A Different Destination

The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

July 28, 2024

Mark 6:45-56

 “A Different Destination”

It’s summertime, and lots of people will be going on, or already have gone, on vacation. Maybe your destination is the beach, or the mountains, or just the neighborhood pool. Wherever it may be, sometimes it happens in life that we end up at a different destination other than the one that we had mapped out for ourselves. There can be flight delays and missed connections that mess up our travel plans. There can be an unexpected family situation that comes out of left field which suddenly changes everything. There can be an illness that intervenes causing all of our carefully laid plans to collapse like a house of cards. Hopefully, none of this will be the case for your summer travel! But if it does happen, and you end up in a different destination than the one where you thought you’d be, you’re in good company. This is what we read about in today’s Gospel lesson as Jesus walks on water and meets his frightened disciples on the Sea of Galilee. Based on this, the message for today is entitled “A Different Destination.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Having fed the 5000 with the bread and fish that he had miraculously multiplied (Mark 6:30-44), Jesus sent his disciples off in a boat. Their destination was the town of Bethsaida that was located on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. That’s how today’s Gospel lesson begins. Remember that Jesus originally was looking for a quiet, out-of-the-way place for the disciples and him to rest after their mission trip. Instead of rest, there was a huge crowd that came looking for Jesus, and in his great compassion, Jesus ministered to them. It must have been an exhausting day for Jesus and the disciples, and after it was all over, what did Jesus do? Did he go look for a place to get some much-needed rest? No, we’re told: “And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray” (Mark 6:46). Jesus sought out a quiet place to pray to his heavenly Father – that was his first priority. We would do well to follow that example set by Jesus in our own lives.

Jesus is on the land and the disciples are out there on the water, on the Sea of Galilee. It’s the middle of the night; in fact, it’s the wee hours of the morning. The fourth watch of the night would make it between 3-6AM. We’re also told that Jesus saw them struggling and straining because the wind was against them. Jesus then does what is humanly impossible: he walks on water.  Here's where it gets interesting: the end of verse 48 tells us: “He meant to pass by them.” Huh? What does that mean? So Jesus is out there walking on water on the Sea of Galilee, and he deliberately intended to just walk by his struggling disciples who were out there in the boat? That seems very strange from our perspective. It may well be that Jesus intended to reveal his majesty to the disciples then and there, even as the Lord revealed his majesty to Moses in the burning bush on Sinai (Exodus 3:1ff.); or to Pharaoh in the plagues of Egypt (Exodus 7-12); or to God’s people by dividing the Red Sea so that they could pass through on dry ground (Exodus 14); or to Elijah (1 Kings 19:1ff.), not in the great wind, or the earthquake, or the fire, but in the still, small voice. There on the Sea of Galilee in the darkness of night, seeing the fear of his own followers, that they were scared out of their minds thinking that he was a ghost, rather than revealing his majesty, Jesus instead reveals his mercy: “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid” (Mark 6:50b). Instead of passing them by, Jesus gets into the boat with his disciples. Even though their hearts were hardened and they failed to understand the significance of the feeding of the 5000, Jesus chose to be with them.

Whatever destination Jesus had intended for himself, wherever he was going as he walked on the water, he changed his plans for the sake of his fearful and frightened disciples. That’s good news for us! Jesus doesn’t pass us by, either, when we are straining at the oars in our own life. In the dark of night when we are fearful and afraid like those first disciples, Jesus comes to us. He gets into the boat with us and reassures us: “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” Even though we may be hard hearted, even though we fail to understand what Jesus is doing in our life, even though we don’t get it, Jesus doesn’t walk on by, leaving us to fend for ourselves. Jesus’ mercy with those first disciples didn’t depend on how much faith they had, and clearly, we are told that they were very much lacking in faith. Again, that’s good news for us because we know all too well how weak and small our faith often is. Jesus reveals himself in mercy, and nowhere is that mercy seen more clearly than at the cross. If we want to see the majesty of God, that majesty is cloaked in the mercy of God in Jesus Christ there at the cross. It is at the cross, in the offering of his very life for us and for our salvation, for the full forgiveness of all our sins, that the mercy of Jesus is revealed by faith and for faith.

Back to destinations once more, remember that Jesus had got his disciples into the boat, and that their destination was supposed to be Bethsaida (Mark 6:45). But that’s not where they ended up. Their destination, with Jesus in the boat, was Gennesaret (Mark 6:48), which is across the Sea of Galilee. It was a different destination than the disciples had in mind, but that’s where Jesus took them. Upon their arrival, Jesus’ mercy is again revealed in his care and healing of the sick. I love the closing words of today’s Gospel, which is the close of Mark chapter 6: “And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well” (Mark 6:56). Then and now, we come to Jesus for mercy, for healing, for grace to help in time of need. In faith, we also reach out our hands to touch the fringe of his garment, trusting that he will do what is best for us.

When our destination doesn’t match up with where we wanted to go, where we thought we were going to be, let us not forget that Jesus is there with us in our boat. He won’t pass us by. He who laid down his life for us promises that he will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) until we reach our final destination, that heavenly home which the Lord has made ready for all who love him. Amen.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).