Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 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.
When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.
Dreadlocks
I was recently on a mission trip to Guatemala with eight other people from our church. While there we stayed i
n a town that has become an international “haven” for young people and hippie throwbacks to hang out in. These “hippies” primarily spent their time hanging out in the streets smoking pot and getting drunk in the evening at licentious parties.I passed several groups of “hippies” each day while walking between the hotel where we slept and the hotel where we ate. Each time there was never a comment, never a word exchanged until the last day. This day, we had taken a boat ride across the lake to visit an area devastated by a mud slide. While there we did some souvenir shopping and one member of our group bought me a dreadlock hat. Upon our return to the hotel, no less than three of the “hippies” spoke to me about my awesome looking hair. I was visible to them for the first time.
In our text today the disciples, who have been with Jesus his entire ministry do not recognize him walking on the water. The people in the towns, who have never seen Jesus at all, immediately know him. What makes the ones who saw Jesus repeatedly fail to recognize him, while those who had never seen Jesus before immediately recognize him?
I think it is the same thing that made me visible to the “hippies.” No, not the hair, it was the vibe. Put the dreadlock hat on and I start walking and talking like I am cool. Put Jesus in a city full of desperate people and he starts exuding love and compassion. No one else has compassion and love like Jesus does. The disciples missed it, as Mark says, because their hearts were too hard to take it in. The pressures of ministry, the constant nagging of the people, the ho-hum attitude of being in the presence of Jesus had hardened their senses to the compassion and love of Jesus so much they failed to recognize him. Too bad, for being with Jesus is totally cool and new for eternity.
God of compassion and love, help me to never take you for granted. Keep my love for you fresh everyday. I want to always see you as though I am looking at you for the first time. - Dan Jones
Socializing and Solitude
Everywhere we turn people lay in wait. And we help it happen so inbred is our urge for human connection. Or fear of aloneness.
Technology helps fill our moments with people, from old fashion television to new fangled cell phone texting, and from silent faces calling from roadside billboards to digitized voices announcing updates on our computers. If we aren’t physically around people, we at least have their faces and voices, almost, for many, 24/7.
True aloneness is difficult and scary. No human interaction leaves us alone with our own minds. The silence brings our own thoughts front and center, thoughts we often drown out in the human hubbub because they unnerve us. The lack of other faces forces us to confront the face of our own souls, the hidden self lurking beneath the visible one we project to the world.
Truth is, we cannot know ourselves and the truth about our spiritual health without adequate and genuine solitude. True self awareness always precedes spiritual health. Inward health allows us to live authentic lives in which the person people see is really the person we are. This is the kind of life Jesus lived. No duplicity. To use computer language, WYSIWYG – What you see is what you get, really. How refreshing. How unusual.
Most of us have much to hide from others. And from ourselves. Consequently relationships become complex, tricky, unhealthy. Solitude opens the door to spiritual health which opens the door to healthy relationships. So Jesus dismissed the people, even his disciples, and went off to be alone.
Ever present God, with your help, I will discipline myself to regularly step away from people, even the ones I love the most, turn off the voices, and turn away from the faces in order to be truly alone in your presence. Please, God, through these experiences lead me into a spiritual health that transforms me into the kind of person Jesus was. - Mike Leamon
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