HG073-75 Matthew 14:22-36, Mark 6:45-56, John 6:14-21

22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.” 34 When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, 36 and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.

Last week we saw that Jesus and His disciples went to get some down time after such a busy time and to come to terms with the death of John the Baptist but a multitude of people, about 8000, were waiting when they landed. An opportunity had presented itself, an opportunity not wasted but now what? The people had been fed and they had witnessed the miracle. Now, it was time to have alone time again. This time, however, Jesus made His disciples go away in a boat whilst He stayed behind. The disciples were on their own. Jesus was on His own. But even if this may have been so His disciples were never really alone.

Jesus went up the mountain to pray. When did we ever set aside time to pray by ourselves, alone? Jesus needed to, had to, spend time with His Father. This was especially true now as the people of that area wanted to make Him king according to John’s gospel. But His mission was not about becoming king but to suffer and die for those He came to save. So, Jesus needed to pray and He did so for a minimum of 6 or 8 hours. It had been a long and exhausting day but His strength was not found in sleep but by reinvigoration through fellowship with His Father.

Matthew 26:41 NKJV

41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Prayer was to help Him refocus on what God wanted Him to do.

In fact, Jesus did nothing without His Father’s say so:

John 8:28–29 NKJV

Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”

John 5:19 NKJV

Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

This begs the question then that if Jesus had to spend time alone with God in order to know what God wanted them to do, to say, and to teach why do we think we can do without prayer? It is prayer that causes us to be able to go on, to have power for living and cause us to capture and cast down every thought that is against God that arises within ourselves and others, and to grasp God’s intentions and will.

24-25

Then sometime between 3 and 6am Jesus could see the disciples in the boat about 3 miles off shore and that they were going nowhere fast. It was Jesus’ instructions for them to go across the lake, so this was His will.

Listen carefully, it may be God’s will for us to go through troubled waters, to struggle with life’s issues, to seem to be going nowhere and everything is just against you; remember that the disciples were doing what Jesus told them to do; they had done nothing wrong. To have only gone 3 miles after rowing for a few hours means that they really had had it tough remembering that many of the them were seasoned fishermen. Do the disciples get an answer for all this trouble? Do they simply take it in their stride? Do they complain? The fact is that life will throw all sorts of things at us. Indeed it was Jesus who said:

John 16:33 NKJV

33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

We can have peace in the midst of a storm even though it can be very hard going but trouble will come nevertheless but we have to remember it is only temporary; this world has been overcome by our Lord and in Him we can trust.

26-27

Is that Jesus? Has He died? Is that His ghost? Help! Mark’s gospel tells us that Jesus was simply going to pass them by! But their fear got the better of Him. Don’t worry boys, it’s me! As we just read in John He also says here: Be of good cheer! Nothing to be afraid of here. It is remarkable just how similar these words are. Is that what some of you need to hear today? Be of good cheer! There is nothing to be afraid of. Nothing at all. He says: I am with you no matter what and you’ll come through the other end and wonder what all the fuss was about. Right in the midst of it all Jesus is here.

It is all a matter of perspective, you see. If this life is all that is on offer then you will be forgiven to think that you are having a bad dealt hand but it is not, is it? This life by comparison to eternity is but a blip. I certainly empathise with the fact that trouble does not feel like it but we must not get too caught up on feelings but upon God’s promises, instead. This is why, from this week, I am including promises of God on the bulletin for us to think about and take in. These are facts, truth that we can rely upon whether we are feeling up or down. These have potential to transform us if we allow His Word to penetrate us.

28-31

Peter never ceases to amaze. Jesus was walking on the water in the midst of a very windy night, so it was incredibly dark, blustery and the waves were choppy. These were dangerous waters.

I like to be on a boat during these kinds of times so it was one August Irena and I and our nephew went down to Penarth pier to catch The Waverley to go over to Ilfracombe. Only the boat could not dock for the water was turbulent and instead it took a chunk out of the pier, which was shocking for us waiting there on the pier. They gave up and ruined my trip of a lifetime! But it was treacherous and probably a good thing we did not get to go onboard. We only need to remember a paddle steamer that sank a couple of week’s ago.

So, it is all the more the surprising that Peter, even though he is impetuous, was willing to climb out of the boat at all. Credit must be given where due. He did not get out without permission from the Captain of the Sea. Jesus told him: “Come!” The permission was granted but it actually became a command. Come!

And wow! Peter walked on water. So, now we have had two people who have walked on water: Jesus and Peter. We forget this. What an experiment! What faith! What is faith? Is it not our word for ‘trust’? He trusted Jesus completely. He got out of the boat and walked upon the water.

Suddenly Peter became aware of his environment and realised that it was more dangerous than at first it seemed. And he took his eyes of the ball. Well, not the ball, but his eyes off Jesus. Friends, how apt this is for us. When is it that we make a mountain out of a molehill? Is it not when we take our eyes of Jesus and place it upon the problems around us? I’m being a little unfair with the mountain out of a molehill for Peter’s molehill was a mountain, a mountain of waves.

So, even if the problem is truly a mountain our eyes should not be upon that but upon Jesus. Do we take to heart what God says? He will never leave you nor forsake you. He will not allow things to be so overwhelming according to Isaiah 43. And so on, again with the promises of God. So, the question again is: Who do we trust? Do we trust that what we see about our circumstances is right or do we trust that what God says about our circumstances are right? Remember from God’s perspective everything else is small in comparison, for even the earth is His footstool.

Peter absolutely trusted Jesus but then he got distracted. And he sank straight into what he saw was the problem. But let us not treat him so harshly for I wonder how we would have fared. I wonder whether we would have even dared to get out of the boat. But even when he sank He cried out to Jesus for help and immediately He was there to take him by the hand. This is the grace of God. Even when we fail He doesn’t let us drown. Oh, and how we fail! He still does not let us go down to what we deserve but picks us back up and back to safety.

Why did you doubt? was the question Jesus asked Peter. You were doing so well! You can sense disappointment in Jesus for He wanted Peter to succeed. This also gives us hope for He wants us to succeed in our walk with Him. Plainly we won’t always do well but it is possible if we keep trusting Him.

32-34

As soon as Jesus got into the boat it was all calm. And suddenly their trip was over. They had arrived in an instant. Who is this Man? They were so amazed. Truly this is the Son of God! And this is no wonder for what they had just seen and experienced was like nothing anyone had ever known. Only now do they think He is the Son of God? I find this strange. Yes, this experience was super-amazing but had they not just experienced the feeding of the 8000 or so from 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish? How quickly we forget. Had they not experienced with their own eyes the healing of many people? Yet, there is something about this which was even more extraordinary than that:

He is Lord of the Sea, of travel, and of time. These things indeed were miraculous but remember that they happened after He spent alone time in prayer. He is worthy of our worship for He is God. He is our creator for without Him nothing was made that is made. That includes the sea, includes time itself, and includes everything else. Being creator He is also in charge of the elements so none of what has happened should be a surprise if Jesus is who claimed to be.

When we come through the other side of an experience we need to deliberately remember for other situations will arise. When times in the past were tough He has helped us so we can be assured of His future help.

And when we remember what God has done for us and when we experience the power of God in our lives let us not forget to worship Him, to be amazed of Him.

35-36

And straight away they are back to ministry for the people recognised Jesus and started to bring out all the sick for Him to heal and that is what He did. As many as touched even His clothes were healed. You’d think that everyone would be worshipping Him by now seeing all the things that had been done but it is quite surprising that this does not appear to be the case. Here we see that Jesus has made Himself available and willing to be used.

Whether it is ungratefulness or whether they only wanted Him for what they could get out of Him, the lack of disciples is alarming. Many people today claim to be Christians but is it the same scenario? Do they only want Jesus for what they can get out of Him? Perhaps it is to secure their eternal future. Of course, this is imperative but following Jesus is required, is it not? Once saved, always saved I believe as it is Scriptural but if you only come to Jesus for what you can get then the question is more were you saved in the first place.

Of course, I do not know how many of those who were healed physically were healed spiritually too, for it is silent on this but if would be incredible if at least some did not.

Conclusion

There is no power without prayer. We need to pray alone as well as with others. We’ll see God at work and we will be more in tune with what God wants from us and situations will arise that are amazing in nature for He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Trouble will come to all of us if it has not yet found us but our eyes have to be on the Author and Finisher of our faith, the One is the Creator and Sustainer, the One who is in complete control of all situations, all physical things, all time, He is over all and is utterly trustworthy. And as a result of seeing His work in us it causes us to worship and lay down our lives for Him and for the people whom He came to save.

Benediction

Hebrews 13:20–21 NKJV

20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Bibliography

Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

France, R. T. (1985). Matthew: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 1). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (2004). The Gospel according to Matthew: Chapters 1:1–16:12 (Vol. 1). Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.

Schaff, P. (Ed.). (1879). Introduction, and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Vol. 1). Edinburgh: T & T Clark.