Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 6:45
And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.
45 52. The Walking on the Lake
45. And straightway ] The impression made upon the people by the miracle just narrated was profound. It was the popular expectation that the Messiah would repeat the miracles of Moses, and this “bread of wonder,” of which they had just partaken, recalled to the minds of the multitudes the manna, which the Great Lawgiver had given to their forefathers. They were convinced, therefore, that the Saviour was none other than “the Prophet,” of whom Moses had spoken, and in this conviction they would have taken Him by force and made Him a king (Joh 6:14-15). To defeat this intention the Saviour bade His Apostles take ship and cross over to the other side of the Lake.
unto Bethsaida ] i. e. the western Bethsaida, the town of Philip, Andrew, and Peter, in the neighbourhood of Capernaum (Joh 6:17).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See this passage explained in the notes at Mat 14:22-36.
Mar 6:52
They considered not the miracle of the loaves – They did not remember or call to mind the power which Jesus had shown in feeding the five thousand by a miracle, and that, having done that, he had power also to save them from the storm.
Their heart was hardened – Their mind was dull to perceive it. This does not mean that they were opposed to Jesus, or that they had what we denominate hardness of heart, but simply that they were slow to perceive his power. They did not quickly learn, as they ought to have done, that he had all power, and could therefore allay the storm. The word heart is frequently used in this sense. See Eph 1:18, in Greek; Rom 1:21; Rom 2:15; 2Co 4:6.
Mar 6:54
They knew him – They recollected Jesus, because he had been there before and worked miracles.
Mar 6:56
The border of his garment – Compare the notes at Mat 9:20.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mar 6:45-51
And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship.
Need of constraint from Christ
This does not mean that our Lord forced His disciples wills, but that from being unwilling He made them willing to do as He desired. Reasons they were loath at first to take ship without Him.
1. Because His society was very amiable, sweet, and comfortable to them, as they had hitherto found by experience; therefore they were unwilling to part from Him, though but for a time.
2. It seemed a matter against reason for Him to stay behind alone in a desert place, especially as night was coming on; therefore they were unwilling to leave Him there.
3. They knew there was in that place no other ship or boat besides the one in which they were to pass over (Joh 6:22); therefore they would have had Him go over with them in the same ship.
4. It may be also that they were afraid to pass over without Him, lest, if a storm should arise, they should be in danger. Once before, they had been in danger of drowning when Christ was with them; much more, then, might they now fear the worst, if they went without Him. (G. Petter.)
Backward to yield obedience
By nature the best of us are very slack and backward to yield obedience to the will of Christ, especially in such things as oppose our natural reason, will, and affections; in such commandments of Christ, we have much ado to yield obedience, and are very hardly brought to it. Though we have the express word and commandment of Christ, yet when the things commanded are contrary to our reason and will, we draw back, and are loath to obey Christs will. We are by nature so wedded and addicted to our own reason, will, and affections, that we find it exceedingly hard to captivate them in obedience to the will of Christ as we ought.
1. Labour to see and bewail this our natural corruption.
2. Pray to Christ to subdue it, and to frame us by the power of His Spirit to more willing and cheerful obedience. (G. Petter.)
The Christian life
I. We may take this as a picture of the state of Christs Church between the Ascension and Pentecost. The disciples were then for the first time launched without Him upon the sea of this world-powerless as yet to run the race set before them, and in darkness and uncertainty as to what might be their Masters grand design. But His eye noted from above their comfortless condition, and soon He came to them in the person of the Holy Spirit, to be not only their far-off Intercessor, but their present Guide and Helmsman, piloting them to the bright shore of eternal life.
II. We may also see in the little fishing boat, tossed on the dark and stormy wave, a lively image of the Church under the present dispensation. There is usually in the life of each individual Christian a period of striving after grace, life, and power, which have not yet been communicated to the soul. But Christ will come if the soul remain stedfast. And then shall all things go well. The vessel, freighted with the presence of the Incarnate God, shall no longer be driven back by the violence of the winds, but make her way surely, if slowly, to the haven where she would be.
III. This incident may, moreover, be regarded as typical of Christs second advent. Much darkness and obscurity and perplexity now-the necessary tests of faithfulness and stability. But the day is at hand when all things shall be manifested in the light of the Divine Presence. Watch and prepare for that, by weaning the affections from earthly things and fixing them on Christ; also by exerting yourself to bring others into such a state as that they shall be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless. (Dean Goulburn.)
Toiling in rowing
I. Analogies in the Christians voyage through life.
1. How many earnest truth seekers have been thus tossed by doubts and perplexities, with scarce one ray of light to guide them,
2. How many in the hour of spiritual awakening have passed through similar experience.
3. How many realize this amid the difficulties and temptations of life.
4. And others learn it in the hour of sorrow and suffering.
II. Consolations.
1. Christ knows all.
2. Christ loves ceaselessly.
3. Christ prays constantly.
4. Christ comas with deliverance at the right time. (M. Hutchison.)
Religious despondency
This word toiling is quite inadequate to express the full force of the term. One of the oldest of English versions has it, harassing themselves. Tyndale renders it, troubled. Alford suggests, distressed, which is the best word of all, and the one which our new revision adopts-distressed in rowing. Those skilled fishermen evidently had a hard time of it. They needed to put forth the most violent and persistent efforts in order to keep the small boat from being dashed to pieces before the hurricane. And of course they became positively tired out, and their faith had something like a melancholy failure. In religious experience we are often more disheartened than we need to be, because some perverse disposition misleads us to contrast our states of low enjoyment with remembered disclosures of high exhilaration under extraordinary excitement. The midnight of commonplace rowing appears more gloomy and unwelcome just because the previous noon was so abundantly blessed with gifts and graces. Our favours seem hopelessly dull, simply because they were so lately revived into unusual strain, and are now worn out by the exalted indulgence. The changes begun in the circumstances are continued in our bodies, and so these moods grow reciprocally depressing. What we mourn over as base coldness, sometimes is nothing but natural reaction. Oftentimes our most heavy seasons of despondency are brought about by mere physical illness, or unusual prostration from distemper Or overwork. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Christ knows who have need of Him
He saw them toiling, so we read, and then we reflect how little reason these men had for being melancholy. In our fluctuations of feeling, says pious Samuel Rutherford, it is well to remember that Jesus admits no change in His affections; your heart is not the compass Christ saileth by. Our vicissitudes toss only themselves, and overturn only our pride, and that not perilously. Jesus care remains steady. If it be dark, and He has not yet arrived, we may be always certain it is because He pauses among the trees to pray. We are to keep working and watching; for when He sees we are ready to receive Him, He will start directly towards us on the sea. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Christ was seen in the storm
There was more dread than joy in the presence of the Saviour. They would not have been so much afraid had they been expecting Him, but the troubles of the night had made them forget His promise. Their terror is not, however, a thing altogether unknown in the deeper religious experience. For when a trouble comes upon the pious Christian, what is felt most sorely is not the outward calamity which his neighbours see, but an inward wound which comes from the conviction that God has actually forsaken him and delivered him over to the assaults of an unknown hostile spirit power armed against him. There is no lesson harder to understand than that troubles are not signs of the wrath of God. Had the disciples seen that it was Jesus who was coming to them through the storm, they would not have been troubled; could we know that behind the storms of life there is the Saviour Himself near us, we should not have that vague yet bitter sense of the presence of a spirit of evil who is seeking to overwhelm us. (T. M. Lindsay, D. D.)
Christs absence
I. Separation is sometimes required to prevent improper sympathy.
II. Difficulties are to be expected, and weakness experienced, in the Christian course.
III. Appearances awaken needless fear through inconsideration.
IV. Christ speaks to encourage, and comfort, and give peace. (J. H. Godwin.)
The voice of Jesus in the storm
The design of religion is to make us of good cheer. We are surrounded by causes of alarm, but the gospel bids us fear not. And that which alone can enable us to be of good cheer amid sorrows is the presence of God our Saviour.
I. The disciples in a storm.
1. It is most likely that they did not understand the reason of the request (Mar 6:45). But they were commanded, and this was sufficient. It is the duty of Christians to do many things the reason of which is hidden from them. Our duty may even sometimes oppose our preferences. However delightful the company of Jesus must have been, the disciples gained far more by being obediently absent than rebelliously near. Obedience is the best kind of nearness.
2. The evening on which the disciples embarked was calm and fair. But the finest day may be followed by the stormiest night.
3. The frightened disciples in their storm-driven boat fitly represent the circumstances by which believers are often tried-disappointments, losses, cares, etc. Christian discipleship does not exempt from such storms (1Co 10:13; 1Pe 4:12; 1Pe 5:9). These storms may often rise against us, even when acting in direct obedience to the will of Christ. No difficulty must daunt us in the way of obedience.
4. While the disciples are battling with the winds and the waves, where is Jesus? (Mar 6:46). But they were not forgotten, nor are we. He watched them in the tempest, and He sees His storm-driven followers now.
5. When He sees the fitting season has arrived, He will appear for their deliverance (Mar 6:48). He may delay to reveal Himself, but not to succour and support them.
6. When He did appear to His disciples, the manner of His coming was so unexpected and strange that, instead of joy, their first emotion was terror. Like the disciples, we often mistake the form and presence of our Lord!
II. The terror of the disciples allayed by the encouraging voice of Jesus. It is I; be not afraid! In every event, important or trivial, in the estimation of man, He speaks, and says, It is I. Recognize Christ more vividly in all your troubles. Look away from inferior agencies, or you will be sure to fear. The assurance of Christs presence involves everything needed to calm the fears, and soothe the sorrows of afflicted believers.
2. It was the voice of power.
3. Of love.
4. Of wisdom. The faith which recognizes in all events the voice of Jesus is the true alchemy which transmutes all baser substances into gold. The storm is terrible in appearance only.
5. The voice which speaks to us in the storm is that of One who has Himself been tempest test. What strong consolation is thus presented to afflicted disciples! Shall we wonder or repine at affliction?
6. The disciples had often witnessed the efficacy of His voice. Nor is it altogether strange to us. Has never spoken in vain. All anxieties should subside at the sound. What could He say that He has left unsaid to calm our apprehensions? Believe the promises, and there will be a great calm. Conclusion: To those who are not disciples He does not say, Be of good cheer! You are in awful peril. He is only with His disciples in the storm. No comfort for you while continuing an enemy to God. Your condition and character must be changed. Let your eye gaze upon Jesus! He offers to screen you from the danger, and says to all who flee to Him for safety, Be of good cheer! (Newman Hall, LL. B.)
Toiling in rowing
I. Christ sees all the struggles of human life. The greatest battles are not those fought on the plains of the world and recorded in history, but those fought in courts and alleys by unfortunate men and women, who have to weather the storm of life without a friend. Christ sees every mans circumstances and heroism, etc.
II. Christ sees all the struggles of Christian life. They are numerous, hard, continuous. He does not permit us to see all the difficulties of the future. Ply your oars. Watch and pray.
III. In these struggles, human and Divine, Christ does not come to us at once. There was time for the development of character, for the exercise of faith, patience, etc. Christians often complain that Christs comforts do not come sooner. It is not when we will, but Divine love is never late. There is a time for succour. Times and seasons are known to Him.
IV. How his coming affects us. He did not perform the miracle first, but said, Be of good cheer. The Masters good cheer suited to all classes and conditions of His disciples, especially those who are liable to be dull, morbid, despondent, fearful. (W. M. Statham.)
The disciples in the storm
What is it which so often troubles our faith in the Divine promises? It is the fact that God does not direct events and things for the triumph of His cause, and that that cause seems often to be vanquished by fatality. This is a contradiction which confounds us. God wants truth to prevail; He commands His Church to announce it to the world; His design is here express and manifest, and when, to serve Him, His Church puts itself to the work, God permits circumstances to array themselves against it and hinder it. The wind was contrary! How many times have believers felt this! In the first centuries it was that periodical succession of implacable persecutions, scattering the flocks, immolating the shepherds, annihilating the Holy Scriptures, destroying in one dark hour the harvest of which the world had seen the admirable first fruits. The wind was contrary! At the close of the Middle Ages, and under the influence of the scandals displayed in Rome, it was that mocking and profound unbelief which secretly undermined the Church to such a degree that, without a religious awakening, the world would seem to become heathen again under the breath of the Renaissance. The wind was contrary! Later on came the ardent and generous passions of the eighteenth century letting loose on the world a formidable tempest. In our days listen. Is the wind which comes down from the icy heights of positive science favourable to our cause? Is the stream which comes to us from the springs of our democratic societies sympathetic? Are you not often scared at seeing all the hostile powers which combine against Christianity today? Doctrines openly materialistic, grave or cynical atheism, harsh and disparaging criticism, rightful complaints too well justified by the infidelities of believers, prejudices, misunderstandings, blind passions,-do not all these announce, even to the least clear-sighted, formidable storms to which our actual strifes are only as childs play? Why does God allow His cause to be thus compromised? Why does not He, who is the Master of the waves, pacify the storms? That is one of those grievous questions which none of us can escape. Scripture replies to it in some measure. It has pleased God, says St. Paul, to choose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. One would say that He wishes to show that the triumph of the gospel expects nothing from external things, from the impulse which comes from popular currents. We forget that Christ overcame the world only by raising against Him all its resistance, that the cross has been a sign of triumph only because it has been an instrument of punishment, and that in its apparent impotence and ignominy we must seek the secret of its power. The wind was contrary! But this was not the only obstacle the disciples encountered. Jesus Christ comes to them, but not till the fourth watch of the night, that is to say, near to the morning. Till then, we might say, He has forgotten them. It is in the last hour that He comes to succour them. History is like a night stretching across the ages; in all times believers are called to wait for Gods intervention, but God delays to come, and that is the supreme trial of faith, greater perhaps than the opposition of men and even of persecution. The first Christians believed in the immediate return of Christ; that hope has often filled a generation of believers with enthusiasm. Already they saw the dawn breaking, they saluted the King of glory who came to deliver the Church and to subdue humanity. A dangerous excitement, a transitory fever in which imagination had more share than faith! On coming out of those dreams, the enervated soul often despairs, and in a paroxysm of gloomy discouragement it doubts the truth, because it no longer expects its triumph. It must be said that God, who is the Master of time, has reserved to Himself to fix its duration, and that we are absolutely forbidden to bind it in our measures and limits. Now what is true of the history of humanity applies equally to each of us. When the night of trial begins, we want deliverance to be announced during the first watch. Why does God remain inactive and silent? Why those long delays and those unanswered prayers? Why that tranquil, slow, regular course of second causes behind which the First Cause remains mute and without effect? The violent emotions of great trials are less formidable than that pitiless monotony which enervates and wears out the secret springs of the soul. Now, precisely because this danger is so real we must forecast it. Let us know, beforehand, that that trial is in store for us. If God delays, wait for Him. At last Christ draws near. He walks on the waves before the disciples, but they, frightened, see in Him only a phantom, and emit a cry of terror. All the traits of this narrative may seem those of a striking allegory, and this last still more than the others. Often Christ has appeared to humanity as a phantom. That pure and holy image, all whose features unite in the eyes of faith to form the most ravishing harmony, that face which surpasses all those of the sons of men, and which traverses the centuries surrounded by a halo of righteousness, of purity, of infinite mercy, that being at once so real and so ideal, so real that none has left on earth a deeper impression, so ideal that no light has made His pale, that Christ has often awoke in those who beheld Him for the first time only mistrust, hostility, mockery, and more than one generation has hailed Him with a repellent cry. Let the writings of the most ancient adversaries of Christianity be read. Let one page be quoted to me in which a trace is recognized of the moral impression which the life of Christ produces today on every sincere conscience. We believe that they never contemplated Him; that their look was never stayed on Him in an hour of justice. They had the Gospels, they had the living testimony of the Church, and the history of Jesus was not yet disfigured by the iniquities of its defenders. It does not matter, they saw Him only through the thick cloud of prejudice and hatred. It was a phantom they fought against. The Christ of Celsus and of Julian, the Christ whom anti-Christian satire mocks, is a silly Jew, whose greatness no one suspects for a moment. Our century has seen the same facts reproduced in an entirely different form. To what did that vigorous and learned attack against Christianity tend, so cleverly led by Strauss, if not to make a myth of Christ and His work; that is to say, a mere conception of the human consciousness? Now a mythical personage is a phantom and nothing more. The supernatural Christ was to them only a phantom, and they would never have believed then that one day they would find light and peace at His feet. But in the midst of the gloom which envelops the disciples a voice is heard. Jesus Christ has spoken. He has said, It is I; be not afraid. The apostles recognize that voice, and in the midst of the storm their hearts are penetrated with a Divine peace. It is the same at all seasons. There is an incomparable emphasis in Christs sayings. Yesterday we were in trouble and anguish, today we hear and are subdued. Explain who can this phenomenon. It is a fact for which witnesses would rise today in all parts of the world. Here is the tempest of doubt. Here around you and into your very soul another night descends, envelops and penetrates you. It is the night of remorse, the memory of a guilty past which haunts and besets the human conscience. Here is the hour of suffering. Finally, here is death, death which for in any of our travelling companions is the extreme end and the separation without return. He has spoken. Will you pay attention to this? I do not say, He has reasoned, He has argued, He has proved. I simply say, He has spoken! Now it is found that everywhere and in every age there are men who are enlightened, soothed, consoled by this voice, and to whom it gives an invincible conviction, an immortal hope! (E. Bersier, D. D.)
The contrary currents of life
The winds always seem contrary to those who have any high and earnest purpose in life. Careless sailors afloat on the currents, with no aim but the pleasure of motion, who can watch the play of the wavelets, and hear their musical splash, or gaze on the tints that gleam on the opalescent sea, find life a pastime-for a time. But those who have a course, a compass, a pilot, and are in haste on the errand of heaven, are kept to the full strain of vigilance lest winds should sweep them backwards; and often hand weary, heart weary, they are tempted to give up all effort to keep their course, content to drift with the current which sets back again to the forsaken shore. An earnest purpose alone gives us the measure of the influences which surround us.
I. We are able when thinking over this great matter, a life course and its issues, to remind ourselves of the great life course to which the winds were ever contrary, which something seemed always to sweep back from its end. Without question, life is a hard matter to the earnest; the night is dark, the toil hard. Often the main support of faith is to look steadily to Him to whom the night was darker, the toil harder, and who is seated now a radiant Conqueror at the right hand of the throne of God.
II. Let us look at the broad fact of the contrariness of the currents of life. I am not speaking of storms, but of the constant steady set of the current, which seems to keep us under perpetual strain. With some there is a lifelong struggle to fulfil the duty of some uncongenial calling, which yields no fair field of activity to the powers which they are conscious are stirring within. There are others who are crossed in their dearest hopes; life is one long, sad regret. There are others with a weak and crippled body enshrining a spirit of noblest faculty; with intense ardour pent up within.
III. The reason and rightness of this contrariness of the currents of life. God sets things against us to teach us to set ourselves against things, that we may master them. We are kings, and have to conquer our kingdom.
IV. The master is watching how the lesson prospers. Not from on high; not from a safe shore; but there in the midst of the storm He is watching, nay is walking, drawing nigh, in the very crisis of the danger and the strain. He enters the ship; the danger is over. A force stronger than the current is there to bear us swiftly to the shore. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)
Toiling in rowing
I. The effect of rapid transitions in outward circumstances upon internal religious experience. That had been a great day to these disciples. Their enthusiasm had been aroused by the magnificent miracle. But out here on the water they had no cheering alleviation of their work. Wet to the skin by the spray, cut to the bone by the wind, we cannot wonder that they speedily became fatigued and disgusted.
II. The close and somewhat humiliating connection between wistful souls and weary bodies which always has to be recognized. Our most heavy seasons of despondency are often brought about by mere physical illness, or unusual prostration from our work.
III. That mere frames of desolate feeling give by no means a release from the pressure of diligent duty. They could not let the boat drift. They had to use all their skill.
IV. Jesus Christ, even in darkness, knows who have need of Him.
V. That Jesus Christ sometimes delays His coming to believers till He is sure of a welcome. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Christ walking on the sea
The sovereignty of Christ over the forces of inanimate nature is the general truth illustrated in this miracle, which may be taken with the former one, also wrought upon the sea, recorded two chapters before. He made the liquid waves a pavement for His feet; at His command their fury ceased, as He stepped into the tossing boat there was a great calm. We may look at this sovereignty of Christ over the sea in three ways-literally, spiritually, prophetically, in each case drawing a lesson. Let me try in a few words to show this.
1. Literally. There can be no force of nature, however untamable by man, which is beyond His control. If it was so in the day of His humiliation, how much more so now in His glory and universal sovereignty. Under His rule now must lie all the physical elements and forces which play such an important part in the lives and fortunes of us all. Think of the importance of this fact. There are times when nature seems tyrannical, remorseless. The earthquake crushes hundreds of sleeping families beneath the ruins of their shattered dwellings. The volcano scorches and blasts the fair scenes of human industry. The storm strews the shore with wrecks and corpses; the hungry sea swallows up its thousands of victims. Pestilence depopulates whole districts; drought and mildew make barren the fields, and leave the tillers of the soil to starve. Explosions, conflagrations, collisions, great catastrophes to life and property, happen in spite of all precautions, and scatter around wounds, and misery, and death. It might seem as if nature went on its reckless course, heedless of human cries, rushing along on the iron lines of fate, on its fickle wheels of chance, without pity and without purpose. Here comes in the first lesson of the miracle. Despair, fear, even inquietude, may be banished, if all nature be in the hand of Him who died to redeem us.
2. Let us view the miracle spiritually. Natures storms are emblems of storms in mans heart; and Christs sovereignty over those is a pledge to us of His power to control these also, and reduce them to peace. If we have any true knowledge of ourselves, our own consciousness will tell us how greatly we need to experience the peace-giving power of our Redeemer. We cannot be ignorant that human nature is discordant within itself, and that sin has set its faculties at war with each other. Times come when tempests blow in our own souls-tempests of temptation, and trial, and unbelief; times when our passions are violent and break away from control, or our fears rise and sweep wildly over us; times when inclination and self-interest fight fiercely against conscience, or guilt stirs up shame and remorse, and from one cause and another we are unquiet, restless, tossed to and fro, like the troubled surface of the sea beneath the smiting of the storm. And who shall lay to rest these tempests of the soul, and bring us to a holy calm and harmony within? The true and only Peacemaker is He who stood in the tempest-tossed boat, and said to the winds and the sea, Peace, be still.
3. Once more, the miracle has a lesson for us when viewed in its prophetic aspect. Christ, Lord of the raging waters, stilling the violence of the storm, and bringing peace and rest to the tempest-tossed disciples, images His final victory over evil, and the salvation in which His redeeming work shall at last be completed. (B. Maitland, M. A.)
God present though not seen
In the novel, Blessed Saint Certainty, a student, the son of a white father and an Indian mother, retires to the woods to seek communion with the Power above him. There, after many days, his Indian mother finds him talking to God, and crying to Him to reveal Himself. She sees that it would be a mistake to make known her presence; so she lies still among the brushwood, watching his struggles lovingly and sympathisingly, yet never uttering a word of help, And at last, when she judges it safe, she steals quietly away. God often treats His children in just that way. He, too, often sees that it is best to look upon the struggle, and to make no sign. So Jesus, in todays lesson, looked down from the hill and saw the disciples toiling all night in a storm which a word of His would have stilled. He meant that His disciples should learn a lesson from that storm.
Self-confidence to be learnt
It is usual, in some swimming schools, to teach beginners by sending them into the water with a belt around their waist, to which is attached a rope which again is connected with an overreaching arm of wood. This is under the control of the swimming master, and it is used at first to support the learner in the water; but as the learner gains confidence, the rope is slackened, and he is left to support himself by his own efforts. The master stands by, watching the boys struggles, ready to note any sign of real danger. When danger is seen, the rope is again tightened-at the right moment, not before-and the boy is taken safely out of the water. Jesus knows just how long to withhold help, and just when to bring it. He came to the struggling disciples in the fourth watcher the night.
Failing to recognize Christ
The foolish child shrinks with terror from the sight of the doctor who comes to bring him relief. And we, sometimes, as foolishly fail to recognize, and shrink from, Gods greatest blessings. A countryman saw, one morning, a gigantic figure coming towards him through the mist. He was about to flee in terror, when he noticed that the figure grew less and less as it approached. So he waited until it was near; and then found that he had been about to flee from his brother. Christs disciples, through the mist of their fears, failed to recognize Him as He Walked on the sea.
The worth of absent sympathy
There was once a young officer in a battle in India who was terribly wounded. The doctor ordered both his legs to be amputated (this was before the days of chloroform); and after the agonizing operation was done, and when the poor young fellow was laid exhausted on his bed, he at once asked for pen and paper, and wrote a letter to his mother. Doubtless during his sufferings there was present to his mind to strengthen him the thought of his mother, far away in England, and how she would feel for him. And if we gain strength from human sympathy, there is even more to be found in the assurance of Divine sympathy from our risen Lord and Saviour, who can send down His grace and the strength of the Divine Spirit. (W. Hardman, M. A.)
The Lord can bear to see His followers distressed-to see them engaged in sore conflict with the enemies of His salvation, and yet not fly to their immediate succour; for secretly He is helping them. His tenderness is not weak, but moves according to the rules of perfect wisdom. (J. W. Pearson.)
You are appalled, overwhelmed, and cry out with terror. But remember, it is Christ imperfectly known that terrifies: once understand and know His dispensations-once be thoroughly acquainted with the amplitude of His grace-once perceive how immense is His compassion towards the greatest sinners, how full and complete the price He has paid-and all this doubt and fear will vanish. And do we not often misunderstand the march of Gods Providence? (J. W. Pearson.)
Observe, moreover, they go forward. That had been a sin, a capital offence, if they had endeavoured to go back to the shore. And yet they were but a little way from it. Happy is that young Christian who, if, after engaging in a course of real practical Christianity, after entering in the paths of piety and true religion, he speedily met with obstacles, speedily found himself overtaken with difficulties and distresses, still determined that he will struggle against them, that he will not be driven back by any difficulties, but that he will effect the good pleasure of the Lord, convinced that He will never forsake those that trust in Him. They might indeed have said, after toiling so long, It is useless-we labour in vain-we spend our strength for nought-we never counted on this-we never imagined we were to engage in a service so arduous. O no; this is not their feeling; but having once engaged in it, they press forward; and He who commanded them to enter upon it, will assuredly succour them in due time. (J. W. Pearson.)
Be of good cheer, it is I
Christ would accustom them to hardship by degrees. They had before this been in danger at sea, but then their Lord was present with them; and though He was asleep, they had free recourse to Him to awake Him, and did so, with their cries (Mat 8:24-25, etc.) But now they were without His company. But though their fears and troubles were great while Christ was absent, they were increased at His coming to them in so wonderful a way, walking on the sea to give them help. And how ready are our hearts to sink, even when God and Christ are about accomplishing our deliverance!
1. The Person that spake, the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Those to whom He spake, viz., His disciples in their present distress; and by them to all true Christians. Their thoughts were as much troubled even as the sea.
3. We may observe the kind nature and design of Christs speech to them at this time. It was full of compassion, and tending to their support: Be of good cheer, do net faint, nor be afraid.
4. The argument He used to silence their fears and doubts, and give them relief-It is I: i.e., One whom you have seen and known, and need not now distrust; One whose power and grace you have experienced, and on which you may still rely.
5. The time when He spake thus comfortably to them-Straightway. In their greatest extremity He speedily reveals Himself to be their refuge; and raises their hope when their hearts are ready to fail. When believers are ready to sink under their troubles, tis the most powerful argument to their relief, to have Christ seasonably coming in, and saying to them, It is I.
I. Whence it is that even believers are apt to sink under their troubles. Tis no uncommon case for gracious souls to be cast down and disquieted under pressing afflictions. But there is a peculiar anguish in the hour of death. As to the springs of this.
1. We are too prone to put far from us the evil day.
2. Death may find us in the dark as to our title to the life to come, or meetness for it.
3. Conscience in our last hours may be awakened to revive the sense of past sins, and so may increase our horrors and terrors.
4. Satan sometimes joins in with an awakened conscience, to make the trial the more sore. Lastly, God sometimes withdraws the light of His countenance: and how deplorable is the case that the soul must then be in! If God be for us, who can be against us? If He speak peace, who can give trouble? And who could keep from fainting, did not Christ seasonably interpose, saying by His word and Spirit, Be of good cheer, it is I. To proceed to the second thing.
II. What Christ thus speaks for the relief of His present disciples, belongs to all the rest of His servants.
III. What is carried in the argument here used and what the servants of Christ may gather from it for their support. In general, it notes His presence with them, and His wisdom, power, faithfulness, and love to be engaged for them. Tis the Lord that speaks: and so-
1. Tis One that hath an unquestionable right to take from me, or lay upon me, or do with me, what He pleases.
2. Tis Christ that invites our regard to Him under every dispensation, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3).
3. Tis He that steps forth and offers Himself to our notice, saying, It is I; One who hath purchased heaven for His believing followers, and is preparing them for it, and in the best way conducting them to it.
4. He that thus speaks has moreover said, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter (Joh 13:7).
5. In Christ, who here speaks, all the promises of God are Yea and Amen: and He has bid His disciples to ask what they will in His name and He will do it. It is I, your only and all-sufficient Redeemer, on whom your help is laid, and whose business and delight it is to succour and save. It is I, who died, the just for the unjust, that I might bring you to God; and who have undertaken that you shall not miscarry or lose your way. It is I, who can bestow whatever you need, and deliver you from all your fears, and keep what you have committed to me against that day, the day of My coming to judgment. It is I, who live, and was dead; and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death (Rev 1:18). Fear not to go down into the grave, I will be with thee, and surely bring thee up again. It is I, who never yet failed any that trusted Me, and am the same yesterday, and today, and forever. It is I, who am the resurrection and the life, with whom is hid your life in God; and though you lay down your bodies in the dust, when I who am your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Me in glory. A few words by way of use shall close all.
1. Are believers themselves so ready to sink under their burdens, what then can bear up the hearts of others? If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
2. Seeing tis Christs voice alone that can comfort the soul, how desirable is an interest in Him, and how earnestly should we labour after it? Lastly, let the disciples of Christ in all His dealings with them, dismiss their fears at His kind reviving voice, It is I. It is I, who have all your times in My hand, and your safety as to both worlds at heart. It is I, whose power is over all things in heaven and earth, and that power is by unchangeable love engaged for you; and if this be enough to your comfort, be of good cheer, it is I, who call you now by My gospel to receive the benefit of it, further and further. It is I, who am entrusted with you, and may be trusted by you, as your nearest, best, and everlasting friend. (D. Wilcox.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 45. To the other side before unto Bethsaida] John says, Joh 6:17, to Capernaum. It is probable our Lord ordered them to steer to one or other of these two places, which were about four miles distant, and on the same side of the sea of Galilee.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
If this desert where Christ was were, as Luke saith, Luk 9:10, a desert belonging to Bethsaida, those words, , are ill translated
unto Bethsaida, and the marginal note in our larger Bibles is better, over against Bethsaida. Our Saviour here first sends away his disciples by water, then he dismisses the multitude to go to their own homes. Then he goeth up into a mountain to pray. We find Christ very often in the duty of secret prayer, very often choosing a mountain, as a place of solitude, for the performance of it, and very often making use of the night for it, which is also a time of quietness and solitude: which lets us know that secret prayer is necessary, not only for the bewailing, and confessing, and begging pardon for our secret sins, (for Christ had no such), but for our more free and more near communion with God; for although God filleth all places, yet we shall observe that God, in his more than ordinary communion with his people, hath not admitted of company, of which Abraham, and Moses, and Jacob, and all the prophets are sufficient instances.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
45. And straightway he constrainedhis disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other sidebeforeHim.
unto BethsaidaBethsaidaof Galilee (Joh 12:21). John(Joh 6:17) says they “wentover the sea towards Capernaum”the wind, probably,occasioning this slight deviation from the direction of Bethsaida.
while he sent away thepeople“the multitude.” His object in this was to putan end to the misdirected excitement in His favor (Joh6:15), into which the disciples themselves may have been somewhatdrawn. The word “constrained” implies reluctance on theirpart, perhaps from unwillingness to part with their Master and embarkat night, leaving Him alone on the mountain.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And straightway he constrained his disciples,…. The reasons of this is [See comments on Mt 14:22],
to get into the ship; in which they came to this place, and which was waiting for them:
and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida; or rather “to go to the other side over against Bethsaida”; for they were now in a desert belonging to that city, wherefore they were ordered to go, and did go to the other side of the sea of Tiberias, or Galilee, even to Capernaum, as appears from Joh 6:17;
while he sent away the people; [See comments on Mt 14:22].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Christ Walking on the Sea. |
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45 And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. 46 And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. 47 And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. 48 And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. 49 But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: 50 For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. 51 And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. 52 For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened. 53 And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. 54 And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him, 55 And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. 56 And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.
This passage of story we had Matt. xiv. 22, c., only what was there related concerning Peter, is omitted here. Here we have,
I. The dispersing of the assembly Christ constrained his disciples to go before by ship to Bethsaida, intending to follow them, as they supposed, by land. The people were loth to scatter, so that it cost him some time and pains to send them away. For now that they had got a good supper, they were in no haste to leave him. But as long as we are here in this world, we have no continuing city, no not in communion with Christ. The everlasting feast is reserved for the future state.
II. Christ departed into a mountain, to pray. Observe, 1. He prayed; though he had so much preaching-work upon his hands, yet he was much in prayer; he prayed often, and prayed long, which is an encouragement to us to depend upon the intercession he is making for us at the right hand of the Father, that continual intercession. 2. He went alone, to pray; though he needed not to retire for the avoiding either of distraction or of ostentation, yet, to set us an example, and to encourage us in our secret addresses to God, he prayed alone, and, for want of a closet, went up into a mountain, to pray. A good man is never less alone than when alone with God.
III. The disciples were in distress at sea; The wind was contrary (v. 48), so that they toiled in rowing, and could not get forward. This was a specimen of the hardships they were to expect, when hereafter he should send them abroad to preach the gospel; it would be like sending them to sea at this time with the wind in their teeth: they must expect to toil in rowing, they must work hard to strive against so strong a stream; they must likewise expect to be tossed with waves, to be persecuted by their enemies; and by exposing them now he intended to train them up for such difficulties, that they might learn to endure hardness. The church is often like a ship at sea, tossed with tempests, and not comforted we may have Christ for us, and yet wind and tide against us; but it is a comfort to Christ’s disciples in a storm, that their Master is in the heavenly mount, interceding for them.
IV. Christ made them a kind visit upon the water. He could have checked the winds, where he was, or have sent an angel to their relief; but he chose to help them in the most endearing manner possible, and therefore came to them himself.
1. He did not come till the fourth watch of the night, not till after three o’clock in the morning; but then he came. Note, If Christ’s visits to his people be deferred long, yet at length he will come; and their extremity is his opportunity to appear for them so much the more seasonably. Though the salvation tarry, yet we must wait for it; at the end it shall speak, in the fourth watch of the night, and not lie.
2. He came, walking upon the waters. The sea was now tossed with waves, and yet Christ came, walking upon it; for though the floods lift up their voice, the Lord on high is mightier,Psa 93:3; Psa 93:4. No difficulties can obstruct Christ’s gracious appearances for his people, when the set time is come. He will either find, or force, a way through the most tempestuous sea, for their deliverance, Psa 42:7; Psa 42:8,
3. He would have passed by them, that is, he set his face and steered his course, as if he would have gone further, and took no notice of them; this he did, to awaken them to call to him. Note, Providence, when it is acting designedly and directly for the succour of God’s people, yet sometimes seems as if it were giving them the go-by, and regarded not their case. They thought that he would, but we may be sure that he would not, have passed by them.
4. They were frightened at the sight of him, supposing him to have been an apparition; They all saw him, and were troubled (v. 50), thinking it had been some dmon, or evil genius, that haunted them, and raised this storm. We often perplex and frighten ourselves with phantasms, the creatures of our own fancy and imagination.
5. He encouraged them, and silenced their fears, by making himself known to them; he talked familiarly with them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I; be not afraid. Note, (1.) We know not Christ till he is pleased to reveal himself to us. “It is I; I your Master, I your friend, I your Redeemer and Saviour. It is I, that came to a troublesome earth, and now to a tempestuous sea, to look after you.” (2.) The knowledge of Christ, as he is in himself, and near to us, is enough to make the disciples of Christ cheerful even in a storm, and no longer fearful. If it be so, why am I thus? If it is Christ that is with thee, be of good cheer, be not afraid. Our fears are soon satisfied, if our mistakes be but rectified, especially our mistakes concerning Christ. See Gen 21:19; 2Ki 6:15-17. Christ’s presence with us in a stormy day, is enough to make us of good cheer, though clouds and darkness be round about us. He said, It is I. He doth not tell them who he was (there was no occasion), they knew his voice, as the sheep know the voice of their own shepherd, John x. 4. How readily doth the spouse say, once and again, It is the voice of my beloved!Son 2:8; Son 5:2. He said, ego eimi—I am he; or I am; it is God’s name, when he comes to deliver Israel, Exod. iii. 14. So it is Christ’s, now that he comes to deliver his disciples. When Christ said to those that came to apprehend him by force, I am he, they were struck down by it, John xviii. 6. When he saith to those that come to apprehend him by faith, I am he, they are raised up by it, and comforted.
6. He went up to them into the ship, embarked in the same bottom with them, and so made them perfectly easy. Let them but have their Master with them, and all is well. And as soon as he was come into the ship, the wind ceased. In the former storm that they were in, it is said, He arose, and rebuked the winds, and said to the sea, Peace, be still (ch. iv. 39); but here we read of no such formal command given, only the wind ceased all of a sudden. Note, Our Lord Jesus will be sure to do his own work always effectually, though not always alike solemnly, and with observation. Though we hear not the command given, yet, if thus the wind cease, and we have the comfort of a calm, say, It is because Christ is in the ship, and his decree is gone forth or ever we are aware, Cant. vi. 12. When we come with Christ to heaven, the wind ceaseth presently; there are no storms in the upper region.
7. They were more surprised and astonished at this miracle than did become them, and there was that at the bottom of their astonishment, which was really culpable; They were sore amazed in themselves, were in a perfect ecstasy; as if it were a new and unaccountable thing, as if Christ had never done the like before, and they had no reason to expect he should do it now; they ought to admire the power of Christ, and to be confirmed hereby in their belief of his being the Son of God: but why all this confusion about it? It was because they considered not the miracle of the loaves; had they given that its due weight, they would not have been so much surprised at this; for his multiplying the bread was as great an instance of his power as his walking on the water. They were strangely stupid and unthinking, and their heart was hardened, or else they would not have thought it a thing incredible that Christ should command a calm. It is for want of a right understanding of Christ’s former works, that we are transported at the thought of his present works, as if there never were the like before.
V. When they came to the land of Gennesaret, which lay between Bethsaida and Capernaum, the people bid them very welcome; The men of that place presently knew Jesus (v. 54), and knew what mighty works he did wherever he came, what a universal Healer he was; they knew likewise that he used to stay but a little while at a place, and therefore they were concerned to improve the opportunity of this kind visit which he made them; They ran through that whole region round about, with all possible expedition, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, and not able to go themselves; there was no danger of their getting cold when they hoped to get a cure, v. 55. Let him go where he would, he was crowded with patients–in towns, in the cities, in the villages about the cities; they laid the sick in the streets, to be in his way, and begged leave for them to touch if it were but the border of his garment, as the woman with the bloody issue did, by whom, it should seem, this method of application was first brought in; and as many as touched, were made whole. We do not find that they were desirous to be taught by him, only to be healed. If ministers could not cure people’s bodily diseases, what multitudes would attend them! But it is sad to think how much more concerned the most of men are about their bodies than about their souls.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
To Bethsaida ( ). This is Bethsaida on the Western side, not Bethsaida Julias on the Eastern side where they had just been (Lu 9:10).
While he himself sendeth the multitude away ( ). Mt 14:22 has it “till he should send away” ( ) with the aorist subjunctive of purpose. Mark with the present indicative pictures Jesus as personally engaged in persuading the crowds to go away now. Joh 6:41f. explains this activity of Jesus. The crowds had become so excited that they were in the mood to start a revolution against the Roman government and proclaim Jesus king. He had already forced in reality the disciples to leave in a boat
to go before him () in order to get them out of this atmosphere of overwrought excitement with a political twist to the whole conception of the Messianic Kingdom. They were in grave danger of being swept off their feet and falling heedlessly into the Pharisaic conception and so defeating the whole teaching and training of Jesus with them. See on Matt 14:22; Matt 14:23. To this pass things had come one year before the Crucifixion. He had done his best to help and bless the crowds and lost his chance to rest. No one really understood Jesus, not the crowds, not the disciples. Jesus needed the Father to stay and steady him. The devil had come again to tempt him with world dominion in league with the Pharisees, the populace, and the devil in the background.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
WHEN JESUS WALKED ON THE SEA, V. 45-52
1) “And straightway He constrained His disciples,” (kai euthus enagkasen tous mathetas autou) “And immediately He urged His disciples,” there was no time to lose. Night was coming rapidly. Their day was near done.
2) To get into the ship,” (embenai eis to ploion) “To enter (get on board) the ship,” that stood by, that brought them there privately, when the people had run before, Mar 6:32-33.
4) “Before unto Bethsaida,” (pros Bethsaidan) “Before Him to or toward Bethsaida,” near their next intended place of rest and service, Mat 14:22, The word “Bethsaida” means “fish-house” or house of fishing.
5) “While He sent away the people.” (heos autos apoluei ton ochlon) “While He dismissed or dispersed the crowd,” sending them to their homes, Mat 14:23; Joh 6:15-16. They would not otherwise have gone away.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Mar. 6:49. A spirit.A phantasm or apparition.
Mar. 6:52. Hardened.Become dullinsusceptible and irresponsible to spiritual impressions. See chaps, Mar. 3:5, Mar. 8:17.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mar. 6:45-56
(PARALLELS: Mat. 14:22-36; Joh. 6:15-21.)
Christ walking on the sea.This incident stands alone, among the recorded acts of Jesus, as a peculiar manifestation of His character and dealings. In general Christs miracles were founded on the principle of relieving human want and misery, while also displaying Divine power. But here the object was different, as will appear from a careful consideration of the circumstances.
I. It had been a day of self-revelation on the part of Jesus.The privacy which He had sought for the apostles and Himself having been invaded by the multitude, He had devoted Himself to teaching them concerning the kingdom of God, and healing them that had need of cure (Luk. 9:11). He had also relieved, by a miraculous increase of food, the hunger of five thousand men,thus demonstrating to the people at large that He was at least a Messenger come from God; and as such they acknowledged Him. To His more immediate disciples, however, it was necessary that He should now manifest Himself in a character of more unquestionable greatness; it was important that they should regard Him, not merely as One come from God, but as a Being closely connected with the Deity, in a union incomprehensible indeed, but undeniable. In this character, therefore, He determined to exhibit Himself to them. Accordingly He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, etc. The unenlightened multitude whom He had instructed and miraculously fed sought forsooth to make Him a King, in acknowledgment of the benefits He had conferred upon them (Joh. 6:15); but He who afterwards freely offered Himself to those who came to compass His death shrank from the proffered glories of the world, and sent away those who would have forced them on Him.
II. When evening came, Jesus was alone.Mark how He employs the solitude thus sought and obtained. He departed into a mountain to pray. His life on earth was a mixture of contemplation and action, of austerity and freedom: we find Him often where the greatest concourse was to be foundin market-places, synagogues, etc.; and we find Him also retiring from the crowd into a desert or a garden, and there employing Himself in all kinds of religious exercise and intercourse with His Father, in fasting, meditation, and prayer. Following His example we may doubtless lead public lives innocently and usefully, conversing with men and doing them good, mutually sowing and reaping the various comforts and advantages of human society. But since the pleasures of conversation when too freely tasted are intoxicating and dangerous, since the temptations which we thereby meet with are many and great (and even where the spirit is willing to resist, yet the flesh is often weak), we ought therefore to regulate and restrain ourselves in the indulgence of such enjoyments by periodical intermissions of them, to strengthen ourselves for such public encounters by our religious privacies, to retire from the world and converse with God and our own conscience, examining the state and fortifying the power of our soul in secrecy and silence.
III. Next morning Jesus joined His disciples.Some three hours after midnight He cometh unto them, walking upon the sea. The fact surprises us: yet why should it? All elements are surely alike to Him who made them! The progress of Divinity, within His own dominions, cannot be confined to humanly constructed roads or solid ground. What wonder, then, that He who had so amply demonstrated His power upon the land should display it upon the waters also? Our surprise is but a result and an evidence of the weakness of our faith. The disciples during Christs absence had been toiling in rowing, for the wind was contrary. Doubtless that conflict of the elements had been stirred by Christ Himself, for the clearer display of His power, and the deeper conviction of His disciples. From the mountain where He prayed He had witnessed their distress; but for the benefit of their souls He delayed their rescue. So with ourselves. Often does the providence of God surround us with so dark a tempest of calamity that the prospect of relief would seem almost hopeless. Yet even in the darkest hour the eye of faith will pierce through the gloom to the regions of joy and peace beyond. Nay, are we not, through the whole of our present existence, in the situation of those wave-tossed disciples, sailing upon a sea of anxiety at the best, and of peril for the most part, in the hope of the appearance of our Lord? Is not that hope the only source of our light, the only anchor of our soul?
IV. The appearance of Jesus first terrifies and then consoles.
1. The confession of weakness so faithfully recorded in Mar. 6:49 is a sample of the candour which distinguishes Holy Writ. Had Jesus approached the ship in any ordinary manner, it would have been unaccountable that His disciples should not instantly have recognised Him; but the way in which He came of itself explains their misapprehension. They had never seen Him hold in abeyance the laws of nature with respect to His own body. The idea of His walking over the sea had never entered their minds; and consequently, in the absence of any rational explanation, they readily fell a prey to the weak suggestions of superstitious credulity. And if through that mere delusion of the imagination they were thrilled with horror and cried out in an agony of fear, though free from crime, what must the guilty conscience suffer in self-inflicted tortures even here, and what must be its torment of remorse hereafter!
2. The consoling voice of Jesus calms the stormboth stilling the waves of the sea and dispelling the tumult in the hearts of the disciples (Mar. 6:50-51). And in similar accents does He address Himself to all who turn to Him believing (Mat. 11:28; Joh. 3:16).
3. As to the degree in which we may, indeed must, repose our confidence in Him, the example of St. Peter on this occasion amply instructs us (Mat. 14:28-32). We are invited, nay bidden, to come to Jesus; and no sooner do we make the attempt than we are endowed with strength to enable us to come; and under the support of that celestial aid, without which we could do nothing, we advance nearer and nearer to the Eternal Source of light and life.
V. How far was Christs object accomplished by this miracle?St. Mark tells us that they were struck with amazement at the moment, and then, after that sudden ecstasy was past, they continued more collectedly and thoughtfully in a wondering mood. St. Matthew adds (Mar. 14:33) that they came and worshipped Him, saying, Of a truth Thou art the Son of God. This was the impression which Jesus had wished to produce upon their minds, and the acknowledgment which He had sought to draw from their lips. In forming and in expressing such an opinion they were supported by the authority of Scripture (Job. 9:8).
Mar. 6:56. Touching the Lord.Wonderful scenes must these have been,the rumour of His coming; the preparations for it; the eagerness to be first; the gestures and cries to excite notice and pity; the gracious touch; the joyful exclamations; the thankful returning home. And we sing, Thy touch has still its ancient power. Let us ask some simple questions as to the meaning of that.
I. What is the virtue now?
1. Not bodily healingthat is to say, not as it was given then. May I not then ask the Lord to heal me of my sickness, or my brother of his? I cannot do better. Let me seek the Lord through the physicians. The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. But the healing shall neither be instant nor quite certainly given.
2. The virtue now is soul-healing. The miracles of the Lord Jesus seem to have had two ends.
(1) They were demonstrative; by them Jesus of Nazareth was approved of God.
(2) They were also illustrative. When prophets foretold that the lame should walk and the dumb sing, they foretold what was literally done; but their language was also a figurative description of what Jesus would do for mens souls.
II. What is the border of the garment?In Revelation 1. St. John records his vision of the Son of Man. It is a vision of our High Priest clothed with a garment down to the foot. He is our Aaronour Melchizedek rather. The unction of the Spirit flows down to the skirts of His garment. Is there not a threefold hem?
1. Prayer: Lord, be merciful to me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee. He who touches thus shall be made whole.
2. The Word of God: Almighty God, who calledst Luke the physician to be an evangelist and physician of the soul, may it please Thee that by the wholesome medicines of the doctrine delivered by him all the diseases of our souls may be healed.
3. The Holy Sacraments: We pray to the Lord, who laid His hands upon little children and blessed them, to wash and sanctify our children with the Holy Ghost. And just as it is most important for recovery and health that wholesome food in plenty be given to the sick, so He has provided that in the Eucharist we eat His Flesh and live by Him: The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body and Blood of Christ.
III. What is the touch now?
1. Not the mere use of means. It is the touch of faith and prayer which is blest. No means of grace should be used without prayer. The Lord, at His baptism, was praying (Luk. 3:21). Apostles did not confirm or ordain without prayer (Act. 8:15; Act. 14:23). Not a superstitious but a believing use of the means of grace brings healing. The difficulty of faith when Jesus was among men lay in believing that He who seemed to be man only was God. Its difficulty now is that the Lord is withdrawn by the cloud of His ascension. But faith triumphs now as it did then.
2. The touch is a personal application. I will yet for this be inquired of to do it for them. Heaven for the asking; but we must ask; and, God knows why, how many, alas, stop short of the asking!
(1) Jesus has entered here; we were born in a Christian country. How shall we answer for it? We have owned Bibles all our lives; the house of God has stood open for us; the Lords Day has proclaimed to us that Jesus passeth by. What if after all we are not healed?
(2) The touch of these sick needed not to be repeated; the souls touch does. Where first we knew health, there it is our delight to resort continually.
(3) May we see the force of example here? Did the woman (Mar. 5:27) set this happy fashion, and these follow her? Do not let us leave others without the help of our example, openly making application to the Lord that healeth us.
(4) See the power of intercession. It was friends here who laid the sick in the Lords way and besought Him. Effectual fervent prayer availeth much.H. Thompson.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Mar. 6:45. Changes in life.How unexpected and disheartening a change! A calm sunset; a sober livery of evening clothing the quiet vales; the rose and purple transfiguration of the mountain-tops; the peaceful rocking of the slumberous waves; the joy of feeding the five thousand with loaves and fishes multiplying in their hands; and now, behold, disappointed hearts and a stern struggle in gathering darkness against threatening winds and waves! What a picture of life it is! Improbable and unexpected changes come, bringing unrest, tempting us to be unsubmissive or even disobedient. The loom of life has been arranged to produce a pattern to our liking; the swift shuttle of time, flying through the warp of our human affairs, weaves awhile a fabric pleasing to us and others, and then, an unseen hand silently shifting all the machinery of life, strange threads and sombre colours begin to weave upon a pattern not yet disclosed.
Mar. 6:46. Christs prayer.The prayer here referred to was not so much a series of requests or petitions, as a state of rapt contemplation of Gods presence and a profound communion with Him. He spent those quiet hours in a Divine meditation, drinking afresh at the Eternal Springs, listening to the inspirations of the Fathers voice. The claims of honour and ambition which men made for Him were put aside and clean forgotten, as He entered into the secret place of the Most High and dwelt under the shadow of the Almighty. He saw then with clear vision His work stretch out before Him as the Redeemer of men, and knew that He must be made perfect through suffering ere God or man could crown Him.D. W. Forrest.
Christ lived by faith.As the Son of Man, made like unto His brethren, He too lived by faith. He was ever going up into His mountain of devotion and bringing down power and encouragement. It mattered not how clamant appeared the demands for outward service, He allowed nothing to rob Him of that frequent solitary fellowship. He was never so busy that He had no time for retirement. Without it His Mission had never been accomplished. And without it our life in Him will never be strong or deep.Ibid.
Foundations out of sight.Sometimes, perhaps, you have been impressed by the courage with which a man stood forth for truth and justice against a gainsaying multitude, or by the patience and submission shewn by one whose earthly hopes were blasted. You marvelled; but these men had in many an hour taken counsel of themselves, they had seen visions of God, and were sure how He would have them go, and that He would go with them. They knew whom they had believed. The foundations of Divine faith and life are, like all foundations, out of sight; but the character that you see and admire is based on them, and draws its strength from them. Therefore to rest even from good works may be a duty. There are some sweet souls whose devotion is such that they never can think it right to pause in their service, who are always finding some new claim on their sympathy, until they exhaust themselves. This ceaseless energy is not good either for their sake or for the works sake. Christ rested, simply sent the crowds away, many of them unhelped, and went up into His mountain; but when He reappeared it was with a double blessing.Ibid.
Mar. 6:48. Unable to come to Christ.We are sometimes in a like position with the disciples. In spite of all our efforts we cannot succeed in fighting our way to Him. In the midst of temptation, when our spirit seems held down and cannot soar to the joy of faith, or in severe bodily suffering, which envelops the soul with the black veil of spiritual darkness, there is still indeed deep down in the heart a believing desire for the Lords help, but dark thoughts of temptations rise like black and heavy waves between Him and ourselves. The soul cannot come to Christ: this sometimes lasts a long while, and even till the hour of death. Relatives may then be standing in deep grief round the death-bed, and anxiously asking: Is it possible that this soul is to die in the darkness of doubt? Is this disciple to be forsaken by the Lord in his last hour? Oh no; beloved, learn here that when disciples, in spite of all their efforts, cannot come to their Lord, He comes to them.E. Lehmann.
Hindrances turned into helps.The stormy sea has been used far too often as a symbol of a troubled life for us to hesitate a moment about making application of that scene to those times in our lives when events seem lawless, uncontrollable by ourselves, like that shifting, fluid, restless sea. Those waves seemed to present an insuperable barrier to Christs advance, but by the power of the life that is in Him He transformed them into a means of progress. Every billow was made by Him a stepping-stone towards His disciples. It is not a fanciful dream, but a sober fact, that many of His people, by the power of that self-same life, have triumphed over their troubles, and have found them helps heavenward. The spirit is mightier than the body, the living stronger than the dead. The Christly spirit is the conqueror of materialism in thought and in fact here and hereafter, and your Lord can make your very hindrances, as you call them, your stepping-stones heavenward.A. Rowland.
Mar. 6:49. Christ not recognised.They did not recognise Him, because He came to them in another manner from that to which they were accustomed. They took Him for a spirit announcing to them, according to the popular superstition, death and destruction, and they cried out for fear. So greatly may Christ be misunderstood by His people. We always think of Him after one fashion, and picture His coming according to our thoughts. If He comes otherwise, and approaches us, not in the way of prosperity, but upon the storm-tossed sea, we do not recognise Him and are afraid. When He draws nigh with hands full of blessings, He is welcome; but when He comes upon the waves of tribulation, we think it cannot be the Saviour. And yet it is He. What seems to us unmixed misfortune is often our greatest blessing. When we are afraid of perishing, He is just upon His way to preserve us.E. Lehmann.
Mar. 6:50. Christs words of cheer.These words of Christs, once uttered on the earth, are blent henceforth with heavens eternal echoes. When the storms of affliction are raging; when the blasts of adversity blow; when the bolts of bereavement are falling, in dark and dreary days; when strength and pride are prostrate, and the lamp of life burns low; when dear delights and darling dreams are vanishing away; when the light of hope is dim, and the heart is sick with sorrow,then for a time it seems as though our sky were for ever overcast, and the waters of grief were closing for aye above our heads. But there is One who rules the tempest; there is guidance in the waste of woe; there is deliverance deeper than disaster; there is a voice commanding, Peace! be still. Anon the clouds shall clear, the day shall dawn, the countenance of God shall beam; for sadness, loss, and dire dismay are sent to man for discipline, not for destruction. Yet a little while, and the anguish that has pierced the breast shall purify the soul; the helplessness of self-despair shall change to the rest of reliance; all the solitude shall smile, all the shadows be bright, and all the sounds of frantic fear and desolating doubt be whelmed in the sweet whisper of the Voice Divine, It is I; be not afraid.E. M. Geldart.
Mar. 6:51. Lessons.
1. It is commendable that they were affected with admiration and reverent fear of these great and miraculous works of Christ.
2. It is discommendable that they exceeded due measure in this astonishment and admiration of the miracles themselves, without due consideration of Christs Divine power by which they were wrought.G. Petter.
Mar. 6:52. Want of consideration.They failed in this consideration to the very end, and it was not until after the Holy Ghost was given them that their faith became equal to the demands upon it. And so it seems to be with disciples always. Our trouble is the dull heart, the slow apprehension, the little faith. We do not consider the providence which has its witness in our past experience. We fail to apprehend our Lords meaning in the questions which our circumstances, our work in the world, our obligations and duties, are continually putting to us. We miss the Divine purpose in the emergencies, the exigencies, which from time to time confront us. Least of all do we suspect that they are opportunities of faithoccasions for the exercise of spiritual power. Missions, charities, social reformations, and all the various forms of Christian enterprisethese things languish or fail chiefly because we, the disciples, cannot seem to get rid of the idea that man lives and must live by bread alone.W. T. Wilson.
Christs training.It is one purpose of the training of the school of Christ to beget confidence in His power and grace; and often this is done by bringing to light our lurking unbelief. And that is an hour of blessing for us when fateful events put before our eyes, in unmistakable ways, our lack of confidence in the Lord, and shame us into higher faith.
Hardness of heart.
1. Hardness of heart is a main cause hindering the fruit and profit which we should reap by the means of grace.
2. There may be and is even in good Christians (yea, in the best) some degree of hardness of heart.G. Petter.
Lessons.
1. The regenerate do in some measure see and feel their own hardness of heart, whereas the unregenerate have little or no feeling of it for the most part (Eph. 4:19; Tim. Mar. 4:2).
2. The godly not only feel but are unfeignedly grieved and humbled for their own hardness of heart; so are not the wicked.
3. The godly hate and constantly strive against it, using all good means to be rid of it, and to have their hearts softened more and more; not so the wicked, who bear with themselves, and willingly go on in hardness of heart (Rom. 2:5).
4. Hardness of heart in the godly is a sin of infirmity; but in the wicked it is a reigning sin, bearing away, and prevailing in them.Ibid.
Mar. 6:53. Gennesaretthe modern el-Ghuweiris that fine rich level tract of country which was the principal scene of our Lords earthly career. Its nature is wonderful, says Josephus, as well as its beauty. Its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees can grow upon it; and the inhabitants accordingly plant on it all kinds. The temperature of the air is so well mixed that it agrees with the different kinds. Walnuts, which require cold air, flourish there in the greatest abundance; palm trees also, which grow best in heat; fig trees likewise, and olives, which require an air that is more temperate. One may call this place the Ambition of nature, where it constrains those plants which are naturally enemies to one another to agree together. It is a happy strife of the seasons, as if every one of them laid claim to this country, for it not only nourishes different sorts of autumnal fruit beyond mens expectation, it preserves them a great while. It supplies men with the principal fruits, with grapes and figs, continually during ten months of the year, and the rest of the fruits, as they become ripe together, throughout the whole year.
Mar. 6:55. Helping others.
1. In that this people shew their love by bringing the sick to Christ to be healed, we learn that it is a duty of love and mercy which we owe to such as are in misery and affliction, to afford them our best help and succour.
(1) We profess to be fellow-members of the same mystical body of Christ, the Church.
(2) We ourselves are subject to like afflictions.
2. How are we to help such as are in misery and affliction?
(1) By our prayers to God to give them strength, patience, deliverance, to sanctify to them all their troubles, etc.
(2) By comforting and strengthening them in all their troubles, that they may be better able to bear them with patience.
(3) By our best advice, counsel, and instruction.
(4) By providing for them the best outward means of comfort and help in our power.
3. True Christian love is diligent and painful in doing duties and services of love to others as occasion offers.
4. We ought wisely to observe and take the best opportunities of helping and doing good to such as are in misery and distress.G. Petter.
Mar. 6:56. Touching Christ.The touch was
1. Needy.
2. Wise.
3. Prompt.
4. Believing.
5. Personal.
6. Unrestricted.
7. Efficacious.John Smith.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 6
Mar. 6:45-51. The direction of the wind when Jesus walked on the sea.During a recent visit to the Sea of Galilee, I naturally spent some time over the Gospel narratives connected with this historic piece of water, studying them with the panorama of mountain, shore, ravine, and lake spread before me. It seemed to me that in one connexion at leastthat of Christs walking on the watermost of the commentaries I had read were at fault. Almost without exception they assume that the contrary wind which beset the disciples was a westerly wind, preventing them from reaching Capernaum on the west side. Now I believe that a study of the three narratives (Matthew, Mark, and John) bears out that the wind was actually from the east, and that the disciples were really pulling away from Capernaum, trying to get back to Bethsaida. In the first place, where was the Bethsaida spoken of in Mark? Most take it as the Bethsaida on the western shore, and translate as towards Bethsaida; but may mean, as in the margin, over against, in which case the town must be sought for on the eastern side. Mr. Haskett Smith, in his latest edition of Porters admirable Handbook, p. 253, says that the true site of this Bethsaida is a village named Msaidieha name virtually identical in meaningsituated on the fertile plain of el-Batheh, exactly opposite to Tell Hm, which he identifies with Capernaum. The hills immediately behind this ruin are generally admitted to have been the most likely scene of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand. If this be the true site, as there is every reason to believe, then the narrative becomes quite clear. At the conclusion of the feeding of the five thousand, then, Christ sent His disciples on board the ship with the intention of crossing with them to the other side. It is said, He constrained them to go on board. Why did He need to do so? Many say they too were carried away by the enthusiasm of the crowd, and would have liked to make Him a king (Joh. 6:15), and the supposition is probable; but it may further be that, experienced fishermen as they were, they knew the signs of an approaching storm, and marvelled that their Master should compel them to go on board at such a time. Before a tempest on the lake there is usually a great sultriness in the air, the sky is murky and filled with misty, indefinitely shaped clouds, while the sun loses its brilliancy and appears of a pale sickly yellow. But Christ gave no reasons beyond the directions to pick Him up farther along the shore. Their ship ( ) was anchored a little off the shore, and communication was kept up by means of a single punt or skiff, (Joh. 6:22). Having got on board, the disciples sent back the skiff, and waited for their Master. But the storm burst upon them, and blew them far out across the lake towards the west. It was my good fortune while in Galilee to witness one of the most violent tempests seen for many years. I am aware that the majority of squalls come down the Wady Hammm and are westerly in character; but the storm I witnessed came from the south, and after blowing for half an hour in that direction changed to the north-east. I was assured by the boatmen on the lake who had been in this tempest that the only resource for a boat caught in such a squall is to let her drift, till the first violence is spent, when rowing may be attempted. Such was, no doubt, the case with the disciples. They simply had to scud before the seas and furious wind, till the initial fury had somewhat spent itself, when they took to the oars and began the weary work of rowing back to Bethsaida. This they continued till the fourth watch of the night, toiling against the heavy breakers and, perhaps, dashing rain. But their toil was in vain; they drifted more than they rowed. Christ saw them , and came walking on the water to meet them. Why did they not see Jesus till He was passing them by? (Mar. 6:48). Simply because, if our supposition is correct, their backs were turned towards Him as He was coming with the wind, while they were toiling at the oars against the wind. Immediately on receiving Jesus into the boat, John tells us, the ship was at the land whither they went (Mar. 6:21). The Evangelist gives no indication that the incident is to be regarded as a miracle, nor need we necessarily suppose it to have been one. John says they had rowed twenty-five or thirty furlongs when they were met by Jesus. But as they were drifting more than they rowed, they were close on the other side when Christ appeared. From Msaideh to Capernaum is just about twenty-eight furlongs, so that when they took Jesus into the boat, and the storm was hushed, it was straightway that their ship was , i.e. touching the shelving, gravelly beach. The shore had been obscured before, partly by the gloom of night and partly by the spray and spindrift, which is such a feature of these Galilean storms. In conclusion, I may say that the homiletic value of this exegesis appears to me greater than on the common view. The disciples in this case were not rowing away from Christ, but, filled with a strong love for their Master, and in apprehension at leaving Him alone on the desolate shore, were doing all they could to pull back to Jesus, even though at the expense of enormous labour to themselves. It is a splendid instance of devotion, and shews that the fishermen had risen much in moral courage since the time of their former craven fear when Jesus was on board, and when He stilled the tempest.G. A. Frank Knight.
Mar. 6:47-51. Two aspects of life.In a gallery in Italy there are two pictures side by side by different artists. One represents a sea tossed by storms. Dark clouds hang over it, and the lightning-bolts pierce the sky, and the wrathful waves roll in fury. In the seething waters a dead human face is seen. The other represents a sea similarly storm-tossed; but in the midst of the angry waters is a rock, and in the rock a cleft with green herbage and flowers, and amid these a dove quietly sitting on her nest. These two pictures tell the whole story of human life in this world. The first is a story of life without Christ, unblessed by His presence and peace. There is storm everywhere, with no quiet shelter. The other shews the peace which Christ gives. There is no less storm. The waves roll as high. But there is peace. The rock represents Christ; it is in the cleft of the rock that the peace is found.
Mans impotence.The bowling wind, the raging waves, and the tossing, tremulous ship taught them what they needed to feeltheir impotence. Ah! man in his season of prosperity and peace is prone to pride, disposed to cherish an overweening estimate of his character and position. It is a blessing when, even by a terrible tempest of adversity, this insuperable bar to improvement is removed, and the man knows himself. On one occasion the great Napoleon arranged to review his fleet off Boulogne. Seeing that a severe storm was impending, the admiral in command sent word to the Emperor, advising that the position of the ships should be altered. Napoleon demanded obedience to his first directions, and the vice-admiral obeyed. The storm burst in terrific violence. Several gun-sloops were wrecked, and over two hundred soldiers and sailors were obliged to battle with the angry sea for life, and few escaped. The Emperor at once ordered the boats out to rescue the drowning men, but he was told that no boat could live in such a sea. Then, in the strength of his determination, he ordered a company of grenadiers to man his boat, and springing into it, he exclaimed: Follow me, my brave fellows! Push on! Push on! In vain the poor soldiers struggled at the oars. Push on! cried Napoleon. Do you not hear their cries? Oh, this sea! this sea! It rebels against our power, but it may be conquered! Scarcely had the words escaped his lips when a mighty billow struck the boat, and sent it and its occupants with terrible force high up the shore, leaving them like a stranded waif. Thus was the proud monarch taught his impotence. Thus also is self-confident, self-important, self-conceited man often driven back by lifes stormsdriven back upon the very first principles of a truly religious lifeconscious weakness and necessary dependence.J. H. Hitchens, D.D.
Divine help.A lifeboat, with its precious cargo, was pitching and rolling in a fearful storm, when the old captain cried aloud to all, Hold on! hold on! The response came, Ay, ay! But there was one little voice which, in the sadness of despair, exclaimed, I cant hold on! Instantly the strong arm of the captain was thrown around that trembling child, and he was safe. So when Jesus sees and hears that, notwithstanding our utmost efforts, we feel we need Him, and crave His Divine help, He hastens to our relief.Ibid.
Thought for sailors.As Christ went to the relief of His distressed disciples, so we who profess to value the religion of Jesus should be willing to do all we can for our sons of the sea. They are a noble race, our sailors. They are ever ready to do a kindness to a distressed fellow-voyager; they have extraordinary opportunities for spreading the truth; and they are called to exercise an untold amount of self-denial. A ship was once in distress. Though the angry sea dashed and foamed with terrible fury, yet some noble sailors put off to rescue the ships crew. After prolonged effort and peculiar danger, they succeeded in bringing the whole company safely to shore. A man of wealth, standing by the waters side, as spectator of the mens heroism, was moved by the way they risked their lives. Pulling out his purse, he offered all the gold it contained to the coxswain and his men. The gift, however, was respectfully declined, the boatswain saying, No, sir; we would save a man for nothing any day. Brethren, shall we be backward when the souls of such brave men are to be saved?Ibid.
Difficulty melting before endeavour.How often hast thou found thyself, at the entrance into a duty, becalmed as a ship, which, at first setting sail, hath hardly wind to swell its sails, while under the shore and shadow of the trees, but meets a fresh gale of wind when got into the open sea? Yea, didst thou never launch out to duty, as the apostles did to sea, with the wind in thy face, as if the Spirit of God, instead of helping thee on, meant to drive thee back, and yet hast found Christ walking to thee before the duty was done, and a prosperous voyage made of it at last?W. Gurnall.
Mar. 6:48. Toil.Half the ingenuity of mankind is expended in the attempt to avoid toil. The Lords constraint, then, which sometimes snatches us away from pleasant ease and compels us to endure some hardness of toil, is a thing to be thankful for. No doubt Robert and Mary Moffat, among the idolatrous and warlike Bechuanas of South Africa, needed the stern discipline of toiling and fruitless years as a preparation for the larger successes of later times. The ten long years of darkness, without a glimmer of the dawn, tried and proved a faith which was imperishable. Before one convert rewarded their labours, a friend wrote to Mary Moffat to ask what thing of use she could send to her, and was answered, Send us a communion service; we shall want it some day.
Toilers.It is an interesting thing to look out from a suburban railway train, which enters London or any other large town on a high level, and as one rapidly passes along to catch a flying glimpse at the busy life beneath. Here one gazes down into a crowded street with its bustling throngthere one sees a factory with the spindles and machinery revolving behind the windows; or it may be we catch sight of the roaring fires of a foundry, or the humble toil of a washerwoman. But one general characteristic strikes the mind. It is a sense of the busy activity of mens livesthat they are toiling. Now there is no reason why the idea of work should be an unhappy one. God in mercy has given mankind work to do, to make us useful and happy, and keep us out of harm; but the word toil implies the idea of over-work, of too much pressure, of too little time for rest and leisure; and many an excellent and hard-working man is in these days pressed beyond his powers, which is a great evil.Dr. Hardman.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
8. JESUS WALKING ON THE WATER 6:45-52
TEXT 6:45-52
And straightway he constrained his disciples to enter into the boat, and to go before him unto the other side to Bethsaida, while he himself sendeth the multitude away. And after he had taken leave of them, he departed into the mountain to pray. And when even was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them, about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking on the sea; and he would have passed by them: but they, when they saw him walking on the sea, supposed that it was an apparition, and cried out: for they all saw him, and were troubled. But he straightway spake with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the boat; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves; for they understood not concerning the loaves, but their heart was hardened.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 6:45-52
300.
If they were at Bethsaida when they landed how is it they now came to Bethsaida as recorded in Mar. 6:45?
301.
Why the urgency of Jesus in asking His disciples to go over the sea to Bethsaida?
302.
Was there some special burden on the heart of Jesus that He wanted to be alone with God in prayer? Cf. Joh. 6:15.
303.
Did Jesus know there was to be a storm at sea?
304.
How could He see them in the sea if it was at night?
305.
What is meant by distressed in rowing.
306.
Why say and would have passed by them? (Mar. 6:48 b.) What purpose was there in this?
307.
Did the disciples believe in ghosts? Why their fear?
308.
Show how appropriate were the words of Jesus to them.
309.
When and why did the wind cease?
310.
In what manner could it be said their heart was hardened? Mar. 6:52?
COMMENT
TIMESpring of A.D. 29.
PLACEThe sea of Galileenear Bethsaida.
PARALLEL ACCOUNTSMat. 14:22-36; Joh. 6:15-21.
OUTLINE1. Jesus urged His disciples to get into the boat and go before Him to Bethsaida, Mar. 6:45. 2. Prayer in the mountain, Mar. 6:46. 3. The boat was in the midst of the seaThe disciples rowing for their lifeJesus came to them walking on the water, Mar. 6:47-48. 4. They saw Him and were afraid. He calms their fears and the sea, Mar. 6:49-51. 5. They should have understood His powersbut they did not, Mar. 6:52.
ANALYSIS
I.
JESUS URGED HIS DISCIPLES TO GET INTO THE BOAT AND GO BEFORE HIM TO BETHSAIDA, Mar. 6:45.
1.
He remained alone.
2.
He sent the multitude away.
II.
PRAYER IN THE MOUNTAIN, Mar. 6:46.
1.
Said farewell to disciples.
2.
Alone in prayer.
III.
THE DISCIPLES IN THE MIDST OF THE SEA ROWING FOR THEIR LIFEJESUS CAME TO THEM WALKING ON THE WATER, Mar. 6:41; Mar. 6:48.
1.
At night.
2.
Came to them three hours before daylight.
3.
Wanted to pass by(so they could see him).
IV.
THEY SAW HIM AND WERE AFRAIDHE CALMS THEIR FEARS AND THE SEA, Mar. 6:49-51.
1.
They cried out in fear because they thought He was a ghost.
2.
He comforts them with Be not afraid it is I.
3.
When He stepped into the boat, the wind ceasedastonishment.
V.
THEY SHOULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD HIS POWER, BUT THEY DID NOT, Mar. 6:52.
1.
The loaves and fishes should have taught them of His power.
2.
Their hearts were dull.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
The effect of this miracle upon the minds of those present was very great, So mighty and wonderful an exhibition of power, reminding them, perhaps, of the feeding of their fathers in the wilderness by Moses, led them to say, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world, We can scarce doubt from the context that they meant the Messiah, for so great was their enthusiasm that they proposed among themselves to take Him by force and make Him king (Joh. 6:14-15). It is said by Pressene; The multitudes are ravished, enthusiastic; now, indeed, they believe that they have found the Messiah after their own heart. Thus, the effect of the miracle was to confirm them in their false Messianic hopes, for they interpreted it as a sign and pledge of the highest temporal prosperity under His rule, who could not only heal the sick of all their diseases, but feed five thousand men with five loaves of barley bread. Hence, He must immediately dismiss them. It appears from Matthew and Mark that He sent away the disciples first, perhaps that the excitement of the multitude might not seize upon them. That they were unwilling to leave Him, and that He was obliged to constrain them to depart, is not strange, if we remember that they knew no way by which He would rejoin them but by a long walk along the shore; and this in the solitude and darkness of the night, for it was evening when they left the place. (compare Mat. 14:15; Mat. 14:23, where both evenings, the early and late, are distinguished.) Aside from their reluctance to leave Him alone at such an hour, there may also have been fear upon their own part of crossing the lake in the night, remembering their great peril from which He had a little while before delivered them (Mat. 8:24) and perhaps also, seeing signs of an approaching storm.
After His disciples had departed, the Lord proceeded to dismiss the multitude, perhaps now more willing to leave Him that they saw His special attendants had gone. So soon as all had left Him, He went up into the mountain alone to praythe second instance mentioned of a night so spent; the first being the night prior to the choice of Apostles (Luk. 6:12-13), and both marking important points in His life.
We assume that the place where the people were fed was the southern angle of the plain of Butaiha, where the mountains meet the lake. From this point the Apostles, to reach Capernaum, would pass near Bethsaida at the mouth of the Jordan; and as Jesus proceeding along the shore must necessarily pass through it, we find no difficulty in supposing that they directed their course toward it with the design of stopping there, and taking Him with them into the boat when He should arrive. This is plainly intimated by Mar. 6:45, and is wholly consistent with Joh. 6:17. This latter passage is thus translated by Alford. They were making for the other side of the sea in the direction of Capernaum. He adds: It would appear as if the disciples were lingering along shore, with the expectation of taking in Jesus; but night had fallen and He had not yet come to them, and the sea began to be stormy. The great wind that blew and the tossing waves made all their efforts to reach Bethsaida useless. Nor could they even make Capernaum. In spite of all their endeavors, they were driven out into the middle of the lake and southerly, down opposite the plain of Gennesaret.
Thomson (ii. 32), referring to this night voyage of the disciples, says: My experience in this region enables me to sympathize with the disciples in their long nights contest with the wind. I spent a night in that Wady Shukaiyif, some three miles up it, to the left of us. The sun had scarcely set, when the wind began to rush down toward the lake, and it continued all night long with constantly increasing violence, so that when we reached the shore next morning, the face of the lake was like a huge boiling caldron. The wind howled down every wady, from the northeast and east, with such fury that no efforts of rowers could have brought a boat to shore at any point along that coast. In a wind like that, the disciples must have been driven quite across to Gennesaret, as we know they were. We subsequently pitched our tents at the shore, and remained for three days and nights exposed to this tremendous wind. No wonder the disciples toiled and rowed hard all night, and how natural their amazement and terror at the sight of Jesus walking on the waves. The whole lake, as we had it, was lashed into fury; the waves repeatedly rolled up to our tent door, tumbling on the ropes with such violence as to carry away the tent pins. The width of the sea opposite the plain of Gennesaret is about six miles, and the disciples, who had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs when Jesus met them, were thus something more than half the way over. As this was about the fourth watch of the night (Mar. 6:48), or from 36 A.M., the disciples must have been struggling against the wind and waves some eight or ten hours.
The incident respecting Peters attempt to walk on the water to meet Jesus is mentioned only by Matthew. That after he had been rescued they entered the ship, is expressly said: And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased (Mat. 14:32). In like manner Mark (Mar. 6:51): And He went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased. But with this Johns narrative has been thought by some to be in contradiction (Mar. 6:21): Then they willingly received Him into the ship, and immediately the ship, was at the land wither they went (R.V., They were willing therefore to receive Him into the boat). It is said that the disciples willed or desired to take Him into the ship with them, but did not, because the ship immediately came to the shore. Tholuck, however, defends the translation of Beza, they received Him with willingness, which is the same as our English version. John mentions the will only, assuming that every reader would understand that the will was carried into effect (M. and M.) Some deny that the ship came to the shore by miracle, but suppose that it came rapidly in comparison with the earlier part of the voyage, the wind having subsided and the sea become smooth. On the other hand, Luthardt and most rightly regard it as supernatural. (Samuel J. Andrews)
FACT QUESTIONS 6:45-52
339.
What false hopes did the multitude obtain from the feeding of the five thousand?
340.
How account for the reluctance of the disciples to leave Jesus?
341.
Jesus spent a night in prayer once beforewhen?
342.
Read Mar. 6:45 and Joh. 6:17 and harmonize them.
343.
How does Thomson help us appreciate the plight of the disciples?
344.
When Jesus came to them on the water how far and how long had they rowed?
345.
Why was the incident of Peters walking on the water omitted by Mark?
346.
Harmonize the following accounts: Mat. 14:32; Mar. 6:51; Joh. 6:21.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(45) Unto Bethsaida.There is nothing in the text to warrant the marginal reading, over against Beth-saida. It was probably suggested by some one who did not know that there were two Bethsaidas, in order to avoid the seeming difficulty which presented itself from the statement in St. Luke, that the Five Thousand were fed at or near Bethsaida.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
45. Unto Bethsaida Bethsaida is situated, according to the latest researches, on the two sides of the Jordan as it falls into the Lake of Gennesaret. The Lord directs them in effect to touch at Bethsaida on their way to Capernaum. From the fact that Bethsaida is spoken of as sometimes being in Galilee and sometimes in Gaulanitis, it has been supposed, upon pure conjecture, that there were two Bethsaidas, as is seen upon our map at the title-page. But it is better to consider the two as being a double Bethsaida on the opposite sides of the Jordan, being counterparts of each other. Thus it appears upon our map at page 62. There would thus be one part in Galilee and one in Gaulanitis. Dr. Thomson thus explains the facts of this eventful night:
“As the evening was coming on, Jesus commanded the disciples to return home to Capernaum, while he sent the people away. They were reluctant to go and leave him alone in that desert place. To quiet their minds, he may have then told them to go on before toward Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd, promising to join them in the night, which he intended to do, and actually did, though in a manner very different from what they expected. In this state of anxiety, they endeavoured to keep near the shore between this and Bethsaida. But a violent wind beat off the boat, so that they were not able to make Bethsaida, nor even Capernaum, but were driven past both; and when near the plain of Gennesaret, at the northwest corner of the lake, Jesus came unto them walking upon the sea. All this is topographically natural.”
Mar 6:45-56
64. JESUS WALKS ON THE SEA, Mar 6:45-56 .
(See notes on Mat 14:22-36.)
Mark omits all mention of Peter’s attempt to walk upon the water.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And immediately he constrained his disciples to board the boat and to go before him to the other side, towards Bethsaida, while he himself sends the crowds away. And after he had taken leave of them he departed to the mountain to pray.’
‘Immediately He constrained His disciples.’ There was certainly pressure there and we may ask why. Possibly it was to prevent the disciples from saying anything further to the crowds about the miracle (they might well have thought it would produce what they thought was a good effect), or equally probably because He was also getting uneasy at the attitude among the crowds and was fearful that in their enthusiasm at being fed by Him they were about to press His Messianic status (see Joh 6:15 where this is made quite clear). And He did not want the disciples, who were still struggling to grasp the truth about Him, to become involved. He preferred to deal with the matter alone. (With their limited understanding the disciples might have become equally excited. They had been preaching that the Kingly Rule of God was coming, and they may have thought that here was its beginnings, but in totally the wrong way).
A further reason was that He wanted time alone to pray. So once He had seen the disciples off and had persuaded the crowds to return to their homes He went alone into a nearby mountain to pray. For Jesus praying see Mar 1:35 and Mar 14:32-42, each time during the night, but compare Mat 14:23. See also Luk 6:12; Luk 9:18; Luk 11:1. Jesus went without sleep to pray at crucial times in His ministry, but also no doubt prayed regularly at other times. Pious Jews prayed at ‘the time of prayer’ morning and evening. So in the midst of a despairing world He walked in total faith. These particular mentions of prayer come at the commencement of His ministry as He faces up to the huge burden involved in constant teaching, healing and exorcism (Mar 1:35), at the initiation of the new community following the Apostles’ successful ministry (Mar 6:46) and as He faces His final agony prior to His death, three great stepping stones in His life.
‘Bethsaida’ means the house of fishing, a very suitable name for a fishing town or village, and there may well have been two of them (otherwise why would John speak of a Bethsaida ‘of Galilee’? – Mar 12:21), one at the top of the lake to the East, Bethsaida Julias, and one lower down the lake on the west bank, Bethsaida-of-Galilee, a small fishing village. Or it may be that they both refer to the same town, and that having been with the crowds to the East of Bethsaida Julias He sent them away from the crowds ‘to the other side’ across a portion of sea at the top of the lake, to the area West of Bethsaida Julias. The area would be known by the name of the town.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus Comes to His Disciples in Their Need, Walking on the Water (6:45-53).
As ever in salvation history the blessing is to be followed by trial. Having been fed by God they must now learn that times can also be hard, and that He is trustworthy in the hard times also. In the future they would have to feed the people, but they would be feeding a people who would as well have to endure the problems of life. Christians are not sheltered from those. After their mountain top experiences they have to face the waves of hardship. They therefore needed to learn that the One In Whom they trusted would walk with them in that hardship and would bring them safe to shore.
Earlier we have seen the Apostles going out in triumphant faith and enjoying great success. Now we see them fearful and almost faithless in the face of the strong winds and the unexpected appearance of Jesus. They still have much to learn.
It is quite possible that Mark deliberately places these two great miracles (the loaves and walking on the water) after the achievements of the disciples in order to keep those achievements in perspective. Acting under His authority they had power, but their power did not compare with that of the Master Himself.
Here Jesus sent His disciples ahead of Him by boat to sail to ‘Bethsaida of Galilee’ (Joh 12:21). He had revealed His power over natural things in the multiplying of the bread and He would now again demonstrate to them His power over the elements. What they experienced was intended to remind them of the Scripture which said, “Your way is in the sea, and your path in the great waters” (Psa 77:19; see also Isa 43:16), words spoken to the Lord of creation. Jesus was about to demonstrate again that He was Lord of creation and could bestride the waves.
However, we must read what is said and not over-exaggerate the account. They met a contrary wind, not a storm, something they were well able to deal with even if it was hard work. This is not a further account of the stilling of a storm. All that is parallel with the other account is that they were in a boat at sea and the going was tough. Here there was a contrary wind, there there was a raging storm (a very different thing to experienced sailors). Here Jesus came walking on the water, there He was asleep in the boat. Here He saves them further effort, there He saved their lives. It is true that in both cases a wind ceases, but here it is a contrary wind that is a hindrance to rowing, and that is all, while there the violence of a destructive wind was combined with the raging of the boiling sea, and that was calmed as well. Those hardy sailors would have been amazed that people called the incidents at all similar. They are different at almost every point.
Analysis.
a
b While He Himself sends the crowds away. And after He had taken leave of them He departed to the mountain to pray (Mar 6:46).
c And when evening was come the boat was well out at sea and He alone on the land, and seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was against them, about the fourth watch of the night He comes to them walking on the sea. And He would have passed by them (Mar 6:47-48).
d But they, when they saw Him walking on the sea, supposed that it was a ghost and cried out, for they all saw Him and were distressed, but He immediately spoke with them and says, “Be of good cheer. It is I. Do not be afraid” (Mar 6:49-50).
c And He went up to them in the boat and the wind ceased (Mar 6:51 a).
b And they were greatly amazed in themselves, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their heart was hardened (Mar 6:51-52).
a And when they had crossed over they came to the land to Gennesaret, and moored to the shore (Mar 6:53).
Note that in ‘a’ H constrains the disciples to board the boat and make for the other side, and in the parallel they reach the other side. In ‘b’ Jesus prays in confident faith, and in the parallel the disciples are amazed and flummoxed, because of their lack of faith. In ‘c’ He sees them having a hard time against the prevailing wind and would have passed them by, and in the parallel He goes up to them in the boat and arranges for the wind to cease. Centrally in ‘d’ what appeared at first to be a horror, turned out to be Jesus coming to meet them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus Walks on the Water ( Mat 14:22-33 , Joh 6:16-21 ) Mar 6:45-52 gives us the account of Jesus walking on the water. We find an interesting statement in Mar 6:48 when the Evangelist tells us that Jesus was intending on passing by His disciples who were in the boat and continuing His walk on the water. However, He turned and came to them to comfort them when they became fearful. We must remember that the context of this story is during a phase of Jesus’ ministry when He was training His disciples how to walk in faith for divine miracles. As with the feeding of the five thousand (Mar 6:30-44), which had just taken place, Jesus was giving His disciples an opportunity to overcome their doubt and fear and to walk in faith. Thus, this story of Jesus walking on the water ends by referring to the miracle of the loaves and the hardness of their hearts (Mar 6:52), which reflects their process of training for the ministry.
Comparison of Parallel Passages – When we compare Mark’s account to the one in Matthew, we read about Peter’s attempt to walk in the water. Matthew’s account reveals that the disciples were learning how to walk as Jesus walked. When they failed, Jesus rebuked them because of their unbelief.
Mar 6:45 And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.
Mar 6:45
Mar 6:48 Comments – The Lord revealed Himself to Isaiah as “a God that hidest thyself” (Isa 45:15). When Hezekiah began his reign as king over Israel, the Scriptures tell us that the Lord was with him (2Ki 18:7). However, there came a season in his life when Hezekiah’s heart was lifted up with pride (2Ch 32:24-26). Therefore, the Lord had to bring about circumstances that humbled the king. God chose to remove Himself for a season so that Hezekiah would realize his need and dependence upon the Lord, and repent and turn back to Him (2Ch 32:31).
2Ki 18:7, “And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.”
2Ch 32:31, “Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.”
God wants us to pursue Him, which is a sign of our love and devotion and dependence upon Him; for God wants our fellowship. The angel of the Lord pull away from Jacob, but the patriarch wrestled with the angel until he received a blessing (Gen 32:24-30). Jesus did not stay with the Samaritans until they urged Him (Joh 4:40). When Jesus came walking on the water towards the disciples in the boat during a storm, He made as if He were going to pas by them. They cried out to Him and He came (Mar 6:48).
Isa 45:15, “Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.”
Joh 4:40, “So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.”
Mar 6:48, “And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Christ Walking on the Sea and His Return to Galilee. The dismissal of the disciples and the people:
v. 45. And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into a ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while He sent away the people.
v. 46. And when He had sent them away, He departed into, a mountain to pray. He constrained, He urged, He almost forced His disciples to embark into their boat again. They were loath to leave after this glorious exhibition of divine power, and they may have been truly solicitous for His welfare in the face of the unremitting labor which He was performing. But His will prevailed; they must try to cross over the lake to Bethsaida, probably that on the northwest shore of the sea. His next task was to dismiss the people, who may have been just as unwilling to go, as John reports, but were also sent home. When the majesty of His divinity shone through His mortal frame, then there was no questioning Christ’s power, and there was no denying Him obedience. And now, being all alone, Jesus took the opportunity to pray to His heavenly Father. On the hill overlooking the lake, in the darkness and loneliness, He poured out His heart and obtained new strength from above. In many a difficult position, in many a hard problem, before many a bitter experience, the best way, the surest method of getting the necessary strength is to bring it to the Lord in prayer.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mar 6:45-56 . Comp. on Mat 14:22-26 . The latter abridges indeed, but adds, probably from a tradition [101] not known to Mark, the intervening scene Mar 14:28-31 . The conclusion has remained peculiar to Mark.
. . .] remaining behind alone , He could the more easily withdraw Himself unobserved from the people.
] the ship , in which they had come.
] The place on the western coast of the lake, in Galilee , is meant, Mat 11:21 . See Mar 6:53 ; Mar 8:22 ; Joh 6:17 . In opposition to Wieseler and Lange, who understand the eastern Bethsaida, see on Mat 14:22 , Remark. As to the relation of this statement to Luk 9:10 , see in loc.
(see the critical remarks) is to be explained from the peculiarity of the Greek in introducing in the direct mode of expression in oblique discourse, by which means the representation gains in liveliness. See Khner, II. p. 594 f., and ad Xen. Anab. i. 3. 14; Bernhardy, p. 389.
. ] after He had taken leave of them (of the people), an expression of later Greek. See Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 24; Wetstein in loc.
Mar 6:48
. .] The difficulties suggested by the lateness of the time at which they were still sailing, after having already reached the middle of the lake (Strauss, B. Bauer), are quite explained by the violence of the contrary wind. Comp. Ebrard, p. 392; Robinson, Pal. III. p. 527, 572.
] The Vulgate rightly has: praeterire eos (Hom. Il. viii. 239; Plat. Alc. i. 123 B), not: “to come over (the lake) to them,” Ewald (yet comp. his Gesch. Chr. p. 365). This is at variance with the New Testament usage, although poets (as Eur. Med. 1137, 1275) join , to come to any one, with the accusative; moreover, after the remark would be superfluous. It, might mean: He wished to overtake them ( antevertere , see Hom. Od. viii. 230; Sturz, Lex. Xen. III. p. 453; Ameis and Ngelsbach on Hom. II. i. 132), but the primary and most usual meaning is quite appropriate.
Mar 6:51 . ] is further strengthened by : very much above all measure . Comp. (Meineke, Menand. p. 152), and similar expressions (Lobeck, Paralip. p. 62), also , Plat. Eryx. p. 393 E.
] in their own hearts , without giving vent to their feelings in utterances, as at Mar 4:14 .
] The imperfect denotes (comp. Act 2:7 ) the continuance of the feeling after the first amazement.
Mar 6:52 . ] for they attained not to understanding in the matter of the loaves (on occasion of that marvellous feeding with bread; Mar 6:41 ff.); otherwise they would, by virtue of the insight acquired on occasion of that work of Christ, have known how to judge correctly of the present new miracle, in which the same divine power had operated through Him, [102] and they would not have fallen into such boundless surprise and astonishment. Bengel says correctly: “Debuerant a pane ad mare concludere.” De Wette unjustly describes it as “an observation belonging to the craving for miracles;” and Hilgenfeld arbitrarily, as “a foil” to glorify the confession of Peter.
. . .] informs us of the internal reason of their not attaining insight in the matter of the loaves; their heart, i.e. the seat of their internal vital activity (Beck, Seelenlehre , p. 67; Delitzsch, Psych , p. 248 ff.), was withal in a state of hardening, wherein they were as to mind and disposition obtuse and inaccessible to the higher knowledge and its practically determining influence. Comp. Mar 8:7 .
Mar 6:53 . ] points back to Mar 6:45 .
. . ] not: into the country, but unto the country of Gennesareth; for the landing ( .) and disembarking does not follow till afterwards .
Mar 6:55 . ] in order to fetch the sick.
] belongs to the description of the quick result. Immediately they knew Him, they ran round about and began, etc.
] is not inappropriate (Fritzsche), which would only be the case, if it were necessary to suppose that the individual sick man had been carried about . But it is to be understood summarily of the sick; these were carried about one hither, another thither, wherever Jesus was at the time (comp. Mar 6:56 ).
Hence , cannot mean: from all the places, at which ( ) they heard that He was there (in the region of Gennesareth), but both and , although we may not blend them after the analogy of the Hebrew into the simple ubi (Beza, Grotius, Wetstein, and many others), must denote the (changing, see Mar 6:56 ) abode of Jesus. They brought the sick round about to the places, at which they were told that He was to be found there . We may conceive that the people before going forth with their sick first make inquiry in the surrounding places, whether Jesus is there. Wherever on this inquiry they hear that He is present, thither they bring the sick.
Mar 6:56 . . ] therefore not merely limiting Himself to the small district of Gennesareth, where He had landed. The following , however, is not in keeping with (country-places). A want of precision, which has suggested the reading in D, Vulg. It. The expression is zeugmatic.
. . . . ] comp. Mar 5:28 . As to the mode of expression, see Act 5:15 ; 2Co 11:16 .
] all whosoever , in the several cases. Comp. above: . See Hermann, de part . , p. 26 ff.; Klotz, ad Devar. p. 145; Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 186 f. [E. T. 216].
] analogously to the case of the woman with an issue of blood, Mar 5:29-30 , yet not independent of the knowledge and will of Jesus. And refers to Jesus , no matter where they touched Him.
[101] According to Hilgenfeld, Mark purposely suppressed the incident under the influence of a Petrine tendency, because Peter had shown weakness of faith. In this case he would have been inconsistent enough in narratives such as at Mar 8:33 . Weizscker rightly recognises in Matt. l.c. the later representation, which, however, is merely a further embellishment not belonging to history.
[102] Mark therefore regarded the walking on the sea quite differently from Lange, L. J. II. p. 287 f., for this latter finds the pith of the miracle in the complete divine equanimity of the mind of Jesus, and in respect of that even says: “the dog falls into the water and swims, but the man falls into it and is drowned,” namely, by his alarm, instead of poising himself amidst the waves in the triumphant equanimity of his mind. This is an extravagance of naturalizing.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
SEVENTH SECTION
CONTEST OF JESUS WITH THE ENMITY OF THE PHARISEES AND SCRIBES FROM JERUSALEM; HIS WITHDRAWAL INTO THE GENTILE BORDERS OF TYRE AND SIDON, AND INTO THE DISTRICT OF DECAPOLIS
Mar 6:45 to Mar 8:9
______
1. The Return to Gennesaret; the Contrary Wind; Christs Walking on the Sea; New Miracles on the Western Coast. Mar 6:45-56
(Parallels: Mat 14:22-36; Joh 6:15-21)
45And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away15 the people. 46And when he had sent them away, he departed into a [the] mountain to pray. 47And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. 48And he saw16 them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. 49But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit [spectre], and cried out: 50For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. 51And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.17 52For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened. 53And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. 54And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him,18 55And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. 56And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
See on the parallel passages of Matthew and John.We owe to Mark the very important record, which sheds light upon the whole narrative, that the disciples were sent forward before the Lord in the direction of Bethsaidathat Bethsaida, namely, which lay on the eastern side of the sea. (See on Matthew.) Thus it was a passage across. Then his expression, , is an important parallel to the in John: it gave Him trouble to release Himself from the excited and enthusiastic people. Also, in the expression, , he coincides, in the meaning at least, with John, Mar 6:21, , … But while Mark omits the intervening incident connected with Peterwhich that Apostle, whose Evangelist he was, would modestly pass over, as making himself prominenthe lays stress upon the fact that the disciples had not been brought to a true and living faith, even by the miracle of the feeding. But he has painted most copiously and vividly the tumultuous excitement of the people, as it was occasioned by the Lords landing, and how they immediately knew Him and followed Him with their sick from place to place.
Mar 6:45. Unto Bethsaida.Meyers notion, that this was the western Bethsaida, and not the eastern, appears entirely groundless. [Wieseler understands by it the eastern Bethesda. Alexander remarks that it was not the city of Gaulonitis, at the northeastern end of the lake and eastward of the place where the Jordan enters it, in the desert tract southeast of which the miracle had just been wrought (Luk 9:10), but Bethsaida of Galilee, the birthplace of Simon, Andrew, and Philip (Joh 1:45), elsewhere mentioned with Capernaum (Mat 11:21; Luk 10:13), and therefore probably not far from it, but at all events upon the lake-shore, as Eusebius expressly mentions.Ed.]
Mar 6:46. Sent them away, .Not merely, bade them farewell, for which there would have been no necessity to send the disciples away first.
Mar 6:48. Would have passed by them.They were to follow Him in a westerly direction: no longer fruitlessly rowing eastwards against the wind (see on Matthew). He went before them, as it were, to show the way. They had wished to take Him up on the eastern coast (John); He would go before them to the western coast (Mark): an intermediate course was the result in the end.
Mar 6:51. Were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.The latter feeling found expression in exclamations; the whole strength of their internal amazement they did not express.
Mar 6:52. They considered not.They had not yet come to an understanding, , . They had not attained that living, self-developing apprehension of spirit, which would know how to draw the right consequences. Bengel: debuerant a pane ad mare concludere.
Mar 6:53. The land of Gennesaret.See on Matthew.
Mar 6:55 Began to carry about.Not merely in general, but some hither and others thither. It is also meant that they went with a sick man after Jesus from one place to another, when He had left the former.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. See on the parallel passages of Matthew and John.
2. The first miraculous feeding marks precisely the moment when our Lord had most expressly to contend with the peoples design to challenge Him as the Messiah, and make Him a king. In contrast with this design of the people, we must here take notice of the expression of Jesus pity for the wretched multitude: so little can the attempt of a people to exalt Him prematurely, and in a worldly sense, exert any influence upon Him. In that very circumstance the misery of the people presented itself to His view most plainly. But even this earnest effort of our Lord to withdraw Himself from the people was successful only for a short period. Very soon afterwards He was obliged, in the synagogue at Capernaum (according to John 6), to declare Himself most emphatically; and from that time onwards, that enthusiastic fanaticism among the people, which had before been prepared to take side with Him, even against Pharisaism the hierarchy and Herod, declined. From this time treachery began to germinate in the soul of Judas.
3. The miracle of Christs walking upon the sea was a manifestation of His divine power, not only over external objective nature, but also over His subjective nature, in the medium of His human equanimity. The mystery of this equanimity is the manifestation of the paradisaical, holy man in the midst of the nature subjected by the fall to vanity. (Meyer does not understand this: see Note on Mark.)
4. It is observable that the Evangelist Mark most expressly, and in the plainest manner, describes the state of the Apostles, down to the revelation of the risen Lord among them, as a state of dulness, hardness, and unbelief. He does not thereby deny their fidelity as disciples. But the true and perfect faith did not, in his conception, exist until the new evangelical Spirit of life was given, that life which could approve itself in a personal spontaneous development. And the disciple of Peter approaches John in this, as in many other traits of his evangelical representation.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See on the parallel passages in Matthew and John.The temptability of the disciples of Jesus as over against the fanatical excitement of the people.How Christ constrained them to take ship and go over the sea, in order to separate them from the people; and what significance this has for the Church and the ministers of Christ.Christ (and Christianity) the guide on the sea.The walking of Christ upon the waters.How the phantoms and scarecrows of vain fear vanish before the glory of Christ, in sacred reverence of His divine power.The climax of the enthusiasm of the Galilean people on behalf of Christ was also a turning-point.
Starke:Quesnel:Man is in the world like a little ship upon the stormy sea in the night; since he can neither counsel nor save himself. He who does not know danger, and does not pray, may soon perish.Jesus sometimes leaves us alone, that we may know ourselves and our own weakness, and feel how deeply we are in need of Him; but He never leaves us out of His sight.The wind of persecution is a useful wind; for it brings Christ to us, and us to land.Christ is Lord also over all nature.Luther:By such an example (the feeding) they should have been made so strong in faith as not to have been terrified at an apparition.Schleiermacher:Thus, as the living consciousness of the Redeemer is awakened within us, our temper must be calmed into the true equanimity; and this will smooth and regulate all things external.All the powers which God has given us we should put in motion to glorify the kingdom of God.Gossner:We are all still upon the sea of life.But He never loses us out of His sight.Bauer:When they have rightly heard the Masters word, phantoms and night and storm are all forgotten.
Footnotes:
[15]Mar 6:45., after B., D., L., . Tischendorf, Lachmann, Meyer.
[16]Mar 6:48.B., D., L., Vulgate, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer, read instead of , and omit the following (B., L.), making a parenthesis of , &cEd.]
[17]Mar 6:52.B., L., ., Coptic, Vulgate, Tischendorf omit ; rejected by Griesbach, bracketed by Lachmann, retained by Meyer.Ed.]
[18]Mar 6:54.After Lachmann inserts in brackets , following A., G., Versions. Meyer rightly regards it as a gloss.Ed.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
45 And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.
Ver. 45. See Trapp on “ Mat 14:20 “ See Trapp on “ Joh 6:12 “ See Trapp on “ Joh 6:13 “ See Trapp on “ Joh 6:14 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
45 52. ] JESUS WALKS ON THE SEA. Mat 14:22-33 . Joh 6:16-21 . Omitted in Luke. Matt. and Mark very nearly related as far as Mar 6:47 . John’s account altogether original, and differing materially in details: see notes there, and on Matt.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
45. ] ., the ship in which they had come. ] This certainly seems (against Lightfoot, Wieseler, Thomson (The Land and the Book), alli [23] .: see Bp. Ellicott’s note, Lectures on Life of our Lord, p. 207) to have been the city of Peter and Andrew, James and John, on the west side of the lake and in the same direction as Capernaum, mentioned by Joh 6:17 . The miracle just related took place near the other Bethsada ( Julias ), Luk 9:10 .
[23] alli= some cursive mss.
The pres. is a change to the oratio directa, not unusual in Greek. So Herod. iii. 84, . See Khner, Gram. ii. p. 594: Bernhardy, Syntax, p. 389, and numerous examples in both.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 6:45-52 . Another sea-anecdote (Mat 14:22-33 ). Luke drops out here and does not join his brother evangelists till we come to Mar 8:27 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mar 6:45 . : no time to lose; it was getting late. , vide on Mt. : we are apt to take this as a matter of course as = to the other (western) side of the lake, and consequently to assume that points to a Bethsaida there, distinct from Bethsaida Julias (Joh 1:44 ). But the expression . . may mean from the south end of the plain El Batiha, on the eastern side, to the north end towards Bethsaida Julias, the rendezvous for the night. In that case the contrary wind which overtook the disciples would be the prevailing wind from the north-east, driving them in an opposite direction away from Bethsaida towards the western shore. This is the view advocated by Furrer. vide Zeitschrift des Palstina-Vereins , B. ii. (1879). Holtz., H. C., thinks that either this view must be adopted or the true reading in the clause referring to B. must be that represented in some Latin copies: “trans fretum a Bedsaida,” C. Veron.; “ a Bethsaida,” C. Monac.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar 6:45-46
45Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. 46After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.
Mar 6:45 “Bethsaida” This city’s name means “house of light.” It was on the western side of the lake.
“He himself was sending the crowd away” The parallel in John 6 has so much more information about the reaction of this crowd. Mark’s points are the training of the disciples and Jesus’ compassion, while John’s account records how Jesus fulfilled the Jewish expectations about the Messiah feeding the Jews as Moses did (i.e manna). They tried to make Him king. This shows their misunderstanding of Jesus’ mission (i.e., like His disciples, His family, and the religious leaders).
Mar 6:46 “He left for the mountain to pray” Jesus had a regular prayer time. This is especially obvious in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus knew this miracle would be misunderstood. As He did not want to become a healer, He did not want to become a feeder (cf. Joh 6:15). He came to reveal the Father, but the crowd could not or would not see. In a sense this was a fulfillment of the temptation of Satan in the wilderness of tempting people with bread (i.e., supernatural feedings, cf. Mat 4:3-4).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
ship = boat.
to = unto. Greek. eis. App-104. (as in preceding clause).
Bethsaida. App-94., and App-169.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
45-52.] JESUS WALKS ON THE SEA. Mat 14:22-33. Joh 6:16-21. Omitted in Luke. Matt. and Mark very nearly related as far as Mar 6:47. Johns account altogether original, and differing materially in details: see notes there, and on Matt.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mar 6:45. , to Bethsaida) This was the terminus, not of their whole voyage, but in part, until Jesus was about to come to them.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mar 6:45-52
5. JESUS WALKING UPON THE SEA
Mar 6:45-52
(Mat 14:22-33; Joh 6:15-21)
45 And straightway he constrained his disciples to enter into the boat, and to go before him unto the other side to Bethsaida, while he himself sendeth the multitude away.–The disciples could row some distance away before the great multitude could be dispersed, as the women and children must needs be cared for; and the selection of places at which to lodge that night would require more or less time; so Jesus sent the disciples first on their way. The day was about gone when all had left the grounds.
46 And after he had taken leave of them, he departed into the mountain to pray.–Matthew (Mat 14:23) says: “He went up into the mountain apart”–that is alone–where he spent most of the night in prayer.
47 And when even was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.–He is now separated from both the disciples and the multitudes. This season of prayer alone with God lasted several hours, for it began in the evening after sunset, and he does not come to his disciples till the fourth watch, or between 3 and 6 o’clock the next morning.
48 And seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them,–They, while trying to go in one direction, were hindered by the wind going the opposite direction. about the fourth watch of the night–The ancient Hebrews divided the night, probably the period from sunset to sunrise, into three watches. (Jdg 7:19; Lam 2:19; Exo 14:24 1Sa 11:11.) The Greeks appear to have had the same division. But after Pompey’s conquest (B.C. 63) the Jews gradually adapted the Roman fashion of four watches. At this season of the year, soon after the vernal equinox (Joh 6:4),
Note: the “fourth watch” would be from 3 to 6 o’clock.
he cometh unto them, walking on the sea;–Jesus knew his disciples were in distress in the sea. From the mountainside and through the darkness of the night he looked down upon them in their toil and trouble. No doubt his prayer embraced them. When, exhausted and helpless, they needed him, he appeared, “walking on the sea.” When they have done all they could, he does the rest.
and he would have passed by them:–He did this to detract their attention and to reveal themselves to themselves. The disciples were not expecting Jesus to come in that way. This was a new miracle to them.
49 but they, when they saw him walking on the sea, supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out;–They did not recognize it was Jesus but thought it was rather an apparition, and hence to them a sign of disaster or death.
50 for they all saw him, and were troubled.–Disturbed at the scene. This was natural. They had no knowledge of what the object seen was. Matthew (Mat 14:26) says, “They cried out for fear.” They were frightened.
But he straightway spake with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.–You are in no danger, I am on the scene and will protect you from all harm. It is not uncommon for Jesus to come to our help in unexpected ways, and we are afraid of his coming though he is bringing blessings in disguise.
51 And he went up unto them into the boat; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves;–Jesus helped Peter back into the ship; and when they entered it, the wind ceased.
52 for they understood not concerning the loaves,–They comprehended not, so as to understand that he who had exercised such power over the loaves and fishes could exercise a similar power over the wind and sea. They did not perceive that all the elements of nature were under his control, those of wind and sea as well as those of loaves and fishes.
but their heart was hardened.–Dull, sluggish, insensible, so as not to recognize sufficiently his divine power and nature, and draw just conclusion from what they had previously seen. Jesus had bidden them cross the sea; and although it was rough and the winds were contrary, they should have considered that they were in the path of duty, and that Jesus never forsakes one so long as he does as Jesus bids him, and that he who could magnify the loaves and increase the fishes until they would feed thousands could walk upon the water and still the tempest, but they did not consider this.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
CHAPTER 27
Five Reasons for Good Cheer
And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened. And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him, And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.
Mar 6:45-56
Every step in the earthly life of the incarnate God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is full of deep meaning and spiritual significance. It is impossible for us to grasp the full meaning of his words and deeds until we see him face to face. Yet, it is easy to see that the events recorded in this passage of Holy Scripture have a very wide range of instruction.
These verses clearly show us a picture of every believers position in this world and the hopeful prospect of our Lords glorious second advent. Like the disciples in their little boat, we are often tossed to and fro by many storms and contrary winds. Like these disciples, we are frequently without the enjoyment of Christs manifest presence in this world. Yet, we shall see our Lord face to face. This is our joyful hope. Christ will come again and receive us unto himself.
Like these disciples tossed about upon the stormy sea, soon we shall see things changed for the better. When our Master comes, we will no longer be tossed about. Our storms will be over. All that is contrary to our happiness will come to an end. And we will enter into a great eternal calm.
However, for the present study, I want us to focus our attention to our Masters words to us in Mar 6:50. He said to his disciples, and he says to you and me, in all the storms and contrary winds we must endure in this world, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. I want to use the story recorded in these verses to give you five reasons for good cheer.
Before I proceed, I realize that some who read these lines have absolutely no reason for good cheer. The wrath of God is upon you. You are hovering over the very brink of hell. You are but a breath away from everlasting torment. Unless and until you flee to Christ for refuge, unless and until you bow to the Son of God in repentance and faith, trusting Christ alone as your Lord and Savior, you have no reason to rejoice in anything. Every breath you take in rebellion against God will increase your misery in the world to come! I plead with you in Christs stead, Be ye reconciled to God!
However, for you who believe God, though you may be required for now to sail through stormy seas and be tossed about by contrary winds, there are found in these few verses of inspiration five reasons for good cheer. As I call your attention to them, I pray that God the Holy Spirit will seal them to your heart and to my own, for Christs sake.
Providence of God
All who believe God have, at all times and in all circumstances, reasons for good cheer. If I believe God, I ought always to find a reason for good cheer in the wise and good providence of God, my heavenly Father. Divine providence is Gods rule, government, dominion over, and disposition of all things for the good of his elect and the glory of his great name. Read the verses before us carefully and you will see that it was no accident that these disciples came into this storm and experienced the great distress recorded. They were compelled and constrained by Christ himself to sail into this storm. And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people (Mar 6:45).
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28).
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen (Rom 11:33-36).
No matter what the storm is which I am compelled to endure, no matter what contrary winds I must face, I am given these assurances in the Word of God
My life and all the affairs of it are ordained and ordered by God my Savior.
My Lord will come to me and make himself known to me upon the raging billows in such a way as I could not otherwise know him.
I will sail through the storm and reach the other side of the sea, by Gods grace and in Gods appointed time.
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows, like sea billows, roll,
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul!
Presence of God
Not only are we assured of the universal providence of God over all things, we are assured of and should be of good cheer in the awareness of the presence of God our Savior at all times and in all circumstances. We are not always aware of him; but he is always aware of us. We do not always know his presence; but we are always in the immediate presence of God our Savior. And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them (Mar 6:48).
With those words the Holy Spirit tells us several things. The Lord Jesus saw his disciples in the storm, though they could not see him. We are never beyond the reach of his eye. Our way is never hidden from him. He knows the path we take. Wherever we are, whatever our circumstances may be, the Son of God sees us. Alone or in a crowd, in sickness or in health, in perils at sea, in perils upon the shore, and in perils in the wilderness, his eye is upon us! The same eye that watched the tempest tossed disciples watches us. Our darkness is light before him. There are many times when we cannot see him; but there are no times when he does not see us.
The Lord Jesus came to his disciples in the midst of their great trouble and distress. He came to them in the fourth watch of the night, after a long night of great distress. He came to them in a supernatural, unexpected, unexplainable way, walking upon the sea, the raging sea that terrified them! He came to them when they were in desperate need, after they had toiled all night in rowing. And though he was coming to them, it appeared as though he would have passed them by. Nothing could have been further from his mind, but he appeared to be entirely unaware of and totally unconcerned for his disciples. Yet, he was right there with them.
He who walked upon the water never changes! He always comes to us at the right time. He always comes when we most need him and are made to know that we need him, in the fourth watch of the night, after we have toiled long and hard and accomplished nothing by our toiling. When it appears that he would pass us by and cares nothing for us, the Lord is at hand.
Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Php 4:4-7)
Power of God
We who believe should always be of good cheer because of the providence of God, the presence of God, and, third, because of the power of God. I can never make up my mind which is more comforting to my soul: the omniscience of God, the omnipresence of God, or the omnipotence of God (Psa 139:1-18). And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered (Mar 6:51).
As soon as our Lord stepped on board their little boat, the storm ceased. What power he possesses! What power there is with him! Even the winds and storms obey his mere will. Everything in Gods universe is completely, totally, and constantly under his dominion and subservient to his will. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth!
The fact that the disciples were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered should not surprise us. How often we have experienced such amazement at our Saviors intervention in our lives. Like these disciples, we do not doubt for a moment our Redeemers divine omnipotence. Yet, like these disciples, we rarely expect it to be displayed; and when it is, we are filled with astonishment.
Pity of God
Fourth, believing God, we should ever be of good cheer, realizing the great pity of God our Savior toward us.
But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. (Psa 78:38-39)
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. (Psa 103:13-14)
Look at the disciples behavior in Mar 6:49-52, and remember that God our Savior is God who has compassion upon chosen sinners and pities us in our weak, sinful condition in this world.
But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.
Their behavior is a fair, accurate, faithful representation of us all. We should never be proud, heady, and high minded. We should never be too harsh in our judgment of these men or of other believers who behave as they did. These men were the Lords disciples, faithful men, gospel preachers. Yet, when they saw the Lord walking on the water, they thought they had seen a ghost, and were terrified! They forgot the miracles they had just witnessed and experienced. And their hearts were hardened in unbelief. Yet, their hardness and unbelief did not prevent Christ from coming to them, delivering them, and using them.
Path to God
Fifth, we should ever be of good cheer because Christ is the path to God (Mar 6:53-56).
And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him, And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.
Commenting on these four verses Robert Hawker wrote
I would appeal to the common sense and history of all mankind, whether the imagination can furnish a portrait so beautiful, so affectionate, and interesting, as is here drawn of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Prophet, ages before had said, Behold, your God will come and save you! Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing (Isa 35:4-6). And here we behold God indeed in the person of his dear Son, surrounded by the sick and diseased of every description and character, while as many as touched him were made whole. Oh! for grace, to come to Him now by faith; for surely, none whom God the Holy Ghost shall lead to Jesus, will the Lord send empty away.
As those mentioned here brought needy souls to the Savior, you and I are responsible to tell other eternity bound sinners who Christ is, what he has done for us, and where he may be found. The place of mercy is the place where Christ is, where his Word is preached, his name is honored, and his power is manifest. Bring the needy to his house, bring them to the Savior himself in prayer, lay them before him, and seek the grace of his Spirit for them, that they might touch him in faith and be made whole by him. The only path to God is Christ, faith in Christ. As many as touched him were made whole! It is still true. As many as touch him are made whole.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
straightway: Mat 14:22-33, Joh 6:15-17, Joh 6:18-21
unto Bethsaida: or, over against Bethsaida, Bethsaida, according to Josephus, was situated on the sea of Gennesaret, in the lower Gaulonitis – consequently on the east of the lake, as Pliny states and at the beginning of the mountainous country; and it was raised from a village to the honour of a city by Philip, and called Julias in honour of the emperor’s daughter. Some learned men, however, are of opinion that the Bethsaida mentioned in the gospels was a different place; and that it was situated on the western shore of the sea of Tiberias, in Galilee, near Chorazin and Capernaum, with which it is associated – Mat 11:21, Mat 11:23. Joh 12:21, and Bishop Pococke mentions the ruins of a town or large village in the plain of Huttin, about two miles west of the lake, still bearing the name of Baitsida, which he thinks occupies its site. Mar 8:22, Luk 10:13
Reciprocal: Mat 8:18 – unto Mat 13:36 – Jesus Mar 4:35 – Let Luk 8:22 – Let Luk 9:10 – Bethsaida Joh 1:44 – Bethsaida Joh 6:17 – and went Joh 6:22 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Chapter 5.
The Storm
“And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while He sent away the people. And when He had sent them away, He departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the land. And He saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them; and about the fourth watch of the night He cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw Him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw Him, and were troubled. And immediately He talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And He went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.”-Mar 6:45-52.
The Change of Plan.
And “straightway,” that is, as soon as ever the great feast was over, “He constrained His disciples to enter into the boat” (Mar 6:45). Now why did our Lord do this? It seems a complete reversal of all His plans. He had Himself invited His disciples to cross over with Him to this spot, in order that they might have a little respite from toil, and opportunity to talk quietly together over their preaching experiences. Why, then, did He send them away? The natural and obvious thing would have been for Jesus to dismiss the multitude, and then for Him and the Twelve to enjoy the quietness they had come to seek. And it is quite clear the disciples did not want to go. Christ had to exercise pressure, to exert His authority. “Straightway He constrained His disciples to enter into the boat.” What is the reason for this seemingly contradictory action of Jesus?
Its Cause.
The reason may be found in a sentence in John’s account. “Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force, to make Him a King” (Joh 6:15). That explains everything. The miracle of the great feast had stirred the people to a wild and dangerous enthusiasm-Herod’s castle was not very far off, and they were for marching on to it, deposing that blood-stained monarch, and installing Christ as King in his stead. Even the disciples were infected with the same spirit. Their dreams still were of thrones and an earthly dominion. They were quite ready to join hands with these excited but worldly-minded enthusiasts from Capernaum, and inaugurate there and then a political revolution. They were very far from understanding that Christ’s Kingdom was not of this world, and that He was marching not to a crown, but a cross. It was to get them out of this excited atmosphere, and to dissipate the carnal hopes that they had already begun to cherish, that Christ constrained, compelled, forced the disciples to go before Him unto the other side, to Bethsaida.
-Its Reception.
They went unwillingly. I should not be surprised to hear that they went resentfully. It must have seemed to them like throwing the chance of a lifetime away. Here was the crowd ready to follow Him anywhere, and to risk everything for Him. Why did He not seize His opportunity, and win the promised throne? Perhaps the beginning of Judas’ treachery dates back to this night. What was the use of following a Master who would not take the kingdom when it was within His grasp? It was all a mystery and a folly to these disciples. Christ’s ways were not their ways, nor His thoughts their thoughts. They were a discontented, sullen company, as Christ constrained them to enter into the boat and to go before Him unto the other side.
The Master’s Constraint.
Does it not happen sometimes still that Christ constrains us to walk along paths which, left to ourselves, we should never dream of taking? Does He not sometimes constrain us to walk the way of suffering, to enter the wilderness of temptation, to face tempests of trial? I wonder sometimes whether St Paul wanted to take that last journey to Jerusalem. Friends tried to dissuade him. He himself knew that bonds and imprisonment awaited him. Still, on he went. And the reason for it was, he was under constraint, he was “bound in the spirit!” When Christ constrains us, let us implicitly obey. Even though we cannot understand His reason, let us obey. Even though we see it means trouble and distress, let us obey. After events will justify our obedience, for they will show our Lord knew best. Paul never regretted that, “bound in the spirit,” he set his face to go to Jerusalem. All the troubles that befell him as the result of that journey turned out in the long run for the furtherance of the Gospel. Nor shall we ever regret our obedience. Christ’s ways are love.
“Though they transcend
Our feeble range of sight,
They wind through darkness to their end,
In everlasting light.”
The Praying Christ.
“He constrained His disciples to enter into the boat, and to go before Him unto the other side” (Mar 6:43), but He Himself, after He had taken leave of the multitude, “departed into the mountain to pray” (Mar 6:46). You will have remarked how that Jesus met every crisis of His life by prayer. He was at a great crisis-perhaps the supreme crisis-of His life just now. At the moment He was the popular hero; on the morrow He was going to destroy His popularity and deliberately choose to become the despised and rejected of men. It does not need any great subtlety to see the crisis which confronted Jesus now.
In the Face of Temptation.
We sometimes make the mistake of thinking that the temptations of Jesus were concentrated into those forty days He spent in the wilderness. But they were not. As if, indeed, to guard us against forming any such mistaken notion, the Evangelist tells us that the devil only departed from Him “for a season” (Luk 4:13). For a season! He returned again and again to the assault. He returned to the assault on the day of the feeding of the 5000. You remember that the second temptation wherewith he assailed the soul of Christ in the wilderness was that of the offer of the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, if Jesus would only fall down and worship him. A short cut to the power that had been promised Him-a short cut that would avoid the garden and the cross; that was the bait Satan held out before the mind of Jesus.
It was with precisely the same temptation he assailed Him now. The people wanted to come and take Jesus by force and make Him King. Power was in His grasp. The kingdom, in the earthly sense, was being thrust upon Him, “all the kingdoms of the earth, and the glory of them.” The dazzling offer was being pressed upon Him afresh. We do no honour to our Master by saying this temptation could have had no sort of appeal to Him. It could. It did. Here was an opportunity of securing at once many things on which He had set His heart. His very passion for doing good lent force to the temptation. And, besides, it promised escape from so much. Yes, Jesus felt it. It was just because He felt it so much that He departed into the mountains to pray. And it was wrestling, agonizing prayer in which our Lord engaged that night. He faced the issues. A throne without trouble, or rejection, shame and death-the world’s way, or God’s way. He anticipated the agony of the garden on the hilltop that night. But He won His fight.
The Victory Won.
Once again the devil had to depart foiled and beaten. Christ rejected the glittering offer of the crown, and deliberately chose the Via Dolorosa of the cross. “The cup which the Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it”? (Joh 18:11). And the very next day He let the crowd know that, if they were thinking of a throne, He Himself was thinking of a cross. He spoke to them of sacrifice and death. “The bread which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (Joh 6:51). It shattered His popularity on the instant. “Upon this many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him” (Joh 6:66). He became from this time onward “the despised and rejected of men.”
The Struggling Disciples.
But while the Master was fighting out His great fight on the summit of the hill, the disciples were having a great struggle for life against the fury of wind and wave. The Lake of Galilee is notorious for the suddenness of its storms. What is a placid smiling lake one hour may be a seething, furious cauldron the next. One of these wild and sudden tempests overtook the disciples on this particular night. They had launched their boat about sunset; but they had not got very far, not more than halfway across, when they found themselves in the clutches of the gale. With that gale they fought hour after hour. Not until the fourth watch did succour come to them; that is to say, not until towards daybreak-between three and four o’clock in the morning. For all those weary hours the disciples only barely held their own against wind and wave. And as hour after hour passed, and hope began to give place to despair, it may be that they thought hard things of Jesus. Why had He constrained them to get into the boat? If He had only allowed them to remain with Him, as they wished, they would all have been safe and sound on the shore. Why, if He felt they ought to cross over, had not He Himself come with them? Some such thoughts, I have no doubt, passed through the minds of the disciples; possibly even some such remarks they may, in the bitterness of their souls, have made one to another. When troubles assail us it is hard not to throw the blame on God. We are all tempted to murmur and complain. We can understand Job’s wife when, embittered by the trouble, she said, “Renounce God, and die” (Job 2:9, R.V.).
The Watchful Master.
Yet the disciples were not the neglected and forgotten people they bitterly imagined themselves to be. Look at Mar 6:47 : “And when even was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the land.” The boat on the sea, Jesus on the hill; the disciples in the storm, Jesus in God’s secret place. They are far apart. There seems to be no connection between them. But read on: “And seeing them distressed in rowing,… about the fourth watch of the night He cometh unto them” (Mar 6:48). There was a very close and intimate connection after all. Jesus on the hill was watching His disciples on the sea. The disciples on the sea were safe, because Jesus was watching on the hill. Let me give you almost a companion picture. Down in the valley Israel and Amalek had met in the clash and shock of battle. Away yonder on the hill there was an old man, with his hands uplifted in prayer. They stand far apart. There seems to be no connection between them. But as a matter of fact the connection was most close and intimate. Moses on the hill was watching the course of battle in the plain. Israel down in the valley proved victorious because Moses held up his hands in prayer for them on the hill. And so now, Jesus was watching the disciples in their struggles, and seeing them distressed in rowing, “about the fourth watch of the night He cometh unto them, walking on the sea” (Mar 6:48).
-His Abiding Care for His Own.
Here is a truth of quite infinite comfort. Jesus sees, and Jesus knows. We are often tempted, as these disciples were, when the storms of trouble buffet us and press heavily upon us, to think that our Saviour does not see, and cannot care. If He saw and cared, He would surely hasten to our succour. We forget that the very storm may have its work to do; we forget that whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth; we forget that in battling against storms we knit thews and sinews of strength in our souls. And so we cry that our way is hid from the Lord, and our judgment is passed over by our God. But that is a faithless cry. Our way is not hidden from Him. Our judgment is not passed over by Him. He sees, and He cares. And though because He sees it may be well for us He delays His coming, you may depend upon it that at the right hour He will come with help and succour. Seeing them distressed, He came to them. Their extremity was His opportunity. He would not allow them to be tried more than they were able. Seeing them distressed, He came to them, and the wind ceased. And so He will come to us and bring us deliverance. “He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday” (Psa 37:6).
“Through waves and clouds and storms,
He gently clears thy way;
Wait thou His time, so shall this night
Soon end in joyous day.”
The Lesson to Faith.
-Safety with Christ.
All the commentators agree that this miracle, like the last, was symbolic of spiritual truth. Mr. David Smith, for instance, thinks that, as the feeding of the 5000 with the broken bread was symbolic of Christ’s death, the breaking of His body to give bread to the world, so this miracle, with its story of Christ’s walking upon the water, was symbolic and prophetic of the Resurrection, when Christ would be possessed of a body raised above the laws which govern these earthly and material bodies of ours. The suggestion seems to me a little far-fetched. But I can see another truth, which I am quite sure this incident was meant to teach. It was meant to impress upon the disciples this fact-that they were in Christ’s keeping, even when physically He was absent from them. I do not think they would have feared the tempest very much, if Jesus had been with them. For after the great experience of the previous storm recorded for us in chap. iv., they must have felt that “with Christ in the vessel,” as our old hymn puts it, they could “smile at the storm.” The trouble on this occasion was-as John’s account explicitly states-“it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them” (Joh 6:17). The lesson they needed to learn was, that they were just as much in His keeping when He was hidden from their eyes as they were when He was with them in the boat.
-Whether Absent or Present
That was the great lesson this incident taught them. In a few months Jesus, would be leaving them altogether. They would have Him no more for their daily companion. They would have to face their difficulties and temptations apparently alone. But Jesus assured them that though their eyes could not see Him He would yet be with them always unto the end of the world. With them always! And they believed the promise. They remembered how on this night of storm and peril the unseen Christ was watching over them and guarding them. And so they went to their work, and braved their manifold dangers with the joyful faith that their Lord was with them, and was keeping them, and that nothing could separate them from the love of God which was in Christ Jesus their Lord. Even so He is with us always. Our eyes have never seen Him: our hands have never touched Him; but He is with us always. We are safe in His keeping. No one can pluck us out of His hand.
The Misunderstood Christ.
Let us notice, however, the reception the disciples gave to Jesus when He did appear for their succour. When they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was an apparition, and they cried out, for they were troubled. In their terror they did not recognise Jesus, and so they were afraid of Him. It is always because men do not know Christ, because they do not recognise Him, that they fear Him and reject Him. It is always some unreal Christ, some caricature Christ, that men repudiate and renounce. The real Christ is never unwelc6me. When the Lord saw the disciples’ panic He said, “Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid” (Mar 6:50). And when they heard His voice, when they heard Him speak for Himself, they were glad enough to welcome Him into their boat. When Christ is allowed to speak for Himself, men will gladly receive Him. Only let them hear Him who spake as never man spake, and they will gladly welcome Him.
The Slow Scholars.
And when they received Jesus, the wind ceased, and they were sore amazed in themselves, “for,” says the evangelist, commenting upon this amazement, “they understood not concerning the loaves, but their heart was hardened” (Mar 6:51-52). Why should they have been amazed? Had not Christ demonstrated His power only the day before? The amazement of the disciples was evidence of the hardness of their hearts and their slowness to believe. They were poor scholars. The lesson of the previous day had been practically in vain. Are we, too, not slow scholars? Is it not a fact that we, too, fail to understand? Are not our hearts often hardened? Ought not the marvellous deliverance of past days to teach us to expect great deliverances for all the days to come? Our panics of fear, our transports of surprise, are alike evidences of weak faith. Let the great things which our Lord has done for us have their due effect upon us, and teach us to ask great things of God, and to expect great things from God.
Fuente: The Gospel According to St. Mark: A Devotional Commentary
5
Bethsaida was a town of Galilee, and Jesus gave his disciples instructions that they were to return by boat to that region, while he remained to dismiss the people so they could return to their homes.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
SEE notes on Mat 14:22-36. Joh 6:15-25. Mark omits the attempt of Peter to walk on the water; otherwise his account closely resembles that of Matthew, but with the usual variations.
Mar 6:45-47. The only detail peculiar to these verses is the mention of Bethsaida. In the only other case where Mark uses this name (Mar 8:22), it undoubtedly refers to Bethsaida Julias on the eastern shore of the lake. It is most likely that the same place is meant here. Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter, is supposed to have been on the western shore, and Mar 6:45 seems to point to a place across the lake. But the disciples were driven westward, across the lake, against their will, and this can be best explained by supposing that while the ultimate destination was the other side, they were to go first to Bethsaida on the same side and there take up our Lord, after He had sent away the people. On the reason for sending them away, see Joh 6:15.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
This paragraph acquaints us with another miracle which our Saviour wrought, in walking upon the sea to his disciples; and herein we have observable, 1. His sending his disciples to sea: He constrained them to go into a ship; not compelling them against their wills, but commanding them to take ship and go before him. No doubt the disciples were loath to do this, unwilling to leave him, and to go without him; for they that have once tasted the sweetness of Christ’s company and acquaintance, are hardly and difficultly drawn away from him.
Observe, 2. Christ having dismissed his disciples and the company retires into a mountain to pray; to teach us, that when we address ourselves to God in duty, we take all helps, furtherances, and advantages, for the doing of our duty. We must dismiss the multitude, before we address to God in prayer; we must send away the multitude of worldly cares, worldly thoughts, worldly concerns and business, when we would wait upon God in duty.
Observe, 3. The great danger the disciples were in, and the difficulties they were to encounter with: They were in the midst of the sea, tossed with the waves, and the winds were contrary; and, which was saddest of all, Christ was absent. The wisdom of God sometimes suffers his children and people not only to be distressed, but greatly distressed with a variety of distresses.
Observe, 4. The seasonable succour and relief which Christ afforded his disciples: In the fourth watch he came out unto them, walking upon the waters. It was not a stormy and tempestuous sea that could separate betwixt him and them; he that waded through a sea of blood, and a sea of wrath, to save his people, will walk upon a sea of waters to succour and relieve them. And the time was the fourth watch; about four in the morning, when they had been many hours conflicting with the waves, and in great danger of their lives.
To teach us, That Christ sometimes lengthens out the trials of his children before he delivers them; but when they come to an extremity, that is the season of his succour.
Observe, 5. How the disciples took their Deliverer for their destroyer: When they saw Christ they cried out. Their fears were highest when their Deliverer and deliverance were nearest; God may be coming with salvation and deliverance to his people, when they for the present cannot discern it.
Observe, 6. When the disciples were in the saddest condition, one word from Christ revives them, it is sufficient support in all our afflictions to hear Christ’s voice speaking to us, and to enjoy his favourable presence with us.
Say but, O Saviour, It is I, and let evils do their worst: that one word, It is I, is sufficient to allay all storms, and to calm a thousand tempests.
Observe lastly, What influence and effect this miracle had upon the disciples; They were sore amazed and beyond measure astonished; they wonder at the ceasing of the winds, and calming of the seas; but they had forgotten the miracle of the loaves; which was a great stupidity and dulness in them, and argued hardness of heart, and want of consideration in them.
Learn thence, That there is much stupidity of mind, and hardness of heart, remaining unmortified in the best of saints, whilst here in an imperfect state: the work of grace and sanctification is but imperfect in the best.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mar 6:45-56. For an explanation of these verses, see the notes on Mat 14:22-36.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
LXIII.
FIRST WITHDRAWAL FROM HEROD’S TERRITORY AND RETURN.
(Spring, A. D. 29.)
Subdivision C.
THE TWELVE TRY TO ROW BACK. JESUS WALKS UPON THE WATER.
aMATT. XIV. 22-36; bMARK VI. 45-56; dJOHN VI. 15-21.
d15 Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew again into the mountain himself alone. [Jesus had descended to the plain to feed the multitude, but, perceiving this mistaken desire of the people, he frustrated it by dismissing his disciples and retiring by himself into the mountain.] a22 And straightway he constrained the {bhis} adisciples to enter into the boat, and to go before him unto the other side, bto Bethsaida [the suburb of Capernaum] atill he should send the multitudes {bwhile he himself sendeth the multitude} away. [The obedience of the disciples in leaving him helped to persuade the multitude to do likewise.] 46 And when he had taken leave of them, a23 And after he had sent the multitudes away, he went up {bdeparted} ainto the mountain apart to pray: and when even was come, he was there alone. [The news of John’s assassination was calculated to exasperate him in the highest degree, and also to deeply distress him. He needed the benefits of prayer to keep down resentment, and to prevent despondency. For this he started away as soon as he heard the news, but the people prevented him till night.] d16 And when evening came, his disciples went down unto the sea; 17 and they entered into a boat, and were over the sea unto Capernaum. b47 And when even was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. dand it was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. [They evidently expected that he would follow. Possibly they skirted the shore, hoping that he would hail them and come on board.] 18 And the sea was rising by reason of a great wind that blew. a24 But the boat [379] was now in the midst of the sea, distressed by the waves; for the wind was contrary. [That is, it blew from the west, the direction toward which the disciples were rowing.] b48 And seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them, about {ain} bthe fourth watch of the night [from 3 to 6 A.M.] he cometh {acame} bunto them, awalking upon the sea. [The disciples of Jesus can rest assured that the eyes of the Lord will behold their distresses, and that sooner or later the Lord himself will arise and draw near for their deliverance.] d19 When therefore they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs [that is, about three and a half miles, or about half way across the sea], they behold Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the boat: band would have passed by them: a26 And {b49 but} awhen the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, dand they were afraid. bthey supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out; asaying, It is a ghost; and they cried out for fear. b50 For they all saw him, and were troubled. [Their fears would probably have been greater if Jesus had approached the boat, for they were severe enough to make them cry out, even when he was seen to be passing by them.] a27 But straightway Jesus spake unto {bwith} them, and saith unto them, {asaying,} Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. [There was no mistaking that voice. If Isaac knew the voice of Jacob ( Gen 27:22), Saul the voice of David ( 1Sa 26:17), and Rhoda the voice of Peter ( Act 12:13), much more did the apostles know the voice of the great Master.] d21 They were willing therefore to receive him into the boat. [Superstitious fears are not always so soon allayed. His voice brought great assurance.] a28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the waters. 29 And he said, Come. And Peter went down from the boat, and walked upon the waters to come to Jesus. [This scene comports with the character of Peter, who had always a rash willingness [380] to go into danger, and a lack of steadfastness to hold out through it.] 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me. [So long as the attention of Peter was fixed upon the Lord’s command he succeeded in his venture; but so soon as he let the power of the tempest distract his thoughts, his faith failed and he began to sink.] 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and took hold of him, and saith unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? [Fear is a source of doubt and an enemy of faith. Those who would achieve the victories of faith must overcome their fears.] b51 And he went up unto them into the boat; a32 And when they were gone up into the boat, the wind ceased. band they were sore amazed in themselves; 52 for they understood not concerning the loaves, but their heart was hardened. dand straightway the boat was at the land whither they were going. a33 And they that were in the boat worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. [The disciples showed the hardness of their hearts in that the working of one miracle did not prepare them either to expect or to comprehend any other miracle which followed. They ought to have worshipped Jesus as the Son of God when they saw the five thousand fed, but they did not. But when he had done that, and had walked upon the water, and quieted the wind, and transported the boat to the land, they were overcome by the iteration of his miraculous power, and confessed his divinity.] 34 And when they had crossed over, they came to the land, unto Gennesaret. band moored to the shore. [The land of Gennesaret was a plain at the western end of the lake of Galilee. Josephus describes it as about thirty furlongs in length by twenty in average width, and bounded on the west by a semicircular line of hills.] 54 And when they were come out of the boat, straightway the people knew him, a35 And when the men of that place knew him, they sent into band ran round about that whole region, and began to carry about on [381] their beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. aand brought unto him all that were sick; b56 And wheresoever he entered, into villages, or into cities, or into the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, a36 and they besought him that they might only touch bif it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole. [Though the apostles had started their boat toward Capernaum, the storm appears to have deflected their course, and the language of the text suggests that they probably came to land at the south end of the plain, somewhere near Magdala, and made a circuit of the cities in the plain of Gennesaret on their way to Capernaum. As he did not stop in these cities, the sick were laid in the street that they might touch him in passing through. Moreover, as they knew the course that he was taking, by running ahead they could anticipate his arrivals and have the sick gathered to take advantage of his presence. The story of the woman who touched the hem of his garment had evidently spread far and wide, and deeply impressed the popular mind.]
[FFG 379-382]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
JESUS WALKS UPON THE WATER
Mat 14:22-36; Mar 6:45-56; & Joh 6:15-21. Mark: And immediately He constrained His disciples to go into the ship, and to proceed before Him to the other side, toward Bethsaida, until He can send away the multitude. This statement is calculated to puzzle the reader, because Luk 9:10, says that they were already in an uninhabited place of the city called Bethsaida. If you are only once on the spot, this apparent contradiction between Mark and Luke would suddenly vanish. The solution of the matter is, there were two towns called Bethsaida on the sea of Galilee the one in whose vicinity these multitudes were fed is on the northwest coast; and the other, toward which they sailed after adjournment, is on the left bank of the inflowing Jordan, and near the northeast coast. The latter is known as Bethsaida Julias; the latter cognomen being added to distinguish it from the other Bethsaida, and also in honor of Julia, the Roman empress. And having sent them away, He departed into the mountain to pray.
Joh 6:15 : Therefore, Jesus, knowing that they are about to come and seize Him, that they may make Him King, departed again alone into the mountain to pray. Here, you see, John tells the secret; they have assembled in vast numbers to go up to Jerusalem to the Passover. This stupendous miracle so convinces them of His Christhood that they resolve to take Him into hand, and carry Him along with them to Jerusalem, and there have Him crowned King of the Jews. This is the reason why He had to force His own disciples to go away. They, with the multitude, were determined to crown Him King. As the people looked upon them as leaders in that momentously interesting transaction, when they saw them embark in a ship to leave, the natural effect was to weaken the enterprise in the estimation of the multitude, and postpone His coronation. So now, His disciples, having gone to their ship, are sailing away in a northeasterly direction. Having dismissed the multitude, doubtless eluding their vision, He goes away alone into the mountain to pray.
And when it was evening, His disciples embarked upon the sea, and having come into the ship, they were going across the sea to Capernaum. Bethsaida Julias, toward which Mark says they were going, is in the same direction, but several miles beyond Capernaum. Hence there is harmony among the writers. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them; and the sea wrought, a great wind blowing. The sea of Galilee, depressed seven hundred feet below the Mediterranean, and consequently surrounded by mountains and highlands, is quite subject to sudden squalls, often very violent, and dangerous to the small vessels they used in that day. When I was there last fall, it was my good fortune to sail round and over that beautiful sea in a most excellent boat, quite secure amid the storms, having been built for the especial accommodation of the German emperor, who visited that country the preceding year. Therefore, having come about twenty-five or thirty furlongs [i.e., three or four miles], they see Jesus walking about on the sea, and being near the ship, and they were afraid. Mark says, Thought it was a specter i.e., a ghost not distinctly recognizing, perhaps, even human personality. There-fore they were all alarmed and cried out with affright. Mat 14:27 : Immediately He spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer; I am here; fear not.
PETER WALKING ON THE WATER & SINKING
And Peter, responding to Him, said, Lord, if Thou art here, command me to come to Thee on the waters. And He said, Come. And Peter having come down from the ship, was walking about on the waters to come to Jesus.
And seeing the wind strong, became alarmed; and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me! And immediately Jesus, reaching forth His hand, took him, and says to him, O ye of little faith, why did you doubt? And they, coming into the ship, the wind ceased. And those in the ship, coming, worshipped Him, saying, Truly, Thou art the Son of God. These last mentioned as falling down, worshipping, and confessing His Christhood, were evidently the sailors in charge of the ship. We have here, in the example of Peter, a most notable illustration confirming the omnipotence of faith, as illustrated here by Peter looking at Jesus. So long as he kept his eye on Him, with perfect security he could run all around over the stormy sea. You who have never been in a storm at sea will hardly duly estimate the trepidation inspired by the rolling waves, thundering seas, and raging billows. Now, you must remember, the sea was not smooth and calm when Peter walked over it, but racked with storms and plowed with tempests, vividly illustrating the stormy ocean of probationary life. Just as Peter could walk over the stormy sea with perfect security, so long as he kept his eye on Jesus, so can you tread with safety the tempest-racked billows of lifes stormy ocean, swept by cyclones from the bottomless pit, so long as you keep your eye of faith on Jesus, and pay no attention to the roaring billows, nor the barking of the hell-hounds. The moment you take your eye from Jesus, and look at your adverse circumstances, and begin to estimate the power of your temptations, you will begin to sink; and if you do not, like Peter, cry out, Lord, save, I perish, you will sink forever, as hell has no bottom.
Joh 6:21 : Then they wished to take Him in the ship, and immediately the ship was at the land to which they were going. That land was Genesareth, and the city of Capernaum. Several hours had elapsed in their vain attempt to make headway against a strong northeast wind. When they took Jesus aboard, responsive to His bidding, the tempest lulls, and the sea calms. Therefore, with energetic rowing, they soon disembark at Capernaum, their destination.
Mar 6:51 : He came up to them into the ship; and the wind ceased, and they were exceedingly astonished among themselves, and marveled. For they did not understand concerning the loaves; for their heart was hardened. This stupendous miracle of feeding the multitudes the preceding afternoon, should have so thoroughly convinced them of His Christhood as to prepare them to recognize the lulling of the storm and calming the sea as the normal prerogative of Omnipotence, and consequently produce no surprise. Man is a trinity, consisting of spirit, heart, or soul, mind, and body. Hence the heart or spirit, and not the intellect, is the diagnoser of Divine phenomena.
With the heart we believe unto righteousness (Rom 10:10),
and under the illumination of the Holy Spirit, our spirit interpenetrates and comprehends the deep things of God. Hence, if you would understand the Bible, and diagnose Divine phenomena, and become truly wise in the deep things of God, get all the rocks of depravity eliminated from your heart, leaving it soft, tender, and filled with perfect love. Then you can go down into the profound mysteries of revealed truth, flooded with new spiritual illuminations, and progressively edified by fresh revealments of the Divine attributes in glory, though you never saw a college nor inherited Solomonic genius. These apostles all needed the sanctifying fire of Pentecost to melt their hearts so thoroughly and illuminate them so perfectly, that they would never again stagger at the ipse dixit of the Almighty. And having crossed over, they came to the Genesareth land, and disembarked; and they, coming out from the ship, immediately those recognizing Him having run throughout all that surrounding country, began to carry in the sick on beds, when they heard that He was there. And when He went into the villages or cities or countries, they were continuously placing the sick in the forums, and entreating Him that they may touch the hem of His garment; and so many as touched Him were saved. The stupendous and extraordinary miracle of feeding the ten thousand shook the whole country with the tread of an earthquake, thrilling the people with an incorrigible enthusiasm, to scour the whole country round about, far and wide, and bring in all the invalids, maniacs, demoniacs, and epileptics, while they had an opportunity to come in contact with the wonderful Healer.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Mar 6:45-52. Jesus Dismisses the Crowd and Walks on the Sea.The first verses of this section apparently touch on an unexplained crisis in the life of Jesus. Why does He compel the disciples to leave Him? Why does He spend the night alone in prayer? Is the dismissal of the crowd a farewell, like Pauls farewell to the elders of Ephesus? The word used in Mar 6:46 occurs in Act 18:18; Act 18:21. There is, as J. Weiss sees, significant history here to which the evangelist does not give the key. Jesus seems to be in a condition of soul which makes the presence even of the disciples insupportable and communion with His heavenly Father indispensable (SNT, i. 131). Possibly Joh 6:15 suggests the reason why Jesus constrained the disciples to depart. The miracle that follows is difficult. It involves a display of power over nature which is unlike Jesus. One is tempted to believe that allegory has been materialized here. In any case, the story is most helpful when allegorized as in G. Mathesons hymn, Jesus, Fountain of my days (Baptist Church Hymnal, 337, Cong. Hymnary, 395). But the incident is associated with good history in Mar 6:45 f., and the reference to the apostles dullness is probably of apostolic origin. Nor is it easy to assign a motive for the story, if it be legend.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 45
He constrained his disciples. They were unwilling to leave him, but he wished to be alone. There might have been some difficulty, too, in effecting the quiet dispersion of the people, as appears from John’s account of this case (John 6:14,15.)
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
6:45 {7} And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.
(7) The faithful servants of God after their little labour are subject to a great tempest which Christ, being present in power although absent in body, moderates in such a way that he brings them to a happy haven, at such time and by such means as they did not expect: A graphic image of the Church tossed to and fro in this world.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. Jesus’ walking on the water and the return to Galilee 6:45-56
Jesus now returned from the northeast coast of the lake to its northwest coast.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The walking on the water 6:45-52 (cf. Matthew 14:22-33; John 6:14-21)
This miracle followed the feeding of the 5,000 by just a few hours. Both miracles were important parts of Jesus’ discipleship training program for the Twelve. Earlier Jesus had calmed the sea with a word (Mar 4:35-41). Here He used His whole body to walk on top of the sea.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The feeding of the 5,000 evidently happened on the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee south of Bethsaida Julius. This town stood immediately east of the place where the Jordan River empties into the lake on its northern coast. Some of the town may have been on the western side of the Jordan. [Note: Hiebert, p. 164.] Evidently Jesus sent His disciples to another Bethsaida, near Capernaum, by boat (cf. Joh 6:17). Peter, Andrew, and Philip were evidently from this Bethsaida (Joh 1:45; Joh 12:21), and Peter and Andrew’s home was in Capernaum (Mar 1:29). So the two villages must have been very close together, perhaps even connected. [Note: Edersheim, 2:3-4.] "The boat" was the one they had used to travel in earlier that day (Mar 6:32). God had appeared to Israel from a mountain (Deu 33:2; Hab 3:3), and now Jesus appeared to His disciples after being on a mountain with God in prayer. [Note: Guelich, p. 349.]