Confounded by Jesus (Mark 6:30-52)
Confounded by Jesus
Mark 6:30-52
Introduction
Jesus is God our Shepherd, our King, and our Savior, and he provides for us, leads us, rules us, watches over us, and protects us even when we do not understand his redeeming work. In other words, because Jesus is Yahweh, he feeds us as our shepherd and is with us in the waters.
I have spoken little of Mark’s original audience, because it is broad. Mark likely writes from Rome, recording the experiences of Peter, and casting them in a masterful narrative to demonstrate that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Persecution raged on and off during those early years of the church, and as one commentator said, “…faint hearts may even had begun to wonder whether the Lord Himself had not abandoned them to their fate, or to doubt the reality of Christ. They are to learn from this story that they are not ‘forsaken,’ that the Lord watches over them unseen, and that He Himself—no phantom, but the Living One, Master of wind and waves—will surely come quickly for their salvation, even though it be in the ‘fourth watch of the night.’”
Like all the stories in Mark, the response it calls from us is trusting in Jesus and turning away from those remaining pockets of unbelief. It is in seeing Jesus that we come to trust him, and in trusting him we are drawn to follow and obey him. These stories are no exception.
Yet, as we have repeatedly seen in Mark, Jesus is elusive. This is demonstrated not only in the reality that very view people in the gospel seem to really understand who Jesus is—in fact, only demons have grasped that to this point in the story. But it is also demonstrated by how Mark tells the story. He deftly, almost imperceptibly at times, weaves references and allusions to the OT into his storytelling style as a way of revealing who Jesus is by hints and suggestions. If we aren’t paying attention to these, we will miss Mark’s point entirely, just as Israel had to pay careful attention to Jesus, his teaching, and his works in order to understand him. Which is why all the human characters in the story, to this point, are completely confused by this man. As we shall see, the disciples will continue that trend today.
Which brings me to their reaction at the end of the second narrative (vv51-52). They were astounded about what happened on the boat. Why? Because they didn’t understand about the loaves. This is why I am treating them together. The two stories are connected, but by what? What did the Apostles fail to understand about the loaves, which in turn led to their confusion at Jesus walking on the water?
That’s the main question that we’re driving to answer this morning. What did the disciples miss? How can we see it? How does the revelation of Jesus take a wrecking ball to our unbelief? So, let’s unfold these stories with that goal in mind.
I. The Shepherd King (6:30-44)
The clear theme of this familiar story is that Jesus is the shepherd of his people. He leads his disciples to places of rest and refreshment. He has compassion on the crowd as “sheep without a shepherd.” He teaches them. He feeds them as he directs them to sit down on the green grass. He is the shepherd.
· This is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels.
· Sometimes, because of our familiarity with it, we can gloss over it, or assume that we know its meaning.
· What we are surprised to learn is just how deeply into the OT the roots of the Shepherd go.
· Many of God’s people were shepherds, and nearly all their important leaders. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Israel in Egypt. Moses. David.
· The people of God have always therefore been compared to a flock which has a leader who is a shepherd.
· Numbers 27:16-17
o Moses needs a successor. Just as he has “gone out and come in” before the people, another man must take his place.
o Joshua chosen and “some” of Moses’ authority is given to him.
· Moses was a shepherd (Ps 77:19-20)
· “Going out and coming in” is important language for shepherding, and is only ever explicitly assigned to one other OT Character: David
o 2 Samuel 5:2 – Israel acknowledges that while Saul was king, David was really the shepherd and true king.
· The king was always a shepherd
· But the king was always Yahweh himself – 1 Sam 12:12
· The problem with Israel is that their kings were always bad.
o Case study: 1 Kings 22:13-23 Micaiah and Ahab—the sheep are “scattered” on the mountain like sheep without a shepherd. They have no true king, and therefore they are a wandering flock. But God still sits on his throne—he is still the king and shepherd, even if the kings are bad.
o Thus, “scattering” becomes a prominent metaphor for the exile. Part of the implication is that when the king appears, he is a shepherd and regathers his flock—and when he does the exile is over.
o What does this mean except that we are still in exile today?
· So, you are looking for a true human king, like David who is the shepherd of his flock and can lead them into righteousness.
· But Micaiah’s story begins to tell us something else—God is the shepherd.
o David in Psalm 23 – Yahweh is my shepherd.
o Psalm 100:3 – We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
o Ezekiel 34:1-24 – the most striking passage, and shows us that Yahweh is the true shepherd of Israel who cares for his flock by “my servant David”—which must refer to the Messiah. What is the implication other than that the Messiah is the very presence of Yahweh here to shepherd his people as their true king?
· Need I even explain Mark’s narrative in this light? He is the shepherd. He is the king. He leads them in the wilderness. He brings them to rest. He has compassion. He goes out before them. He teaches them. He makes them sit down. He feeds them.
· All of this in the context of what Jesus’ own message, the kingdom of God is at hand. The king is here! He is a shepherd of his flock!
So, let us draw just a couple lessons from these words:
· Jesus cares about the rest of his people.
o Sometimes (as in this story) it is physical rest. Physical rest is essential to our frail human natures. While it is never to be idolized, it ought not be neglected. Jesus cares for this need and provides for it.
o Sometimes it is spiritual rest. Do you repose in him? Do you recline in his house morning after morning? Does he spread a table for you in the presence of your enemies?
· Jesus is never too busy with his own rest that he isn’t willing to attend to our needs.
o The people come out before him, and he sought rest for his men, but instead he found more work. We’re not told if the disciples grumbled, but I know I would have.
o There is no sacrifice that the Lord has not made for us. He will always stoop to take care of us.
· Jesus shows compassion on us by teaching us.
o He sees Israel, kingless, dominated by “King” Herod, the adulterous, lawbreaking pedophile and then he looks on the destruction that brings to his people and it breaks his heart. He has compassion.
o So he teaches them.
o There is a feast in every sermon whose subject is Christ. And every sermon that points us to Christ shows us Christ’s own compassion for us. He teaches us.
· Jesus feeds his people using the insufficient resources of his men, so proving that he and not they, is the Shepherd.
o He shepherds his flock so that the sheep, and their shepherds, look to him. He satisfies and fills us through the imperfect and insufficient means of his men—who sometimes don’t even realize what he’s going to do—by taking their insufficient offerings, blessing them, breaking them, and giving them back to us to distribute to the people.
o The fact that he involves his disciples should amaze us. He could have just made bread appear in everyone’s laps; show up on the ground like manna; fall from the sky like quail; or even just make everyone feel full. But he doesn’t do that. He instead uses his disciples and what they have.
o We are his means.
One more point about the Shepherd. The OT always says that the way the shepherd redeems his sheep is by giving his life for them.
· Zechariah 10:2 – the people wander in idolatry because their shepherds are evil
o But Zech 13:7 – it is by striking the shepherd that the sheep are scattered, only to lead to a refining of the people for the sake of bringing them to call upon God’s name.
· Isaiah 53:6 – we all like sheep have gone astray, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
The fact that Jesus shows himself to be the shepherd and king is also foreshadowing his substitution. If he is the shepherd and king, he is also the sacrifice for his people.
Sometimes the stories in the gospels say more by what they leave out than by what they include. And what is conspicuously missing is any reaction whatsoever by the crowds or the disciples. This is why it is joined to the next account.
II. The Redeeming God (6:45-52)
The loaves were meant to display Jesus as the Shepherd-King. The walking on the water ups the ante—it shows us what the OT has always shown us: that the Shepherd King is also the Redeeming God.
For reasons left unexplained, Jesus compels the disciples to get into the boat and cross the Sea of Galilee while he stays behind and goes up on the mountain to pray, as was his habit. Evening comes and as is the case for that part of Israel, the winds were strong. The wind was against them and they were rowing. They departed somewhere near sunset (around 6pm) and it was a 2 hour trip across the sea. It is now the fourth watch of the night, between 3-6am. A 2 hour trip has taken them between 9-12 hours. They have been rowing that entire time and are exhausted.
Miraculously, it says v48, he saw them. It’s the middle of the night. Pitch black. They are miles away. He is up on a mountain. Perhaps Jesus has good vision, but I think another claim is being made. Just as God watches over his people, Jesus watches over the Apostles. In fact, it is almost directly recalling Exodus 14:24, where it says that “In the morning watch (the fourth watch), the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic”—proceeding to drown their enemies as his people crossed the sea.
So he comes to them—seeking them out in the midst of their trouble and toil, walking on the water. This too, while it displays Jesus’ power of nature and by implication the fact that he is Creator, also carries with it another significance: He walks on the sea to rescue his people. In fact the OT almost always connects Yahweh walking on the sea to his work in the Exodus.
· Isaiah 43:16 – “Thus says Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters.”
· Isaiah 51:9-10 – “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Yahweh; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?”
· Habakkuk 3:15 – “You trample the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters.”
· Psalm 74:12-17 – He divides the sea, defeats sea monsters, crushes the head of Leviathan, splitting open streams of water—all of which displays his kingship and his salvation
· Psalm 77:19-20 – “You way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”
You see, the point that Jesus made in the loaves is the same point that he is making in the waters—I am your shepherd, your king, your savior, your God. Feeding you in the wilderness—with you in the waters.
Yet all this pales in comparison to a detail which Mark almost glosses over: “He meant to pass by them.” What? Why? May suggestions have been made, but when you see all that Mark is already doing to point to the OT, we again find our answer there:
· Job 9:1-12 – The full scope of Job’s argument cannot be explained now, but his point is that Yahweh’s mastery of creation demonstrates his mighty wisdom in which we must trust if we are to be right before him.
· Exodus 33:18-34:8 – The Lord passes by Moses in order to manifest his glory and his name to them.
· 1 Kings 19:11 – The Lord passed by Elijah to manifest his name to them
And what is the commonality between all these? None of them are permitted to fully understand or see God. God passes by Job and Job sees him not. God passes by Moses, who is permitted to see the back parts of God’s glory and hears his name but does not fully see his face. God passes by Elijah, who may only come and hear him when his face is covered and then only in the low whisper.
Yet here is Jesus, walking on the water, bringing salvation and a true Exodus to his people, crushing the Leviathan’s head, leading them across the water, coming to them as he watches over them, and intending to pass them by for the saking of revealing his glory to them, and as he does he proclaims his name to them: “Take heart; I am. Do not be afraid.”
But the most amazing part of this story is that Jesus gets in the boat. That is a distinctive break from the “pass by” motif in the OT. He passed by Job, and Job saw him not. He passed by Moses, and Moses was covered in the rock and only saw the fringes of his glory. He passed by Elijah, and he comes out with his face covered and hears the quiet whisper of the Lord’s voice. He passes by the 12, and then he gets in the boat. They see his face. The hear his word.
It is shocking to us—what seems to be such a clear revelation of Jesus’ divinity causes nothing but exceeding confusion in the disciples. Just like Job, Moses, and Elijah, he passed them by, and they saw him not. They did not understand about the loaves, so they were [literally] “utterly, excessively, in themselves confused.”
Conclusion
In conclusion I want to apply this in two ways to us today. First, to those who do not trust Jesus savingly yet. Are you hungry in the wilderness for something to eat? I speak, of course, metaphorically. Jesus is a shepherd, and he feeds his flock with his word—food for the soul. Yet some of you are starving—you don’t know what it is to eat the shepherd’s food. That is because you are not his sheep. Are you confused in the storm by what Jesus says? He is the God who parted the Red Sea, who destroyed Egypt, who gave the law, who led his people into the promised land. Yet only by trust do we see his work in a saving light. Does his word confuse you in light of your circumstances? Are you baffled by the Bible, or by sermons? The reason is not because he is unclear. The reason is because you are still blind—you need your eyes opened so that when he passes by you see. And I make you a promise: he is a good shepherd and a compassionate Savior. I never met a sinner Jesus couldn’t save. I never met a wandering sheep he couldn’t find. I’ve never met an sojourner he couldn’t bring home.
For those of us who are savingly trusting in him, we need our eyes opened again. Do you see? Is he feeding you? Does he come to you in the waters and speak to you? Or are we too blinded by our own earthly concerns, muddled in our thinking by a thousand worldly cares that we don’t see him clearly?
Too often when we are hungry or when we are pulling against the oars of life in the relentless winds of circumstance we forget. We confuse the hunger for Jesus’ absence; his presence in the storm as a ghost of which we should be terrified. Here is the word of comfort: Take heart. Jesus is passing by. Do not be afraid. Though you don’t see him, he is there. And while we might miss him for a moment, he is surely in the boat with us.
“How do we see him while we struggle in the dim hours of the night in this present age, besieged by opposition? It may only become clear in retrospect, as it did for those first disciples. We realize that in that horrible hour we were in the very presence of God and that Christ revealed his glory to us. We were too blind, too petrified to see it.” Until one day we look back and realize: Christ as there, and Christ is God with us, God for us. And so we learn that when we walk through the greatest hours of discouragement and fear, that Christ is indeed passing by and he is no horrifying specter of judgment, but rather he is displaying his glory to us, proclaiming his name to us, showing us that he is “I am,” even as he climbs into our little boat, teaching us not to fear him but to rejoice in his presence with trembling.
Were the apostles saved at this point? I don’t know. But what I do know is that when Peter retold this story to Mark, he knew exactly what Jesus was doing. Sometimes the test of true faith is how it interprets our past. Are you able to say, “God was there, even when I thought him malevolent, even when I believed him to be a ghostly specter here to terrify, he was there and he did not leave me.”