Mark 6:45-50 45And immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46And after he had said goodbye to them, he went up on the mountain to pray. 47And when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on the land. 48And he saw that they were struggling to row, for the wind was against them, about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them, walking on the lake and he wanted to pass by them. 49But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost, and they cried out, 50for they all saw him and were terrified.
The feeding of the five thousand ends abruptly without a response from the disciples. John 6:15 notes that the crowd tried to make Jesus king, so he needed to get away. Mark’s keyword immediately moves the storyline to the next big miracle. In this part of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus teaches the disciples important lessons about himself and the need to trust in him. The next scene provides another lesson through revelation. Jesus may have intended to be alone after a busy day of teaching and ministry. He often withdrew to a mountain to spend time in prayer and spiritual renewal. It is also possible that he had a plan for sending his disciples on a boat to cross to the other side of the lake. They could have stayed with him, and then all of them together cross over to Bethsaida, but they needed to learn more about faith.
Mark provides time indicators of the events of this story. The disciples set off for Bethsaida in the evening after a busy day of being with people. The rest of the story takes place at about the fourth watch of the night, which would have been around 3:00 – 6:00 am. The Sea of Galilee is not large and can typically be crossed in about six hours, but that time had already come and gone and the disciples struggled on because of the wind. Another difficult task lay before them. The distance between Jesus and the disciples is emphasized by him on the shore and them out in the middle of the lake. Their battle against the wind seemed impossible to overcome.
As difficult as the journey was, what they saw next was even more impossible: Jesus walking on the water. He was taking a shortcut to Bethsaida and was going to get to the other side to meet them. The statement, he wanted to pass by them, shows more intentionality and that every part of this story was on purpose to teach the disciples something important. He came close enough for them to see him, which should have increased their faith but instead brought fear because they were still thinking from an earthly perspective. They should have known about Jesus’ power over nature. Mark curiously leaves out any mention of Peter getting out of the boat and attempting to walk to Jesus. If Mark received his information from Peter, as church tradition claims, then Peter may have intentionally left this part out of the story. Mark’s focus is more on the response of all the disciples and their lack of faith in Jesus. The disciples saw Jesus. They had no excuse for not believing, but their fear overcame their faith. Like in 4:35-41, even with the presence of Jesus, they were overcome by the situation around them. We also face wind and waves, but will we see Jesus coming to us?
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