Sign #5 - Jesus Walks on Water
You'll need to get into the proper moment and mood of this, because without the feeling associated with it all, you may miss the overarching theme that continues throughout all of the Signs (and all of the Bible, really) of reliance upon God alone. That key point is not one that can be lost, because it is the one thing that we all must learn, and learn more deeply each and every day, in each and every way.
"When evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. Darkness had already set in, but Jesus had not yet come to them."
John 6:16-17, HCSB
In the end of the previous passage about the fourth Sign, we learn that Jesus has withdrawn from the crowd to a private place. He does this here, not because of oppressors trying to stone or arrest or kill Him, but because the people would have forced Him into earthly kingship... and that is not His purpose. Their misunderstanding of His Lordship as it truly is would have, in some ways, "arrested" Him, had He been placed upon their idea of a throne, because on their throne, with them installing Him, they would expect their version of justice and fairness. Those things would not have happened, and they would've impeached, and the rest probably would've played out as it does anyway, except there would be far more opposition, and therefore greater difficulty in bringing people to Him.
Remember, also, that the 12 have been figuratively slapped down for not believing that Christ and the Father could deliver this crowd from their hunger with something so simple as a child's lunch. They were made to clean up the leftovers, and each cleaned up a full basket of scraps, after the crowd was completely satisfied. That being said, their mood was probably not one of jumping for joy in this moment, only minutes after they went through and did not pass this test of faith. They probably are reflective of the atmosphere, actually, in that "darkness has fallen" upon their own spirits, because they doubted. (From the other three Gospels, we learn that the feeding happens immediately after their return to Christ, and they had been performing Signs in His Name, so to fall from elation to doubt so quickly would've hurt all the more in this moment.)
Jesus, withdrawn to another place in private, is no doubt in prayer. Night has fallen, and although it is now dark, there are many accounts of Christ praying alone for hours. One thing we all need to ponder on here is that if Jesus Christ, the Son of God, One with the Father, the Word through which all things were created, needed to pray for hours non-stop... how much more should we? The perspective here is what is key.
The only other point I would make in this initial passage of the fifth Sign is that the 12 went ahead without Christ... because He sent them. In Mark 6:45, we see that Jesus told them to go and leave in the boat. This is most likely due to His desire have time privately to pray with the Father. And this moment of them moving literally away from Christ is another focal point, due to the darkness setting in upon them, and the impending danger of which they were not yet aware... but we'll get to that later.
For now, recognize where you are in relation to Christ, and make a point to always move toward Him... not farther away. The darkness that ensues when we walk away (and make no mistake, it is ALWAYS us who walk away, and NEVER Him) is terrifying. We must endeavor to remain, as Jesus says it, "in the Light."
God bless you all!!!
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