Mark 6:47-52 Your World is like a Boat

First Things: Devotions in Mark’s Gospel

Mark 6:47-52 Your World is like a Boat

Mark 6:47   When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. ⁴⁸ Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night He *came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them. ⁴⁹ But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out; ⁵⁰ for they all saw Him and were terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and *said to them, “Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, ⁵² for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.

There are couple different accounts of Jesus and his disciples and a boat. In one, Jesus is asleep in the boat, in the middle of a storm, and they wake him and he stills the storm. This one is different. Here, the disciples are alone in their boat, without Jesus, and then He appears from - where? - and he stills the storm. In either case, I think it can be useful for you to think about your life, your world, like a boat.

What you know and what you have some control of is in the boat. But that boat is in the midst of a large, wild, unpredictable sea. There are a few things over which you have control. There are much bigger issues that you don’t understand, and which you cannot control. Isn’t that quite a bit like life. We can’t control the economy. We can’t control the existence of wars, or diseases. We are often surprised at how events turn. We say, “We didn’t see that coming.”

In this particular account, the disciples are in desperation. And then all of a sudden they sense the presence of a mysterious figure. The strange thing is, they do not seem to even suspect that it might be Jesus. It seems as if, in their minds, Jesus is far away, and this is their own problem, to be solved by themselves. The fact that Jesus is not in the boat communicates to them that Jesus is not a solution to their immediate problem. And there we have it: your view of life, and the problems of your life, is like a boat - and it could be that you don’t see Jesus as part of the mix. That’s where we go wrong.

They thought He was a ghost. In our experience, I don’t think we go to the “ghost” theory often. That’s probably best. But, absent Jesus, for what do we grasp? I’ve seen so many situations where people facing problems go to the very worst sources of advice and help, often with disastrous results. Why not go to Jesus? He is readily available, whether we see Him or not. The problem seems to be that He is absent from our minds.

It is interesting to me that in several passages, faith is not mentioned at all. Jesus does miracles, not merely in relation to faith, but at times, in relation to no faith. The people aren’t ready. The people aren’t worthy (we’re never worthy, but faith makes it seem more likely), and yet Jesus acts anyway. He is Lord. 

He gets into the boat, and the wind stops. That’s it. It does not say here that He waves His arms or says anything. He is present. He is present in your boat, in your life, and He is able to still the storm, though He doesn’t guarantee that it will always be the case. But we know that He can. You and I need Jesus in our boat. You and I need Jesus in our life, in our world.