It's me: don't be scared!
Mark 6:45-56The Message
Walking on the Sea
45-46 As soon as the meal was finished, Jesus insisted that the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead across to Bethsaida while he dismissed the congregation. After sending them off, he climbed a mountain to pray.
47-49 Late at night, the boat was far out at sea; Jesus was still by himself on land. He could see his men struggling with the oars, the wind having come up against them. At about four o’clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them, walking on the sea. He intended to go right by them. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and screamed, scared to death.
50-52 Jesus was quick to comfort them: “Courage! It’s me. Don’t be afraid.” As soon as he climbed into the boat, the wind died down. They were stunned, shaking their heads, wondering what was going on. They didn’t understand what he had done at the supper. None of this had yet penetrated their hearts.
53-56 They beached the boat at Gennesaret and tied up at the landing. As soon as they got out of the boat, word got around fast. People ran this way and that, bringing their sick on stretchers to where they heard he was. Wherever he went, village or town or country crossroads, they brought their sick to the marketplace and begged him to let them touch the edge of his coat—that’s all. And whoever touched him became well.
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We know this good old Sunday School bible story by heart, and The Message version is one of our best for telling it well. Several things intrigue me, which I'm going to mention, leave it at that, and move on to the rest of my early morning.
It always reminds me that some years ago, maybe twenty or so, I read in a news magazine of modern day idiots who, not "getting" Mark or his story, were making a project of searching the shoreline in that area of the Sea of Galilee, looking for the sandbar that Jesus may have walked out on. The same imbeciles who search the sea looking to find a giant fish large enough to swallow a man (Jonah) and keep him alive in its stomach for three days before vomiting him out on the beach. There are literalist inerrantists, and there are literalists, and they are not the same.
Another is that, this same story in the Gospel according to John 6:16-24, becomes, subtly, an "I AM saying", Jesus - -pointedly, offensively to his detractors - - referring to himself by the NT Greek term ἐγώ εἰμι (I AM) that in the Greek language Septuagint (LXX) God names himself to Moses from the Burning Bush in Exodus 3, "I AM that I AM, tell them אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה - - ehYEH, I AM, Adonai, haShem, the Name, LXX ἐγώ εἰμι I AM -- sent you". He says, "I AM, fear not." Mark and John tell it the same way. In fact, it's the same assurance the angel gives to the shepherds at Luke 2, "Fear not".
The Message does a good job too, of expressing Mark's agenda of Jesus' disciples' naive obliviousness as to who this is they have chosen to follow: "As soon as he climbed into the boat, the wind died down. They were stunned, shaking their heads, wondering what was going on. They didn’t understand what he had done at the supper. None of this had yet penetrated their hearts." They really won't ever get it, and by now we know that, with Mark, it's intentional, key to Mark's agenda - - his plan for spurring YOU to proclaim Christ!
Oh, and if you were expecting Simon Peter to get out of the boat and walk toward Jesus, only to sink and have Jesus reach out and save him, you need to read Matthew14:22-36. Remember, What's the truth? What really happened that night? In bible study, it depends on whose story you're reading, on who's telling the story. You can compare, but try not to mix and mingle, and confuse, the stories!
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