Following the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus seeks to give his disciples another sign of his identity. Although they and the crowds are amazed at the multiplication of loaves and fish they do not understand who Jesus is claiming to be by these signs. So he gives them another one.
45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Beth-saida, while he dismissed the crowd.
“Immediately” after the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus instructs his disciples to get into a boat without him and to take it to the other side of the lake, to Beth-saida. Mark regularly uses the term euthys which means “immediately”. He uses it over forty times to display the urgency and moving nature of Jesus’ ministry. Mark is writing for Romans, power and action are the two focal points of his Gospel. Some suggest that this is evident of Mark’s simpler understanding of the Greek language, compared to historians like Saint Luke or Theologians like Saint John and Saint Paul whose command of Greek was very eloquent.
Jesus tells them to go by boat to Beth-Saida but verse 53 reveals that actually landed in Gennesaret. Some scholars suggest that there are actually Beth-Saida’s, one by Gennesaret and another more popularly known about. This is not such a far-fetched idea, there are many important places that do not actually have unique names. For example there were two Jericho’s and two Bethlehem’s. It is also possible that they simply chose to go ashore in a different place out of convenience.
After instructing his disciples to make the 6-8 mile journey across the sea of Galilee without him, Jesus dismisses the crowd. Five thousand men, not counting women and children were among their company at this point. Now that they have all been fed, he sends them away home.
46 And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.
Once the disciples have left for the short sailing voyage and the great crowds have left, Jesus goes up a mountain to pray. The Sea of Galilee was surrounded by rolling hills, so it is likely Jesus went to the top of one of these, instead of travelling even further off to one of the much larger mountains. Before the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus and his disciples were seeking a moment of peace and quiet from the roving crowds who had been following them. Jesus did not want them to leave without being cared for so once he had multiplied the loaves and fish, feeding them to the crowds, he now seeks his alone time to pray.
Jesus constantly balances perfectly work, prayer and rest. Living out God’s work of creation and resting on the seventh day, for our benefit and for us to imitate. Not because he himself is limited. Jesus also takes these moments to pray before particular signs he is going to give, like when he named the twelve. Big signs in his ministry are preceded by alone time in prayer.
47 And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land.
Once evening had arrived, the disciples were already significantly out from the shore on the sea of Galilee and Jesus is alone on one of the rolling hills surrounding the body of water. Jesus has planned this situation out in order to deliver a sign to his disciples, through concealment he will perform actions that will cause his disciples to ask questions about who he really is. Beyond that of just his name, they already know that.
48 And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them,
Despite the great distance, the lake spanning 6-8 miles, they’re probably half way across, Jesus can see they are struggling quite clearly from 3-4 miles away. “The wind was against them.” This was the common struggle for sailors on the sea of Galilee, the center of the body of water was ripe for storms and strong winds. This is a feature of nature that no man can conquer, this provides Jesus his avenue to demonstrate one of his most recognisable signs.
Mark uses the Roman “watches” time frame work to mark out the times of the night. The Roman system divided the night into Four Watches. The first from 6PM-9PM, the second 9PM-12AM, the third 12AM-3AM and the final fourth watch 3AM-6AM. There was actually a Jewish night watch that divided the night into three watches, this can be found recorded in the Hebrew Bible but Mark is writing for a Roman audience, so he uses the Roman system.
In the fourth watch, between 3AM-6AM, Jesus goes toward them, walking on the sea. His intention was to pass by them and go onto the other side. A miraculous feat of course but it’s Jewishness is lost on a Gentile audience. This is not a magic trick, the water is symbolic of chaos and death, to the mortal man it was God’s domain and a sailor could only pray that he is spared from Sheol if he ends up in its death. God however “alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea.” Job 9:8. God alone walks on the waves of the Sea. The Jewish eyes that see this know the implication Jesus is making.
49 but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out;
The disciples see their master walking on the sea and they cry out. The sign is so shocking they can only assume that Jesus is a ghost or phantasma in Greek, the origin of our word “phantom.” It’s an odd word to use, pneuma is the term used for spirits, good or bad, elsewhere in the New Testament, Phantasma on the other hand is only used here in Mark and in Matthew’s account of the same story. It has the connotations of a transient spectre, Greco-Roman and Jewish thought considered the Sea to be a place of malevolent spirits so maybe this term is being used to evoke the confusion and fear that the disciples are feeling but it is hard to pin down why this word is used here. The root of phantasma is phaino which means “to shine” or “to appear” and although phantasma is not used in the Greek Old Testament, phaino is and it is used most commonly to describe the manifestations of God’s divine glory. A possible connection, maybe I’m reaching.
50 for they all saw him, and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; have no fear.”
All the disciples see Jesus walking on the water and they are rightly terrified of the spectacle, only God could do such a thing and they do not understand who Jesus is yet. But immediately he says to them in response “Take heart, it is I; have no fear.” or more accurately, considering the Greek words actually used, “Take heart, I am; have no fear.” Jesus tramples the waves like God in Job, and his way of explaining his ability he tells his disciples “I AM” this is the Divine name God reveals to Moses.
51 And he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded,
Jesus gets into the boat with them and caps all of these divine claims that have gone substantially unnoticed by his disciples by doing a final sign, “the wind ceased.” A recurring theme in the Psalms like Psalm 107:29 “He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.” He simply causes the wind to cease. Only God can do this and his disciples are “utterly astounded”.
52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
They did not understand what Jesus was saying by his actions in the feeding of the five thousand, so Jesus seeks to demonstrate his identity to his twelve followers more clearly with specific actions that if they entertain the questions they evoke, they could come to the correct conclusion of who Jesus is. Unfortunately these questions and answers require a soft and open heart and Jesus’ disciples hearts were two hard to see.
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