While in Ketchikan, Alaska, my Dad and I did a short jaunt on a seaplane. Such water aircraft are often used in the Alaskan and Canadian wilderness, blessed as they are by a large number of lakes. This was my first flight on one of these machines and, surprisingly enough, even on a rather rough day on the sea, even given the small size of the aircraft, its takeoff, flight, and landing were quite smooth. Nonetheless, it never ceases to make me wonder how these heavy contraptions can float on, lift off from, and return to, water!
Of course, it would be even more fascinating to walk on water, but only one Person could do that successfully.
There’s an episode in Mark 6 that recounts Jesus’ maritime perambulations! Mark is subtly comparing that event with Exodus 14, the overthrow of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. Both stories manifest the visible presence of God in a dramatic and miraculous mid-sea rescue. The parallels are so remarkable that there are very few words (in the Greek versions) found in one that are not found in the other! The power of God, which had once delivered God’s people, was now working though Jesus and available to God’s people again.
Unfortunately, this unique thrust of the encounter in Mark 6:45–52 is completely lost on the disciples—their reaction is sheer terror, the opposite of what was intended.
But when they saw Him
walking on the sea,
they supposed that it was a ghost,
and cried out; for they all saw Him
and were terrified.
But immediately He spoke with them
and said to them,
“Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.”
Mark 6:49–50
What is interesting is that Jesus had earlier sent his disciples on this journey alone, ahead of him, in a boat on a stormy sea. The verb is a strong one—he is compelling them to go on.
Immediately Jesus compelled His disciples
to get into the boat and go ahead.
Mark 6:45
This has all the signs of being a test. He sends them on, removing himself from the scene. One might remember that in the feeding of the 5000 that just precedes this story, Jesus had actually expected them to provide the multitudes with food.
They had failed the test there; they fail it again here, and panic in the storm. So Jesus does his gravity-defying thing, walking on water.
But the disciples still don’t get it: they think Jesus is a phantasm, a spooky specter.
The connection between the feeding miracle and the one of walking on water clearly link these two miracles, in turn, to the wonders of the Exodus period—the provision of manna and the crossing of the sea. The disciples, just having observed Jesus reenact the former (5000 fed), should have been prepared for the latter. But their hearts, Mark informs us, had been hardened.
... their heart was hardened.
Mark 6:52
Anyhow, Jesus walks over (on water!), gets into the boat, and the storm is stilled. They arrive on shore.
When they got out of the boat,
immediately the people recognized Him.
Mark 6:54
The irony is unmistakable. The ones close to Jesus didn’t know who he was. The nameless, faceless crowd—they immediately recognize him. The crowd’s response to Jesus is vigorous and enthusiastic: they run, they carry the afflicted here and there, to wherever Jesus is, acknowledging the power of this one, whom the disciples had failed even to recognize.
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