Mark 6:51-52: "Then he (Jesus) 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."
This passage recorded in the Gospel of Mark describes the events immediately following Jesus' miraculous feeding of the 5000 on a mountainside along the Sea of Galilee. Right after Jesus fed the people, He made His disciples get into a boat and sail for Capernaum. It was very late in the evening (Matthew's Gospel records it was about the fourth watch of the night [3-6am]). Jesus did not board the small sailing vessel with them, for He desired to retreat privately to a mountainside in order that He might commune with His Father in prayer.
Right in the middle of the disciple's four-mile sea trek, unexpected winds hurled down upon the helpless boat; the experienced seaman in the boat were terrified with the raging waters that threatened to capsize the vessel. As the disciples unsuccessfully strained to guide the boat with oars, they looked to the horizon and saw Jesus walking on the water towards them. Their first response was terror, for they thought that a ghost (possibly a spirit from Sheol, the place of the dead) had come to visit them and affirm their imminent demise.
Jesus quickly allayed His disciple's fears by extending peace to them; Peter was so amazed at Jesus' arrival, that he asked if he might come out to the Savior upon the water. When Jesus beckoned Peter out of the boat, the disciple (with eyes fixed upon Jesus) began to walk on the water toward Jesus. Of course, the wind and waves were still swirling about causing Peter to take his eyes off the Savior and look instead at the perilous condition in which he found himself. As soon as Peter was distracted by his circumstances and lost faith in the Savior, he began to sink into the turbulent waters. The disciple cried out to Jesus for rescue, and the Lord saved him; then Jesus rebuked His disciple for not having faith.
Jesus and Peter returned to the boat, and as soon as they boarded, the winds died down. The overwhelmed disciples began to praise Jesus, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." Immediately, the boat reached the shore of Gennesaret, and Jesus continued His ministry with the people of that region.
As we read through the 3 gospel accounts that record this event, we are reminded that the disciples were amazed at Jesus' transcendence of natural law by His walking on water and His ability to calm the storm. One would think that the disciples, who previously had seen a number of miraculous events by the Savior (including the raising of a dead girl to life), would have not been so taken back by the events that unfolded on the Sea of Galilee. The Scriptures tell us that the disciples' amazement was fueled by their failure to understand Jesus' teaching about the loaves.
The "loaves" metaphor is mentioned by Jesus in John 6, when He instructed the crowds that He is the "Bread of Life who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" (John 6:33). That is, Jesus is the Son of God who came into the world to be the eternal sustenance that would provide eternal life to those who would surrender to Him as Lord and receive His eventual gift of His very life as a ransom for their wickedness. His miracle of multiplying the 5 loaves to feed the 5000 was intended not only to feed the hungry people, but to teach those who would hear, that God has eternal nourishment for all who would come to Him by faith. The Bread of Life would be multiplied to feed everyone who would surrender his life to the Lord.
Thus, the feeding of the 5000 with bread, coupled with the subsequent events on the Sea of Galilee were intentional by the Lord, to teach His disciples of His role as the Source of True Life and Deliverance for the redeemed. We have already seen how Jesus would use the miraculous provision of bread for the crowds as a later teaching illustration, when He referred Himself to the Bread of Life (John 6). But even the storm event was used by the Lord to teach His disciples that He was the Sovereign Lord who would triumph over sin and who would be the source of salvation for all who would believe. In antiquity, the dark waters of the sea were seen as the abode of evil. Isaiah's eschatological prophecy recorded hundreds of years before, mentions the LORD punishing the great serpent, Leviathan, who lived in the abyss of the deep . . . the place representing darkness, evil, and chaos (see Isaiah 27:1).
Jesus' walking upon the waters symbolically declared His sovereignty and victory over all evil. Not only was He noticeably distinct from that which represented evil, but He was able to defeat evil in transcendent supremacy. Of course, the Apostle Peter wanted to walk upon the water to Jesus, and Jesus summoned him to come, but it would only be by faith in the Lord that Peter would triumph over the dark, murky waters. When Peter first left the boat, he walked on the very turbulent water that once was a source of fear for him and his companions in the boat. Peter's faith in the Lord brought the blessing of victory over the chaotic waters below. But with the crashing of the waves upon Peter, the disciple stopped looking to the Messiah and began to look around at his circumstances; as a result, he began to lose faith that Jesus could deliver him from his seemingly fateful demise. In an instance, Peter began to sink into the waters, and he cried out to the Lord for deliverance.
There is a tremendous teaching lesson for us in this story. Again, we understand that Jesus is the spiritual food for eternal and abundant life. Only He can provide our souls with the nourishment that will bring our salvation. He too is the one who can provide victory over the seemingly impossible situations in which we may find ourselves. As the wind and waves of tribulation crash around us, we must remember that only faith in Jesus will give us the power and strength to rise above the chaos and darkness of life to attain victory in an otherwise seemingly hopeless situation. Let us continue to "fix our eyes on Jesus (who is) the Author and Perfecter of our Faith" (Hebrews 12:2); for in Him alone will we find spiritual nourishment for the salvation of our souls as well as the strength to transcend the dark waters of despair that come upon us in our tribulations.
Of course, we must respond in faith to the Lord when our difficult times come; otherwise, we will find ourselves in the same proverbial predicament that the Apostle Peter found himself. We will start to sink into the abyss of the darkness that confronts us unless we put our trust exclusively in the Lord.
Then too we should not be so amazed that God is willing and able to provide us these spiritual victories in life. If we truly understand the significance of Jesus as the Bread of Life, we will come to anticipate His power made manifest in our lives, giving us the ability to triumph over any obstacle that may come our way.
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