Gospel – Mark 5-6

Today we continue our look at Mark…

Bible Passage:  Mark 5-6

Now Jesus performed many works and moved around much in these next two chapters. Here we see many great miracles.

• A man possessed by many demons was saved by Jesus,
• a woman who had a flow of blood for 12 years was healed by touching the garment of Jesus,
• the daughter of the ruler of a synagogue was raised to life from the dead,
• Jesus fed 5000 people,
• Jesus walked on the Sea!

Of all the stories we read in these two short chapters, I would like to share about Jesus walked on water. Although it was a short record of the incident in Mark, I would like to draw the link to two other previous stories recorded in Mark 1 and 4, and extend the reading to the reference records in other gospels.

I shared this stories with my class some weeks ago together with two other stories. The lesson was titled “Jesus is Lord over nature”. This story would be one of those you would think of when we speak about Jesus doing acts that showed He was above nature when on earth. The other two stories – first was Jesus allowed Peter to have a big catch of fish which convinced Peter rightaway to follow Jesus, and second was Jesus calmed the wind and wave. The calling of Peter appeared in Mark chapter 1 but did not record this account in detail. You can find it in Luke chapter 5. The story where Jesus commanded the wind and wave to be still can be found in Mark chapter 4. The 3^rd story is Jesus walking on water, but Matthew chapter 14 gives a more detailed account and included Peter also walking on water. I thought I would like to share what I gathered about these 3 stories.

When I prepared that lesson, it occurred to me that the stories happened in chronological order and were like milestones for the faith of the disciples, particularly for Peter.

When Jesus first called Peter, it was after a whole night of toiling for the fishermen and they did not catch anything. Jesus asked Peter to launch out into the deep and let down the net for a catch. Even though this was against the experience of this bunch of fishermen who had tried the whole night before, and they have even washed their nets already, Peter still decided to follow the words of Jesus. What was the faith that was required here? It was faith of obedience which is beyond logic, and we will see the hand of God work as Peter did.

In the second story, Jesus was sleeping in the stern of the boat when the storm hit the waters. The disciples asked if Jesus cared that they were perishing. Well, on hindsight, we all can say that Jesus cares. But if we put ourselves in the shoes of the disciples then, or we just reflect on ourselves when we were in some deep trouble, how many of us doubted whether Jesus cared? What was the faith that Jesus wanted here? The faith that is without fear but peace in the face of life’s storms, believing that He is in control and cares for us.

In the 3^rd story, Jesus walked on the sea. When Peter saw that, he asked Jesus to ask him to come to Jesus on the water too. Jesus permitted that. Yes Peter saw the waves and became afraid, and yes he dropped and was scolded by Jesus. But I remember a preacher once asked us to think about what could have happened next? Did Jesus have to drag Peter back to the boat? Or did Peter resumed walking on the water again and walked back with Jesus to the boat? Back to the point about faith, what was the faith that Jesus required here? Jesus rebuked Peter for doubting; He wanted Peter to have faith without doubting when he ask, and this faith can allow him to do this supernatural thing, just as Jesus said faith of the size of a mustard seed can even move mountains!

We have heard about the mustard seed many times, just do we know how it looks like:

Another interesting picture I found:

Title of picture: Peter’s early attempt to walk on water with Jesus displayed an inadequate amount of faith.