Passing By: Mark 6:45-52

Our scripture text this morning comes from Mark chapter 6 verses 45 to 52.

Mark 6:45–52

We are going through the gospel of Mark and learning much about through the eyes of Peter, who was with Jesus, much about Jesus' life and his ministry and the lessons that still teach today.

Reading God's holy word.

Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Beth Seda, while he dismissed the crowd.

And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land.

And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them.

And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.

He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out.

For they all saw him and were terrified.

But immediately he spoke to them and said, Take heart, it is I.

Do not be afraid.

And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased, and they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

This is the reading of God's holy, infallible, inerrant word.

Let's ask the Holy Spirit's work in us.

Lord, we thank you for this word inspired by you, Holy Spirit.

But now we need your help to illumine even as you, even as you did reveal.

Lord, we need your illuminating work in our minds and our hearts.

Lord, would you help us this morning to understand the truth?

But just as importantly, would you help us to desire to live and be transformed by this truth?

Empower us, enable us, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.

So we see the series in Mark.

We see that Jesus is on the move, very, very busy.

One of Mark's favorite words in his gospel is the word immediately.

He's always moving on to the next scene, the next chapter.

This is a page turner.

The other gospels tend to have much more sermons, longer discourses.

Mark's gospel is pithy and it's very action-oriented.

And we're seeing that.

But as soon as we see the word immediately, we have to think about what was coming before this.

And it's been a while.

Let's go back.

You remember what was going on before this?

This was a long day for Jesus and his disciples.

This was the day that Jesus fed the 5,000, more likely the 10,000, 15,000, because those were just the men.

And he did a lot of teaching on that occasion.

It was a long day.

And it seems it was around probably late afternoon, early evening that the teaching is done, the eating is done, and Jesus knows that he needs to move on.

According to John's gospel, the crowd, this huge crowd, wanted to make Jesus king.

They wanted to take him by force.

See, that's what happens when you're a miracle worker and you're a bread maker.

You feed all those people.

They think, who can do this but God?

Or certainly a prophet of God.

They had been fed by Jesus miraculously.

And now they think, well, let's take the next step.

We don't want only to hear him teach.

We want him to be king.

If he can do this for us, what will he do to deliver us from Rome?

And so you just see it, it just seeps out of the pages.

Jesus is thinking, Jesus is saying, we've got to bust this party up.

This groundswell of people that are infatuated with his power, they don't really know who he is.

Even the disciples are still figuring that out.

And so what does he do?

He made his disciples leave.

He said, guys, I want you to get in the boat.

I want you to get to the Sea of Galilee, I want you to cross over to the other side.

I can only imagine what they were thinking.

Wait a minute, Jesus, things are going really well.

Why are you busting this party up now?

They just didn't know.

Jesus knew.

He also knew that this was not the time to let anybody take him by force to make him king.

His kingship was very different from what they understood.

And so what does he do?

He sends his disciples away after feeding the 5,000.

And what does he do?

Well, he got alone.

He went to solitude.

He did what he loved most, to be alone with his father.

He needed to hear his father's voice.

He needed to find rest because it was a long, busy day.

And he got tired, right?

He was fully man, fully God, but fully man.

He got tired.

He got hungry.

He had physical needs for rest.

And yet he couldn't go to sleep.

There was one thing that he needed more than sleep.

He needed to pray.

Have you had that experience?

There's just sometimes when you know what you really need most is to go to your Father alone.

He felt much probably what he felt in the temptation in the desert for 40 days earlier, when Satan offered him his kingdom, earthly kingdom, if he bowed down and worshiped him.

And what did Jesus do?

He quoted scripture to Satan.

He went back to the book of Deuteronomy.

He said, Don't test the Lord your God.

Jesus needed this time to really get perspective, to keep perspective.

He needed encouragement from his father.

He needed empowerment from his father.

He needed direction from his father.

How about you when times are busy?

Thank you, Andrea, for reminding us of that this morning.

That's where we find our true rest.

It's not in our busyness.

It's not in our productivity.

Oh, how we Washingtonians love to be productive.

Oh, how we love to build the resume.

Oh, how we love to achieve.

And some and it can just give you a false high, can't it?

It can give you a buzz like this is good.

I'm being recognized.

I'm being rewarded.

Jesus didn't fall for that stuff.

Because he knew his identity.

He knew who he was.

He knew whose he was, his father.

I love the way Henry Nowan put it in his book, The Name of Jesus.

There are many voices speaking loudly in our lives.

Many voices, just like the voice to Jesus in the temptation in the wilderness, just like the voice to Jesus on other times and occasions in his ministry.

Other voices clamoring for our attention.

Prove that you're the beloved.

Prove that you're worth something.

Do something relevant.

That's the voice of the flesh.

That's the voice of the world.

Jesus said, I don't have to prove anything.

I know who I am.

I know who my father is.

And what Henry Nowen is trying to get is for us Christians to understand, it's the same thing we need.

We're not living or working for an identity.

Okay?

I know that's hard.

That voice just keeps coming back, doesn't it?

Prove yourself.

Jesus says through his brothers and sisters, I haven't called you to live this rat race of a life, just being consumed by your busyness, trying to prove you are somebody.

That's not for you.

So these two questions that we've seen through the Gospel of Mark from the beginning, we're going to come back to because it's been a little while.

Remember the first question?

Who is this one who calls?

And secondly, what does it mean to follow him?

We're not going to tire of these two questions.

It's a compass.

It points us back.

Who is this one who calls us?

Verse 48 of the text that we read said he saw, Jesus saw, after he'd sent his disciples on the boat, crossing the Sea of Galilee.

By the way, it apparently took them about nine hours to row three miles.

Now I don't know if you know much about rowing.

Some of you do.

Millie, you know about that, right?

Can you imagine nine hours for three miles?

You would come in last, right?

That's really bad.

The wind was so strong.

And they were tired from the day.

They were exhausted.

And then Jesus shows up on the water.

The prepositions in the Greek are very clear.

He was not on a sandbar.

It's really amusing how liberal scholars go to great lengths to prove that it wasn't really a miracle.

It was probably a sandbar he was walking on.

Maybe he just found the shallow part of the lake.

No.

He was walking on the water.

That's why the disciples were terrified.

They had never seen this before.

Who'd ever seen that?

Who's ever seen it since?

He was revealing his deity to his disciples once again.

He came to them walking on the sea.

And then there's this fascinating phrase that we've been already thinking about and singing about this morning.

Here it comes.

He meant to pass by them.

We're going to unpack that.

Was this a race?

No.

Was Jesus say, I'm going to pass you?

Was Jesus in the passing lane?

No.

That's not what it meant at all.

So let's unpack it.

Exodus chapter 33, verse 19, as we've been looking at previously.

Exodus 33:19

God says to Moses, I will cause all of my goodness to pass in front of you, Moses.

And it's going to change your life.

How about Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 19, verse 11?

1 Kings 19:11

The Lord said to Elijah, Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to what?

Pass by.

What Moses and Elijah both needed was a clear, fresh look at who God really is.

Isn't that what we've been asking in this worship service from the beginning today?

Behold our God seated on his throne?

We started thinking about it in the call to worship, didn't we?

We've heard it read in the scriptures.

We've heard it prayed.

Now you're hearing it preached.

What does that mean?

What did they need that we need?

What did they need that you need when the Bible talks about God passing by to get a glimpse, to behold our God.

That's what worship is supposed to be about.

And sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't happen.

Let me ask you.

And all the worship services you've been to, and some of us, I'm looking around the room.

I think I've been to more worship services than just about all of you.

One exception.

And you know what?

I'm telling you the truth.

A lot of worship services, I haven't seen the glory of God pass by.

I came into the sanctuary and I sang the songs, and maybe I preached the sermon.

But that doesn't mean that the glory of God passes by me.

And it doesn't mean that happens to you either.

Nothing happens automatically because you show up.

Can we put it like this?

We don't get points for showing up, okay?

What this is about is the glory of God passing by, seeing something about who this God is, that just because of the work of the Holy Spirit, He is becoming more real.

His love, his mercy, his compassion, his holiness.

This, what's taking place on the lake with Jesus, is really a Christophany.

It's the appearance of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

We know about Theophanies in the Old Testament, right?

Remember Exodus chapter 3?

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

Moses is minding his business one day out in the desert, and he sees what?

A bush that is on fire, but it won't be consumed.

And he's struck by that.

He's never seen anything like this.

Wait, here's a bush in the middle of the desert.

It's on fire, it's burning, but it's not being consumed.

And he heard a voice.

Moses.

Moses, take off your sandals.

You're on holy ground here.

You thought this was just a desert.

You thought that was just a bush.

But Moses, I am here in your midst.

I am here in your presence to reveal myself to you in a way that you did not understand before today.

How about Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6?

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

Isaiah had a vision of the one who was high and lifted up.

And when he saw the one who was high and lifted up, what did he say?

What did he do?

He said, I'm undone.

I am coming undone.

Because I am seeing the holiness of God like I've never seen the holiness of God.

And in seeing the holiness of God, I'm seeing my sin like I've never seen my sin.

Oh, by the way, that's supposed to be part of worship too.

How many times are you cognizant when you leave this room after worship that you've seen your sin in a new way?

That means the spirit is at work.

But it's not just about seeing our sin.

Where sin abounds, grace superabounds.

God wants you to see how loving and merciful He is.

That He can forgive all of your sin.

Because He sent His Son.

He wants you to see that.

He wants to ravish you with His love.

He wants to point you to His Son Jesus.

He wants you to point Him to the cross.

And He wants you to know that He's real and He's alive and He's glorious.

And He wants to be in relationship with you.

Who but our God?

Then Jesus sees them.

We're back to the boat.

And about the fourth hour, 3 a.m.

Okay?

This is about 3 a.m.

He came to the disciples walking on the sea.

He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and they cried out.

They're scared out of their wits.

They thought it was a ghost.

They didn't know what source.

For they all saw him and were terrified.

And I love this next word.

And immediately, once again, one of Mark's favorite words.

And immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, Take heart.

It is I.

Do not be afraid.

Do not be afraid.

In the Greek, it's ego, a me.

You say, well, that's Greek to me.

It's emphatic, it's a double.

Ego, I am.

A me.

Literally, I am, I am.

And they do, because that was the language that was used of God in the Old Testament.

He was saying, I'm Yahweh in the flesh.

And that's why you don't have to be terrified.

Because I'm with you.

I'm not just a God who's high and lifted up, who has to look far down on the earth, although I am.

I'm also the kind of God who walks on water and comes aboard your ship, your boat.

Is this amazing?

Jesus is absolutely claiming deity.

I'm really hard struck to explain to people who don't believe that Jesus proves his deity.

He does it time and time again in the Gospels.

We've seen it in the Gospel of Mark.

I am God in the flesh.

You know what's remarkable about this?

As it was read earlier in Exodus' account and Elijah's account, the disciples didn't have to hide in the cleft of the rock.

Think about that.

Previously, in the presence of the majesty of God, the only safe place to be is in the cleft of a rock.

Because otherwise him being that close to you would kill you.

Truly.

As the glory of God passed by Moses, as the glory of God passed by Elijah, but here, no.

There in the person of Jesus, the glory of God is passing by and nobody's being killed.

Take that in.

This is who we serve.

This morning, the glory of God just might pass by you.

But there's no guarantees.

It might just be a worship service for you.

Or you might see his glory.

You might see how great he is.

You might experience his mercy in a new way.

And then you will see yourself in a different way if you do.

Just as he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you.

When his glory passes by you, and you see the Almighty with fresh eyes and a humbled heart and a growing sense of his love and his delight for you.

Yes, Deviniah 3.17.

When that all gets captured, when that all gets bottled up in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you can't be the same person.

That's what this means.

You can't be the same person.

You're being changed from the inside out.

Because you're having a fresh encounter with Jesus Christ.

This is what worship is about.

His goodness brings peace in the midst of anxiety.

His presence brings comfort in the midst of your loneliness.

It brings courage in the grip of fear.

Jesus becomes more real to you rather than the storm you're in.

Jesus becomes more real to you than the disease you're battling.

Jesus becomes more real to you than your feeling of abandonment.

I know.

As a man, I know as a pastor how easy it is to believe that the storm is bigger than Jesus.

That the disease is bigger than Jesus.

That the loneliness and the disappointment is bigger than Jesus.

We all fight that, don't we?

And Jesus says, no, it's not.

But immediately he spoke to them.

Verse 50.

Let's come back to this word immediately.

Let me tell you what I think it means.

He can still speak a word to you at just the right moment to bring you exactly what you need.

Is that beautiful?

But do you believe it?

Or is it just a worship service?

We come in, we leave.

The same.

Or does Jesus going to speak to you immediately this morning because he has the power to do that by the work of the Spirit in your life?

Immediately.

He knows exactly what to say to you, whatever you're going through.

Just like he knew exactly what to say to his disciples when to see.

Holy Spirit, help me believe this.

Holy Spirit, help me believe this truth.

To take it into my being.

And he got into the boat with them.

This seems to be one of Mark's themes, doesn't it?

I don't know how many times I've heard people in this congregation say, since we looked at it about three months ago in this sermon series, he's in the boat with us.

That's a refrain I keep hearing.

And it's true.

This is one of Mark's themes.

And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased.

Before, again, this kind of closeness and proximity to the Almighty was lethal.

You don't dare get too close to the holy.

Here, the holy one is coming aboard.

He's coming aboard.

This is the transcendence of God, and this is the imminence of God, as theologians talk about.

The transcendence of God is that he is high and lifted up and altogether different from you.

And he's worthy of our worship because of how great he is.

But the imminence of God, as theologians will tell us, means that he is not only high and mighty and lifted up and completely different from you, but because he wants you, he came to this earth in the form of his son, and he's as close as you could possibly be.

He's close.

This is the gospel.

This is what warms our hearts.

Are you straining at the oars against fierce winds in your life today?

Does it feel like it's taking you 10 hours, nine to ten hours to go three miles in your life?

Are you straining at the oars?

Is life just not cooperating with you?

Does it feel like you're getting nowhere?

Do you feel just exhausted?

Take heart.

That's what Jesus said.

Take heart, take courage.

It is I.

I'm coming on board.

Man, is that beautiful?

Do you have any idea in your life who's coming on board?

Do you have a clue?

Not just anybody.

The God who made you.

The Savior who died for you.

Permission to come aboard.

You know, people do it all the time.

People say, no, no, sorry.

Boat's full.

How ridiculous to not yield to the work of the Spirit in your life this morning.

How ridiculous to say, sorry, no more room.

In my boat.

How foolish.

This is the first time, because we get this story in Matthew.

We get this story also in John.

This is the first time that it's said that the disciples worship Jesus.

This is the first time that the disciples addressed Jesus as the Son of God.

Their view is changing on the spot on the water because they're seeing the glory, because the glory is passing by.

And because the glory is passing by in our hearts and our worship this morning, perhaps some of us are going to forgive somebody that we have refused to forgive.

We've been holding on to this grudge for a long, long time.

And if that's you, you know exactly who you are.

You know you haven't forgiven that person.

You're holding it on.

You're just nursing that grudge because it feels good.

It feels good to have power over people.

And that's some weird way we think we have power over people.

But the glory of God is going to pass by you this morning, maybe.

And the Holy Spirit is going to say, you forgive that person, you forgive as you have been forgiven.

And you're going to see how much more your debt was against God than their debt against you.

And you're going to forgive them because the gospel is at work passing by you this morning.

This is the gospel.

You may be very anxious.

You might be very riled up about circumstances in your life.

And if the glory of God passes by you this morning, you're going to go home with a peace you didn't come with.

You're going to say to yourself, No, I believe that Jesus is coming on board.

Jesus said, Take courage, take heart.

It is I, do not be afraid, and you're not going to be afraid.

This is the gospel.

When you see Jesus coming aboard, you don't say, you don't think.

Oh, that's nice.

That's comforting.

You haven't seen him.

You just haven't seen him.

If that's your response, if that's my response.

Can you identify with the disciples?

Last thing it says, for they did not understand about the loaves that Jesus had given, made that day to the 5,000, because their hearts were hardened.

Do you think that our hearts are more hardened than we realize?

Yeah, I think so.

Do you think that our hearts just get hard and we don't even realize it?

And his glory doesn't dazzle us.

His mercy doesn't collapse us on Christ?

I like the way Annie Diller put it.

I like Annie Diller's writings about worship.

On the whole, I do not find Christians outside of the catacombs sufficiently sensible of condition.

Does anybody have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we so blithely invoke?

Or as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it?

The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning.

It's madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church.

We should all be wearing crash helmets in the presence of God.

Ushers should preserve issue life preservers and signal flares.

They should lash us to our pews.

For the sleeping God to us anyway, may someday wake up and take offense.

Or the waking God may draw us out to where we can never return.

Those are sober words.

But I think they're true words.

The one who took the crash means it's safe for you to worship this morning.

He did crash.

He did drown in the sea.

And he says it's okay to come.

It's okay to come to this high and lifted God because I'm here.

Take courage.

It is I.

Do not be afraid.

That gives me a lot of hope.

I feel like I'm worshiping this morning.

I hope you are.

Let's pray.

Father, we we bow before you and we invite you to please search us.

Search us and show us.

Show us what's getting in the way.

Show us our hard hearts.

Soften our hard hearts, please.

For your glory, for your name's sake, for our good.

We would see Jesus this morning.

Holy Spirit, show us Jesus.

Merciful and mighty.

The one who said, Come unto me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.

Jesus by your grace will come.

And we'll let your glory pass by us.

And we will be different.

And we will live for you this week.

With that truth in our hearts.

Take courage, it is I.

Do not be afraid.

Amen.