THEN THEY WILLINGLY RECEIVED HIM
“When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force, to make Him a king, He departed again into a mountain Himself alone. And when even was now come, His disciples went down unto the sea, and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. But He saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. Then they willingly received Him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.” (John 6:15-21).
The sixth chapter of the
Gospel of St. John tells the story of the miraculous feeding of above 5,000
people when Jesus multiplied two small fish and five small loaves of
bread. We find that account in the first
14 verses of the chapter. The last two
thirds of the chapter contain Jesus’ great teaching on the Bread of Life. Sandwiched in between these two sections,
however, is the story that we quoted above.
Some may read over this story, thinking that they have read similar
stories in the other gospels; but there is something profound contained in this
account that we would do well to revisit.
Immediately after the
miracle of the loaves and fish, the people wanted to proclaim Jesus king; but He
resisted this and removed Himself to a mountain to pray and commune with His
Father. It’s important to note that
Jesus was not interested in being king over an earthly realm and leading a
rebellion against the Roman Empire that was oppressing God’s people at the
time. His Kingdom was a heavenly Kingdom
which was not of this world, and His message was one of repentance, not
insurrection. The people were too far
from God’s will to recognize this. Their
image of the Messiah was nothing close to the one that the words of their
prophets had proclaimed. He was not sent
to be a warrior-king, but the meek and lowly Lamb of God Who would be
sacrificed to take away the sins of the world.
It was now getting late,
and as evening was coming on, the disciples got into a ship and headed over the
sea toward Capernaum. St. Matthew’s
account of this story in chapter 14 of his Gospel tells us that Jesus “constrained
His disciples to get into a ship.”
This was more than a casual suggestion. He compelled
them to go on without Him while He sent the multitudes away. Jesus often constrains us into situations and
difficulties in life that we would never choose for ourselves. The Lord uses those things to refine our
character, but also to teach us valuable spiritual lessons that will serve us
well as we walk with Him. We often feel
like the Lord has left us alone as we go through trials; but His eye is always
on us, and His ear is always listening for our call.
One morning, when I was
hurrying to get to my job at an appliance manufacturing plant, my van broke
down at a traffic light at a busy intersection.
Nothing I did could convince the vehicle to start back up. I was blocking the one lane leading to the
plant, and everyone behind me was not very happy, I’m sure. Realizing that the situation was out of my
hands, I quietly submitted to whatever God wanted to do. I then called my wife and asked her to come
with our other car to jumpstart the van.
By this time, traffic had
slowed down since my shift had already started.
I had called my boss to let him know that I was going to be late so that
he could have someone cover my job for a bit.
Soon my wife came in our other vehicle, and we jumped the van which
started right up. As we were working on
connecting the jumper cables, a taxi pulled up in the lane beside us and the
driver looked over at us and then moved on.
We drove both our vehicles home, and I parked the van in our drive until
I could work on it to see what was wrong.
As I was gathering my
things to move them to our car, the same taxi that had pulled up beside us at
the intersection pulled into our driveway. The driver got out of it and came to our
door. When we answered the door, we were
surprised to see a woman who we had been in fellowship with years ago standing
there. When we invited her inside, she
began telling us that she was not in a very good place spiritually in her life;
but when she drove through that intersection that morning and recognized us,
she was convicted in her heart and determined to come see us. She told us that my wife’s face was shining
as if she were an angel! We had the
great joy of sharing the words of Life with that lady that morning! The lesson that we learned was invaluable,
though: all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and who
have been called according to His purpose.
God had a plan all along, we just needed to have patience to see it unfold. Had I gotten upset over breaking down, or
being late for work, or had my wife been upset for having to come out so early,
that woman may have never seen the joy of the Lord in our faces. She may have just kept driving and never found
the help she needed. When Jesus
constrains us into situations in our lives that are uncomfortable, pay
attention! He may just be working out something
miraculous that will bless others and benefit our walk with Him.
It was after dark when the
disciples found themselves in heavy winds and a rolling sea. Matthew uses the words, “the wind was contrary.” I’m sure that we all have been in
circumstances where it seemed like everything was working against us – like
there were forces that were blowing contrary to the direction that we were
trying to go, or the goals that we were trying to achieve. Storms are an inconvenience anytime; but when
they are working directly against us and slowing our progress to a crawl, they
can be very discouraging. That is when
we need to remind ourselves that we serve a King Who is the Master of the winds
and the waves!
When they had rowed about
three or four miles, they spotted Jesus walking on the water in the fourth
watch of the night (which was between three and six a.m.) and coming near to
the ship. It’s interesting to note that
Jesus made better time on foot, walking on water, than twelve strong men did
rowing against the wind!
The disciple’s initial
reaction was fear, and they cried out saying “it is a spirit.” We, too,
may be afraid initially when the Lord manifests Himself to us in some new
way. It is then that Christ challenges
us to trust Him and believe that we can be like Him. Jesus said, “He that believeth on Me, the
works that I do shall he do also; and
greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father.” (John 14:12). It is often difficult to receive the things
of the Spirit because they are so contrary to our natural, carnal way of
thinking. Walking on water was certainly
one of those things that the disciples had never considered was possible, but
here it was showing itself as a new reality!
The Apostle John, who was there that night, later wrote, “As many as received Him [Jesus], to
them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name.” (John 1:12). The
disciples were faced with a choice: reject what logic was telling them was
impossible, or receive the Lord and accept the fact that all things are
possible with the Lord. We, too, are faced
with the same choice over and over in our spiritual journey.
Jesus’ next words were
astonishing. He said, “It
is I; be not afraid.” Why
was it that they need not fear? It was
because Jesus said “It Is I.” Recently, I heard a minister who said that
the Greek words that are translated as “it
is I” in this verse are the same Greek words that in John 8:58 are
translated “I am.” In that verse Jesus is declaring to the Jews
that He is the “I AM” referring back to when the Lord revealed His name to Moses
at the burning bush when He said, “I AM that I AM.” The message here is that Jesus is the
abundant supply to our every need, and that we never need to be afraid. We don’t have to rely on our own strength,
wisdom, or abilities. Jesus is willing
to supply our lack if we believe. He
tells us that “I am your Helper, I am
your deliverer, I am your strength, I am your healer, and I am your salvation!” We just need to receive Him, and He gives us
the power to become the sons of God.
Look at all the statements that Jesus makes that begin with the words “I am.”
It is never about what we lack in our lives outside of Jesus. It is more of Jesus that we lack! I don’t need more wisdom; I need to believe
that Jesus is my wisdom! I
don’t need more spiritual power; I need to believe that Jesus is
my power! I don’t need more
righteousness; I need to know that Jesus is my righteousness! When
we cry out to the Lord and say, “I need…” then He always answers with, “I Am…”
“Then they willingly
received Him into the ship.” God will never violate our free will. Our progress in spiritual things is always
the product of our willingness to receive Christ and every fresh revelation of
Himself that He shows us. This is what
the scripture means when it says, “grow
in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2
Peter 3:18). There were some of Jesus’
disciples who would not walk with Him anymore after hearing His words at the
end of John chapter six (John 6:66).
They were unable to receive Him willingly because they considered His
words to be “hard sayings.” (John
6:60). There are times when the Lord
speaks sweet, encouraging, uplifting things to us, and then there are times
when He speaks hard sayings. That is
when we must trust in the Lord with all our hearts, and not lean on our own
understanding. God’s ways are far above
our ways, and His thoughts above our thoughts!
There are times when we’re just not going to figure Him out, and we must
trust Him that He knows best.
“And immediately the ship was at the land whither they
went.” When
we are willing to receive the Lord and His grace in every new circumstance of
our life, then, instead of everything being contrary to us, we find that we
immediately arrive at the place where we needed to be in the first place! Life’s trials can certainly slow us down – or
even stop us outright; but when we are willing to receive the lessons that such
challenges present us with, we will find that we quickly make up any loss that
we incurred.
Comments
Post a Comment