The modern obsession with categorization and organization can be unfortunate when studying the Bible. While chapter and verse notation is useful for quotation, it often emphasizes the separation of little pieces. As if each verse were so many colored legos that we were free to arrange in any order we see fit. We love those little headings because they help us contain the stories of scripture. But we need to let the stories speak as stories.
Peter Walks on Water, Philipp Otto, c. 1806
My last post was in response to a sermon on the ‘feeding of the five thousand’. But it cut off the end of the story. There was one line that was missing as Mark laid out the Messiah portrayed in Psalm 23.
“He leads me beside still waters. ”
And so Jesus did, eventually. The disciples are caught in rough waters, and Jesus walks by and they fear him. Jesus had just been demonstrating that he is the shepherd, the Messiah. I get the idea that they were supposed to recognize him and follow him to still waters. Peter seems to have gotten it, but even his faith faltered. but These were his closest sheep, yet they did not recognize him. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27. But they didn’t know him, instead they were terrified. The last phrase of the story gives us the answer. “for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened” Not only did they not understand or appreciate the symbolism of Jesus’ feeding the people, of his being the shepherd, but it made them mad. “The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay,” as Spurgeon said. And so the grace poured out on the people, hardened the disciples hearts. Maybe they were tired, and wanted a break and then Jesus goes and starts up again with the feeding and healing. It’s obvious that they were expecting a conquering messiah as most of the Jews were. They thought they were going to be at the center of the action when Jesus began his plans to overthrow Rome, and they were, but they didn’t understand the way he would do it. They were stuck passing out bread.
I think it’s easy to confuse the empirical nature of Jesus’ miracles to the contextual nature. Today we see through the eyes of philosophers like Lock and Hume who emphasized knowledge that we gain through experience, this is the empirical, knowledge learned by what we receive from our five senses. The Christian view of the world led to the advent of science, but then things got out of control as we began to worship science. Sure we can benefit a lot by the ordered observation of this world, but there is other knowledge that comes by reasoning or straight from God as revealed in the Scripture. Obviously the acts of Jesus were amazing. They could dazzle all of the senses. But what was more important was the way in which Jesus was connecting those actions with the text of the Old Testament. The disciples didn’t get this. They thought they understood that text and thought they had observed the man who should fulfill those texts, but he wasn’t doing it the way they wanted and so their hearts were hardened.
Obviously this caused tension, which might be why Jesus sends them out in the boat alone, while he went up on a mountain to pray for them. But he didn’t give up on them, he performed another shocking miracle to bring them back to reality. He is the true shepherd, he led them when they strayed and gave them the sustaining truth that they needed. Peter is the first to be reconciled and so he jumps out of the boat to meet his shepherd.
Jesus planned this out as our heavenly father plans out all of our lives. Our circumstances are the teaching we need to hear. By it we learn patience, humility, grace, love for our fellow man and many other things. God has us always in a living metaphor, if only we have the faith to see it.