The Lord of the Storm - John 6:16-21 (05.17.2026)

Well, good morning. I'm glad that you are here this morning.

If you will, let's pray before we get started.

God, we thank you that your mercies are new every morning.

We pray that we would fill them today.

We pray that you would speak to us, that you would make much of yourself through

the proclamation of your word, and that we would leave this place looking more like Jesus.

It's in his name that we pray. Amen.

So the longest, stormiest night of my life was November 18th,

2022, into the early morning hours of November 19th.

Some six months earlier, my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer.

And along his spine, up to the base of his skull, were five or six really aggressive tumors.

Weeks of radiation, followed by weeks of chemotherapy and infusions,

had done absolutely nothing.

The radiation had stolen Dad's ability to swallow.

And so the last month of his life, he was on a feeding tube.

And because he couldn't swallow correctly, he couldn't clear out fluids in his

lungs. So he just coughed the most ungodly cough I've ever heard in my life,

almost constantly at times.

And so I had been at mom and dad's for a week.

I had seen and done things that I was completely unprepared to do.

Things people go to school for years to learn how to do, I did over the phone

with directions from a hospice nurse.

That night, I had gone to bed early, and in God's graciousness,

I slept with the door open and most of the lights on upstairs.

And I was awoken by dead, struggling, desperate cough.

And at this point in the week, dead was on morphine around the clock.

It mostly calmed the cough.

So I knew that something was up that he just kept coughing.

So I waited for it to end, but it just didn't.

So I got up, I walked downstairs, and I went to their bedroom and found Dad

struggling in his hospital bed, and my mom was sound asleep in their bed right next to him.

She had taken some cold medicine that night and was doing the thing that she

hadn't done in months, which was sleep.

Dad was unable to talk, and so I knew that he needed more morphine,

but I kind of panicked, and I was like, I've got to wake Mom up and figure out what's going on.

And so I did, and it seemed to take forever,

but eventually she woke up and we consulted together and using the advice that

we had gotten the day before from a hospice nurse, we decided that we would

give dad another dose of morphine and we would wait 10 minutes to see what would happen.

And so for the last hour of my dad's life, I gave him morphine every eight minutes.

And it wasn't until the last 20 minutes of his life that he calmed down.

And when he did, mom was on one side of his bed and I was on the other side of his bed.

And he just, his eyes were bigger than we had ever seen them any time in my whole entire life.

Mom kept asking him questions.

What is it? What do you see? Who do you see? And he would just look back and forth And at 4.06 a.m.

He took the last breath his cancer-ridden body would take And suddenly,

at 4 o'clock in the morning Standing in my parents' bedroom I felt like one

of those 12 disciples out on the sea.

Tossed about, dazed, confused, absolutely lost In John 5.36,

Jesus says but the testimony that I have is greater than that of John,

the Baptist, as he was talking about.

For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that

I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.

John is setting up the whole of chapter 6. We started that last week with the feeding of the 5,000.

Jesus has gone across the Sea of Galilee. He has gone to the crowds.

And anytime you're reading the Gospels and one of the Gospel writers talks about

the crowds, almost always you can assume that that's used in a negative term.

These hordes of people have come out to see Jesus because they see him as an entertainer.

They marvel at him, but as a spectacle, not as God.

And yet Jesus has compassion on them. He knows that they will be hungry.

And so he asks his disciples, what should we do?

He knows exactly what should be done. He knows exactly what is going to be done,

but he's doing something in their lives.

And so Jesus takes a boy's lunch and he multiplies it to feed well over 5,000 people.

Some people estimate that there were 20,000 or more people there.

And how did the crowds respond? They determined to take him by force to be king.

They want Jesus to be king, but they want him to be king for all of the wrong reasons.

They want him to be king because their bellies are full.

They want him to be king of their comfort. They want to make Jesus the king

that they desire, but they don't want Jesus to be the king that they actually need.

And in this story in John 6, 16, we're going to see that Jesus is going to teach

the disciples that he is in fact the king that they need.

Matthew tells us that Jesus made the disciples get in the boat and sent them

on their way across the sea while he stayed back and dismissed the crowd.

Next week, we'll see that he's back with the crowds and that they are unprepared

to follow Jesus at the cost that he requires.

How about the 12? When he asks the 12, they're going to respond differently, not perfectly.

But Jesus, always in control, knowingly sends the 12 into a storm that will change them.

It is a moment of deep, Christ-exalting discipleship in their lives.

Imagine, if you will, the ending of the feeding of the 5,000.

I grew up in church. I've been in church all of my entire life.

And so even though I have a degree in the Bible, most of what I picture when

I picture a Bible story is what I learned in Sunday school.

And so I kind of have this picture of the end of the feeding of the 5,000 with

the 12 disciples going around and just like gleefully throwing barley loaves

and fish into these baskets.

But if you read the text, that's not really at all what's happening.

They are gathering the leftovers, but it's really a really wild scene.

The crowd see the disciples cleaning up the leftovers and they're like,

wow, look at all that food. Let's make this guy the king.

And so if you look back to John 6, 15, it says, perceiving that they were about

to come and take him by force to make him king.

Take him by force to make him king.

If you think about the personalities of the disciples, you know that these guys

have got to be losing their mind.

Like, you know, like Peter, James, John, they're like already to like to jump

or like, you know, they're spouting off. It's a crazy scene.

Matthew 14, 22 gives a little bit more commentary than John here does.

Matthew says, Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before

him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds.

And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself

to pray. And when evening came, he was there alone.

So Jesus, ever calm, he is completely unfazed by the crowds.

He ushers the disciples into the boat.

One of the commentators I read said, you can almost just picture Jesus shoving

the boat into the water and off they go.

And then he just walks away up a mountain to spend time with the father.

And so let's look here at John 6, verse 16.

John 6:16

When evening came, that's an important time marker. So think about that in your head.

His disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat and started across the sea to Capernaum.

Jesus had taken the disciples to Bethsaida. So that's where the feeding of the 5,000 happens.

And so they're on the northeastern side. So imagine this is the Sea of Galilee. So they're up here.

Capernaum is down here. So now they're crossing across the sea,

about eight miles across the sea, headed to Capernaum.

And what do you think that they were saying as they got in the boat and were

sailing away. I wish that I knew.

Those kinds of things that are not in the Bible, they fascinate me.

But Mark tells us that they hadn't understood what had just happened,

that their hearts were hardened.

So it's curious what they might have been talking about. Look at verse, look back to the text.

It was now dark and Jesus had not yet come to them.

The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. So they're chatting

it up, I'm sure, gregariously.

And little by little, the waves begin to swell larger and larger.

And the already darkened sky gets darker and darker until they realize that

they are in a full-blown storm headed straight into the wind.

Now, some of these guys are experienced sailors. They're fishermen by trade.

That's how Jesus came and found them when he said, drop your nets and follow me.

So you have to imagine that Peter, James, Andrew, John, Philip,

all of these guys are like, they're ready for this occasion, right?

So they are taking charge. I don't think the tax collector Matthew was probably

much help in this situation, but those guys are ready to do it.

But I have a hunch that this storm was different than other storms that they

had been. Storms were super common on the Sea of Galilee.

But I think that there's more happening this night than previously.

So Matthew tells us that during the fourth watch of the night. So when do they start?

When it started getting dark, when evening came. The fourth watch of the night is 3 a.m.

So remember, they get in at evening. Now it's 3 a.m. and they had been straining

against the wind for maybe six or seven or eight hours.

This is the journey that experienced fishermen should have been able to make in two hours or less.

It feels impossible for them to get through.

That's how I felt with my dad's death. Are we ever going to get through this?

I just wanna get through this.

The months that followed were just times of this deep grief.

Life felt like I was just in a cloud.

Just get me through this. And aren't we so prone to do that in every trial or

season of suffering that we go through?

I just want to get this over with. If I can just make it to this point,

or if I can just make it to that point, if I can just get to this break or that

break, then and only then will I be okay.

Meanwhile, we overlook that God is doing something deep in our hearts.

One of my favorite John Piper quotes is something along the lines of,

God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.

Look at verse 19. When they had rowed about three or four miles,

they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened.

I want you to flip over to Mark's account of the story, which is in Mark 6.

But keep a finger in John, because we'll be back there.

Verse 48 in Mark 6.

Do you understand what is happening here in this story?

Jesus had left the crowds. He sent the disciples across the sea in order to

go up the mountain so he could spend time with the Father.

And Jesus knew what was going to happen that night. He was in utter,

complete control of the situation.

And while he's there up on the mountain praying for the Father,

he sees that his disciples are making headway painfully. He sees them.

He sees that they are straining and rowing against the wind,

desperate to get to the shores of Capernaum.

They are exhausted. They are certainly questioning where Jesus is.

I don't think they realized that he could have calmed the storm.

I think that's the whole point of the story. They don't understand who Jesus is.

But Jesus sees what they're going through.

And brothers and sisters, Jesus sees what you're going through.

Let me testify to you that Jesus sees your suffering.

You're going to be prone to think that he doesn't. I can only imagine that the

disciples were thinking things like, he's gone away from us.

He doesn't care about us.

He sent us out here in order for us to die.

And I think it's impossible that you were sitting here in this room and you've

thought similar things.

God doesn't care about me. He doesn't care that I'm lonely and that I don't have any friends.

He doesn't care that work is harder than it's ever been before.

He doesn't care that my finances are in turmoil.

He doesn't care that my marriage is broken. He doesn't care that my dad is sick.

He doesn't care about my past hurt.

But just like the disciples, Jesus sees you.

He sees that you are making headway painfully.

I'm reminded of the story of Hagar in Genesis 16.

Hagar has fled from Sarah, Abraham's wife, because Sarah treats her really badly.

But God meets with her in the wilderness. And in Genesis 16,

13, it says, So she, Hagar, called the name of the Lord who spoke to her.

You are Elroy, the God who sees me.

He sees you. He saw the disciples.

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

I cannot think of anything more Jesus than for him to come to them. He came to them.

They were desperate and needy. They were lost. They didn't think they could

make it. And what does he do? He comes to them.

Do you remember what John said back in John 1?

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. He came to us.

If you're sitting here in this room this morning and you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ,

let me testify to you this morning that the difference in Jesus from all the

other religions in the world is that God humbled himself and he came down to us.

In your sin, you are lost and desperate. You're in need. You need to be rescued.

And God has done that through Jesus.

The Bible is clear. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe

in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

You need him. And the good news is that he came.

He came. I love that old John Wesley quote, Best of all, God is with us.

Look back to Mark 6, 49. But when they saw him walking on the sea,

they thought it was a ghost and they cried out for they all saw him and were

terrified. You can flip back to John now. We'll stay there.

The way John says it, he says, they saw Jesus, this is verse 19.

They saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat and they were frightened.

They don't get it. They didn't get it when he took five loaves and two fish

and he just kept passing them out until thousands ate their fill and they don't get it now.

Who can walk on water? Who can walk on water? It's got to be a ghost,

they cry. No, it's not a ghost, it's Jesus.

And just before we get too caught up in Jesus's reaction to them,

which I want us to get caught up into Jesus's reaction, but just before we get

there, I want us to realize that the very thing,

the very thing that caused the disciples such chaos,

such hardship, the very thing that left them drenched and maybe cold and miserable,

the very thing Jesus comes to them walking on the waves.

And if we're not careful, we won't see that whatever suffering is happening

in our lives, that Jesus will walk on the very thing that's causing us to suffer

in order to minister to us.

Last week, Ben took us to Psalm 23.

Verse 4 says, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

As my family walked down into the valley of the shadow of death day after day

as my dead was dying, who was walking with us on those shadows?

Jesus. It was Jesus.

When waves of grief overwhelm me, who is there lifting my head up? It's Jesus.

The night will seem long. You just want out, but look up. It's Jesus.

I love how Kent Hughes describes this event in his commentary on John.

He says, after he had finished praying, praying, he strode down that mountain

to the same point on the shore and somehow, at least partially,

followed the path they had taken.

This is an incredibly encouraging aspect of Christ's incarnation.

He understands our situation.

He fills what we fill. He walks where we walk.

So when we are being tossed about, he understands everything that we are going through.

Jesus experienced what the disciples were experiencing. What a scene to keep before us.

Our Lord walking across those waves, the angry waves, the pavement for his feet.

Jesus walked their path. He understood their plight.

And he made the thing that was causing them pain, his pavement.

Because who can walk on water? Jesus can. and he's going to show them how and why.

Verse 20, but he said to them, it is I, do not be afraid.

Now, there are some people who will tell you that there's no significance to

this whatsoever. I think that's baloney.

He's not just coming up to them and saying, hey guys, it's Jesus.

Don't be scared. It's just me, your friend.

See, remember why the crowds wanted to take Jesus by force and make him to be king?

It's because he filled their stomachs.

It's because he was fun to watch. He could make the lame walk and he could make the blind see.

What a good king to have. That's very convenient.

But Jesus took the disciples and he put them in a boat and he sent them out

on a sea that would rage in order to show them that he's the king they need.

And he proves it with his actions and now he's proven it with his words.

You're tracking with action, right? Who walks on water? God, only God walks on water.

But he's also going to declare it to them right here in his response to them.

It is I. Okay, we got to have a little bit of a Greek lesson for you to get this.

So the Greek word for it is I is ego, a me. So leave that in your brain.

Now, when the Greek, when Greek,

the language Greek became the dominant cultural language of the day,

they took the Old Testament, which was written in Hebrew, and they wrote it in Greek.

And they call that the Septuagint.

And it's very helpful because it helps us to make all of these connections between

the Old Testament and the New Testament because it's now written in the same language.

So flip to Exodus 3.

So this is the point in Moses' life where he has fled from Egypt.

He's in Midian. He is taking care of his father-in-law's sheep.

And in order to find good grass, he takes them way away into the hills and they

go and he finds grass for them. So he's a long way from home.

And while he's tending to his sheep, he looks out and there is a bush that is

on fire, but it's not burning up.

And he goes to look at it and he meets God.

And God tells him to go back to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let the people go.

And so Moses kind of begins this negotiation with God. Well, what about this?

And what about this? And what if we did this instead of this?

And God patiently talks to him and listens to him and negotiates back and forth

with him. Look at verse 13.

So this is the point where Moses is like, okay, but who do I tell them you are?

Then Moses said to God, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them,

the God of your fathers has sent me to you.

And they asked me, what is his name? what shall I say to them?

God said to Moses, I am who I am.

Ego, a me ho on.

When the disciples cry out in terror because they think they've seen a ghost

because who walks on water?

Jesus isn't just identifying himself as Jesus.

He is declaring that he is God.

He's saying to them, I am the I am.

The reason the disciples need Jesus to be king is because he already is.

He's not just king. He's God.

It's not just Jesus that sees what they're going through.

It's not just Jesus that casually made his way four miles out into the sea without a boat.

It's God. God has come to them. They have been with God this whole time.

And since he came to them and called them out and they dropped their nets and

they followed after him, and they don't get it, and they still don't really

get it. And look at verse 21.

Then they were glad to take him into the boat. And immediately the boat was

at the land to which they were going.

This verse delights me to no end because it's gotta be one of the most understated

verses in all of scripture.

Yeah, they were pretty delighted to take him into the boat.

The storm is raising. The waves are crashing. Nothing seems certain.

And then Jesus shows. And they invite him into the boat. Now,

Matthew will get into Peter getting out of the boat.

We'll save that for when we go through the book of Matthew.

But don't miss this last part here.

Immediately, the boat was at the land to which they were going.

As I was writing this, an old hymn came to mind.

The hymn on Jordan's stormy banks, the third verse says this,

No chilling wind nor poisonous breath can reach that healthful shore.

Sickness, sorrow, pain, and death are felt and feared no more.

Brothers and sisters, your suffering has an end.

For the disciples, their immediate suffering ended when Jesus got in the boat

and they found themselves on the shores of Capernaum.

But our suffering has an end too. There will be a day when Jesus will take us

to the land to which we are going.

It's one of the reasons I can use my dad's death as an illustration in a sermon.

Because the worst night of my life, the darkest storm I had been to at this

point in my life was his greatest day.

No chilling wind nor poisonous breath can reach that healthful shore.

Sickness, sorrow, pain, and death are felt and feared no more.

This story, these six short verses sit in a much larger story of John 6 and

what John is trying to do for his listener.

John is proving that Jesus is in fact God.

And so I want you to walk away mostly with that in your brain, that Jesus is God.

But there are two additional truths that I want to cover just very quickly.

They'll be on your bulletin insert there.

The first is that obedience is costly, but discipleship is cultivating.

Obedience is costly, but discipleship is cultivating.

When the disciples obeyed Jesus and they got into the boat, it was a costly decision.

They rowed straight into a storm. They suffered greatly that night.

It was a long, exhausting, painful night.

And here's the thing. They got there because they obeyed Jesus.

They had no idea what would happen, but they obeyed. And obedience led them

into a storm, a storm that they desperately needed.

To be in because it was going to teach them something they desperately needed to know about Jesus.

But look how it ended. Did they get it? No, not really, not fully.

But Jesus was doing something in their hearts. They were being cultivated.

Something was growing. We see later on in the New Testament that this night

turned into something in their hearts.

They were being formed into his image. They were seeing God at work.

They would continue to see God at work.

The biggest storm of their life hadn't come yet.

They had about just another year and they'd have one more extremely long, exhausting night.

Jesus would be betrayed, arrested, put on trial, falsely condemned,

crucified, and buried. Thank you.

But who can walk on water? The same man that walks out of a grave.

And every stormy night they faced after the resurrection, he probably thought

back to those nights. And they remembered the second point.

That Jesus cares and he's in control.

Brothers and sisters, keep rowing through your suffering.

Jesus cares deeply. It's who he is.

No one loves you more. No one is more concerned for you when you face your own suffering and trials.

Remember that Jesus saw the disciples in their helplessness and he came to them.

And when you see that Jesus cares deeply for you, you can rejoice and relax that he is in control.

The crashing waves, they're just pavement beneath his feet.

The howling wind, he's the one that's blowing it where it goes.

Jesus has come to us. He cares deeply for us.

And as Colossians 1 says, in him, all things are held together.

He is in complete control of the situation.

Let's pray. Jesus, we pray in confidence because you see us.

You hear us.

You know our plight. You know the path that we walk. Father,

we pray that you would teach us about yourself.

Father, we pray that you would continue to form our hearts into the image of your Son.

Father, we believe. Help our unbelief.

It's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.