Jesus was walking on by....

The scene in Mark Chapter 6 is really on the weird side. Jesus feeds 5,000 men, who knows how many women and children, and then he tells the disciples to get in a boat and go on ahead.

They do and they run into a storm, they row and row and row. They row all night long and are still in the middle of the lake. Some of these men knew how to handle a boat in a storm but not what was going to happen next. The Bible tells us that Jesus came walking by them on the fourth watch, between 3 and 6 am. Verse 48b says, "When he was about to pass by them..." which is funny isn't it? Jesus wasn't out there to save the disciples from their hard work and fear, He was out for a walk on the lake.

Maybe He was going where He told His disciples to go, but it is clear that He wasn't out there to join them. The men start screaming, they were terrified.

I can't remember the last time I screamed because I was afraid... but think about this, Mark wrote this in his letter about Jesus. He looked back at that time and probably smiled. Maybe he felt a little embarrassed to have others read this.

Every time someone read this that knew one of the 12 in the boat that night, probably smiled at how silly it would be to see those men, some of who were professional fishermen, screaming and actually being afraid of Jesus.

I think Jesus might have expected them to be brave because He sent them ahead of Him. I think that we can take a clear lesson from this...we can be especially brave when God prompts us to do something and then we do it. Jesus may never walk on the water to me, but He might walk by me in the midst of my struggles and meet where He told me to go.