Mk. 6:47a Now when evening came,
Jn. 6:16 And when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea.
Jn. 6:17 Got into a boat, and went over the sea towards Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
Mt. 14:24a But the boat was now in the middle of the sea,
Mk. 6:47b The boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on land.
Mt. 14:24b Tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
Jn. 6:18 The sea arose because of a great wind was blowing.
Storms of this type are very common on the Sea of Galilee. It is a long, narrow body of water, with steep banks around most of it. Because of this, it sometimes acts as a funnel on the wind, gathering and concentrating its force across the water. These storms can develop very quickly and without warning, trapping even the most experienced fishermen.
Mk. 6:48a Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them.
Mt. 14:25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.
Mk. 6:48b And about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.
In Jewish usage the fourth watch would be somewhere between 3:00 and 6:00 in the morning. They are by themselves and in dire straits. Suddenly, they see Yeshua walking on the water, but don’t recognize Him at first. They take Him to be an apparition (a word that means they took Him to be the angel of death.
Mt. 14:26 And when the disciples aw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!”
Mk. 6:49 But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out:
Jn. 6:19 So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.
Mt. 14:27 But immediately Yeshua spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” Mk. 6:50 For they all saw him and were troubled. And immediately He talked with them and said to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid!”
Jn. 6:20 But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”
Mt. 14:28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
In faith, Simon Peter asks if he could step out, and this he does. As long as he keeps his eyes on the Lord he is able to imitate the Lord. As long as he keeps his eyes on Yeshua the high waves don’t disturb him. This incident demonstrates something in Peter’s character that does not appear in any of the other disciples. It is a characteristic that after a difficult process of teaching and refining, the Lord will use him to become the leader of His church. An indepth character study of Peter (no time here) would be of great benefit for all of us.
Mt. 14:29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
Mt. 14:30 But when he saw the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
But when Peter takes his eyes off the Lord and starts looking at the waves, he begins to sink. To his credit he did not wait until he was going under to cry out, “Lord, save me!” That is the lesson that all of us should learn. If we keep our eyes on Yeshua, we can do anything. It is when we take our eyes off of the Lord and start looking at the cares of this world that we get into trouble. But before we criticize Peter too much, at least he was the only one to try getting out of the boat.
Mt. 14:31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”
Mt. 14:32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
Mk. 6:51 Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure and marveled.
Jn. 6:21a Then they willingly received Him into the boat,
Mk. 6:52 For they had not understood about the loaves because their hearts were hardened.
Mt. 14:33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
Jn. 6:21b And immediately the boat was at land where they were going.
They had realized who He is - the Son of God. What they had failed to learn from the feeding of the five thousand is how to depend on who He is. Here we have an example of good theology, but bad application. The theology is good because they knew He was the Son of God. The bad application is that they hadn’t learned how to depend on Him.
This verse is primarily overlooked in all the excitement, but one moment they are out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, and the next the boat is at shore. Walking on water and calming the winds are not the only miracles that Yeshua performs. He can also take them where they need to be in a split second of time. Yeshua’s arrival here will cause some commotion among the people as we shall see because He wasn’t on that boat when it left shore in the beginning.
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