we ask in His name would be done.
John 14:13-14
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it.
I don’t know how much clearer Jesus can make it for us. The only time Jesus will not do whatsoever we ask in His name is when we’re asking to consume it upon our lust. That’s termed “asking amiss” in God’s Word.
Next week we’ll continue looking at the event of Jesus and Peter walking on the water and the surrounding storylines.
In Christ,
Larry