Unlimited: Jesus Calms the Wind
Apr 17, 2024 1434
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.
Later that night, 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. Shortly before dawn 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 (Mark 6:45–52, NIV).
When you lived on the Sea of Galilee – a very big lake – going by boat was the easiest way to travel from one town to another. The towns were mostly on the seashore, and so travelling by boat saved a lot of time and a lot of walking around the lake.
That’s why in the Gospels, we often see Jesus and the disciples travelling by boat. Here Jesus chose another way to travel.
It doesn’t say that there was a storm with lightning and thunder, just that the wind was so strong that the disciples couldn’t make headway at the oars. Perhaps it was the early phase of a violent storm, in which the wind rises up before the storm actually hits. Whatever may have been the case, we know that it was certainly late at night and the disciples must have been very worried, or even terrified.
Then, though the darkness, they glimpsed a figure coming towards them, walking across the water. These tough fishermen were so terrified that they screamed, thinking that it was a ghost. But Jesus told them not to be afraid, and as soon as he climbed into the boat the wind dies down. Jesus Calms the Wind!
Mark says that the disciples couldn’t understand what had just happened, because they hadn’t learnt the lesson about the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand: that even when we think we’re facing an impossible problem, Jesus will take care of you.
When Jesus is in your boat, you won’t be going down!
Most of the things that we’re afraid of in our lives aren’t real. They never actually happen. They’re just “ghosts.”
In those difficult moments in our lives, we need to learn to see Jesus, and not the ghosts of our imaginations.
– Eliezer Gonzalez
Eli’s Reflection: What are the ghosts that you’ve been seeing lately? Is Jesus in your boat? Invite him into your world.
Republished with permission from Blogs.crossmap.com, featuring inspiring Bible verses about Unlimited: Jesus Calms The Wind | Good News Unlimited.
