Daily life with Jesus by Grahame Howard: Jesus and the miraculous

"Then they were eager to let Him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination." John 6:21 NLT

Jesus had only just fed the Five Thousand and the crowds were astonished at what He had done. They thought Him, the Prophet who was to come (6:14). They felt He was so remarkable that they wanted to take Him by force and, make Him their king. This was not because they recognised His deity but, that He would establish for them what they needed and feed their selfish gratification. Jesus avoided the limelight, He was not a show-piece, He was God's Son and had a mission to accomplish. He knew that they could bring about the 'damage factor' - completely ruining what He had set out to do. So He slipped away promising to meet up with the others later on.

All of what happened that night, demonstrated exactly what Jesus is about. He loves us and when we are up against trouble, He is their to help. Later after Jesus had failed to return, the disciples set off to row across the lake. When they had rowed about three or four miles, a strong gale hit them and the sea became very rough. From the hills, Jesus was watching their progress and set out to meet them. This is how Jesus is with us. He never stops watching over us and when trouble is in store, He will be there waiting for our cries for help. He went to the disciples and spoke encouraging words to them. They were eager to let Him into the boat. When they invited Him, they immediately arrived at the shore and safety. This was a mighty miracle.

However, there is some debate about whether Jesus did actually walk on the water or had the boat already grounded on the shingle. William Barclay, in his commentary to the gospel of John seems to think that where they had set off, the lake was only about four mile or so across. As they had already sailed about this distance, were they not already on the seashore? Perhaps, because of this, Jesus had walked round the coast to meet them. However, David Guzik quoting other biblical scholars says:

i. “From this detail given by John it is inferred that the ship seemed to move automatically, without sail or oar, in obedience to His will: so that without effort of the disciples or crew it quickly passed over the remaining distance (two miles or so) and came to shore.” (Trench) Enduring Life David Guzik

Tony Evans says in his Bible Commentary:

'One moment they were in the middle of a stormy sea; the next moment they had miraculously reached their destination. Don't miss that, once they were willing to receive Jesus into the boat, He dealt with their problem and delivered them where they needed to go. When believers recognise and respond to the presence of Jesus in the midst of their struggles, they invite the supernatural into their negative circumstances'.

Bruce Milne also supports the other comments in his book The Message of John.

The NKJV, KJV, NLT and CSB versions support that Jesus climbed into the boat. However, many others neglect to comment on this. The fact remains that Jesus performed a miracle that night and lives were changed forever. My thoughts on this are, yes, the boat was quite a distance from the shore, in deep water and Jesus walked out to them on the water. The next moment, after being invited into the boat, they were at the shore. You may feel differently about it.

Whatever, we can't get away from the fact that, we need to ask Jesus to help us when we are in troubles. he is there beside us and rather like the disciples called to Him to climb in and were saved, He will do the same for you and I. Why? Because He loves us.

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