Water Walker and Doubting Disciples
| He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night He went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw Him walking on the lake, they thought He was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw Him and were terrified. Immediately He spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." Then He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. (Mark6:48-52) |
But leaving out the "Peter interlude" also gives this account a more sombre tone especially as one looks at Mark's concluding comment about their hardened hearts.
To unpack this, we need to consider what the disciples have already seen. They've seen miracles of healing and exorcism. Faith moved a few friends to lower a paralysed man through the roof and Jesus healed Him. They've heard demons address Jesus as the Son of God. A raging storm was tamed with a word and a demonic wild graveyard resident was restored to full humanity. Most recently an impossibly huge crowd was fed by sharing an impossibly small lunch.
Now, after all they have experienced, they see Jesus walking on the water. What's sad is that they automatically assume the worst - "It's a ghost!" And when He climbs into the boat, the wind dies down and they are completely amazed.
Now the Greek here is telling: Mark uses the root word "existēmi" which means to be "amazed", "blown away" or "gobsmacked" and he strengthens this already strong word with two modifiers - "lian" ("greatly") and "ekperissōs" ("beyond abundant"). By doing this Mark is creating the impression that this event completely blew them out of the water (pardon the pun) and blindsided them.
Sadly, this gobsmacked amazement is not positive in the sense of "wonder" or "awe", it reflects an unwillingness to assimilate the clues they've had so far. Their response should have been "Oh look He's doing something amazing again, but I guess that's what we can expect when He is who He is - truly the Son of God." But instead they are just unable to allow Jesus to be more than just a man. They just can't grasp the idea that He is God with us.
Today, sadly, we are sometimes too astonished when God does something miraculous. When we pray to the Creator of Heaven and Earth who gave His Son and raised Him from the dead, why should we be utterly gobsmacked when He answers? I'm not saying that we shouldn't be grateful and filled with wonder and awe. But sometimes our amazement reflects expectations that were far too small.
The disciples hearts were hardened, they struggled to raise their expectations.
Let's make sure we don't do the same...
One of my favourite analogies is about children's rhyme where the pussy cat goes to London to see the Queen. What did he do there? He frightened a mouse from under her chair. Talk about low expectations! He could have sat on her lap and drank a bowl of cream. But all he did was frighten a mouse. When we come to worship the God of the Universe what are our expectations? He invites us to expect big things!
