When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea. They entered into the boat, and were going over the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them. The sea was tossed by a great wind blowing. When therefore they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing near to the boat; and they were afraid. But he said to them, “It is I. Don’t be afraid.” They were willing therefore to receive him into the boat. Immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.
Parallel Translations
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When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea.
They entered into the boat, and were going over the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them.
The sea was tossed by a great wind blowing.
When therefore they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing near to the boat; and they were afraid.
But he said to them, “It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
They were willing therefore to receive him into the boat. Immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.
-
And when even was come his disciples wet vnto the see
and entred into a shyppe and went over the see vnto Capernaum. And anone it was darcke and Iesus was not come to them.
And the see arose with a greate winde that blew.
And when they had rowe aboute a.xxv. or a xxx. furlonges they sawe Iesus walke on the see and drawe nye vnto the shyp and they were afrayed.
And he sayde vnto them: It is I be not a frayde.
Then wolde they have receaved him into the shyp and the ship was by and by at the londe whyther they went.
Show all 3 translations
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When euen was nowe come, his disciples went downe vnto the sea,
And entred into a shippe, and went ouer the sea, towardes Capernaum: and nowe it was darke, and Iesus was not come to them.
And the Sea arose with a great winde that blewe.
And when they had rowed about fiue and twentie, or thirtie furlongs, they sawe Iesus walking on the sea, and drawing neere vnto the ship: so they were afraide.
But he said vnto them, It is I: be not afraid.
Then willingly they receiued him into the ship, and the ship was by and by at the lande, whither they went.
Cross-references (33)
- Matthew 14:27-31 (v20) But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Cheer up! It is I! Don’t be afraid.” Peter answered him and said, “Lord, if it is you,…
- Isaiah 43:1-2 (v20) But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel, says: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by…
- Mark 6:47-49 (v19) When evening had come, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. Seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind…
- Isaiah 44:8 (v20) Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me?…
- Isaiah 41:10 (v20) Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will…
Show all 33 cross-references
- Matthew 14:25-26 (v19) In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were…
- Mark 6:51 (v21) He got into the boat with them; and the wind ceased, and they were very amazed among themselves, and marveled;
- Matthew 14:32-33 (v21) When they got up into the boat, the wind ceased. Those who were in the boat came and worshiped him, saying, “You are truly the Son of God!”
- Psalms 24:7-10 (v21) Lift up your heads, you gates! Be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in. Who is the King of glory? Yahweh…
- Psalms 93:4 (v19) Above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, Yahweh on high is mighty.
- Psalms 135:7 (v18) He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings with the rain. He brings the wind out of his treasuries.
- Isaiah 41:14 (v20) Don’t be afraid, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel. I will help you,” says Yahweh. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
- John 14:18 (v19) I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.
- Revelation 1:17-18 (v20) When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,…
- Revelation 3:20 (v21) Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and…
- Job 9:8 (v19) He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.
- Psalms 107:25 (v18) For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves.
- Mark 6:45 (v17) Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat, and to go ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he himself sent the multitude…
- Mark 6:50 (v20) for they all saw him, and were troubled. But he immediately spoke with them, and said to them, “Cheer up! It is I! Don’t be afraid.”
- Jonah 1:13 (v19) Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land; but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them.
- John 6:24-25 (v17) When the multitude therefore saw that Jesus wasn’t there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats, and came to Capernaum,…
- Psalms 29:10 (v19) Yahweh sat enthroned at the Flood. Yes, Yahweh sits as King forever.
- Ezekiel 27:26 (v19) Your rowers have brought you into great waters. The east wind has broken you in the heart of the seas.
- Matthew 14:24 (v18) But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, distressed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
- Luke 24:36-39 (v19) As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.” But they were terrified and filled with…
- John 2:12 (v17) After this, he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they stayed there a few days.
- John 4:46 (v17) Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at…
- Psalms 35:3 (v20) Brandish the spear and block those who pursue me. Tell my soul, “I am your salvation.”
- Song of Solomon 3:4 (v21) I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my…
- Mark 16:6 (v20) He said to them, “Don’t be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold, the place…
- John 11:18 (v19) Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.
- Revelation 14:20 (v19) The wine press was trodden outside of the city, and blood came out of the wine press, even to the bridles of the horses, as far as one…
- Revelation 21:16 (v19) The city is square, and its length is as great as its width. He measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand twelve stadia. Its length,…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 19, 20 16. His disciples went down. Christ undoubtedly intended to…
16. His disciples went down. Christ undoubtedly intended to conceal himself until the crowd should disperse. We know how difficult it is to allay a popular tumult. Now, if they had openly attempted to do what they had intended, it would have been no easy matter afterwards to wipe off the stain which had once been fixed upon him. Meanwhile, he spent all that time in prayer, as the other Evangelists (Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46) relate; probably, that God the Father might repress that folly of the people. As to his crossing the lake in a miraculous manner, it is intended to profit his disciples by again confirming their faith. The advantage extended still farther; for next day all the people would easily see that he had not been brought thither by a boat or ship, but that he had come by his own power; for they blockaded the shore from which he had to set out, and would scarcely have been drawn away from it, if they had not seen the disciples cross to a different place.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 21 The godly are often in peril and danger, but…
The godly are often in peril and danger, but Christ cometh to them in time, even in the midst of the tempests, and bringeth them to the heaven.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv16–21 16 And when even was now come, his disciples…
16 And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea,
Ver. 16. His disciples went down to the sea] By Christ’s own command, Mat 14:22; Mar 6:45, yet they met with a sore storm. So may the best with trouble, in their most lawful employmeats, Psa 34:18. But these make them look to their tackling, patience; to their anchor, hope; to their helm, faith; to their ace card, the Word; to their Captain, Christ, who is ever at hand.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv16–17 This piece of history is related much more fully…
This piece of history is related much more fully by the other evangelists, Mat 14:23-33 Mar 6:46-52. See Poole on "Mat 14:23", and following verses to Mat 14:33. See Poole on "Mar 6:46", and following verses to Mar 6:52.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v16 Observe here, 1. The great danger the disciples were…
Observe here, 1. The great danger the disciples were in, and the difficulties they encounter with, after they had enjoyed the sweet privileges of Christ’s gracious presence with them. They were tossed upon a tempestuous sea.
Learn thence, That it is not unusual, after sweet refreshment and manifestations from Christ unto his people, to meet with a stormy and sharp exercise of faith and patience; such was the lot of his disciples here; a constant gale of sweetness, an uninterrupted course of prosperity and happiness, as it is not to be expected here, so neither can it be enjoyed here, without great peril and danger.
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Observe, 2. What haste our Saviour makes towards his disciples, when they were tossed upon a tempestuous sea; Jesus drew nigh unto the ship. Nothing can separate between, nor keep Christ from his children and people in a suffering hour. He that waded through a sea of wrath to save his people, will walk upon a sea of water to succour and relieve them in an hour of tribulation.
Observe, 3. The disciples not discerning Christ, not knowing him to be their Saviour, were afraid of him. Christ may be coming to save his people, and they not able at present to discern and apprehend him; but their fears may be highest, when their deliverer and deliverance is nearest.
Observe, 4. How speedily Christ relieves them of their fears, by telling them who he was; It is I, be not afraid. It is a sufficient support in all our afflictions to be assured of Christ’s gracious presence with us. Say but, O Saviour, It is I, and then let evils do their worst: that one word, It is I, is sufficient to allay all storms, and to calm a thousand tempests.
Observe lastly, with what joy and gladness the disciples received and entertained Christ in this hour of their distress: They willingly received him into the ship. Though the company of Christ is always sweet and welcome to his disciples and friends, yet never is it so very agreeable and desirable to them as in the hour of trial and temptation; then they willingly receive him, and joyfully welcome and entertain him.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv16–21 And when even was now come,.... The last of…
And when even was now come,.... The last of the evenings, when night was coming on; for the first of the evenings took place before they sat down to eat, when the above miracle was wrought; see Mat 14:15.
His disciples went down unto the sea; of Galilee, or Tiberias, to the sea side; and this was by the order, and even constraint of Christ, who would have them go before him, that he might be clear of the multitude, and have an opportunity for solitary prayer, See Gill on Mat 14:22, Mar 6:45.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v16 Matt. xiv, 22; Mark vi, 45.
Matt. xiv, 22; Mark vi, 45.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv17, 19, 21 Verse 17. Toward Capernaum.] St. Mark says, Mr 6:45,…
Verse 17. Toward Capernaum.] St. Mark says, Mr 6:45, that our Lord commanded them to go along to Bethsaida; and in the course of the history we find they got neither to Bethsaida nor Capernaum, but landed in the country of Genesaret: Mt 14:34. Our Lord seems to have desired them to go either to Bethsaida or Capernaum, which were only a very few miles distant, and on the same side of the sea. The reason why they could reach neither was the storm which the evangelists say rose at the time, and the wind being contrary: the storm being probably excited by the prince of the power of the air. Capernaum lay at the northern part of this sea, and they went along the Galilean or western coast, probably expecting Christ to come to them, on which account they might keep in close by the land. But there are great difficulties in fixing the places mentioned by the evangelists. By some writers Bethsaida and Capernaum are placed on opposite sides of this lake: by others on the same side. Sometimes when our translation speaks of passing over the sea, &c., a coasting voyage only is meant, as we find the disciples landing on the same side from which they had departed: See Clarke on Joh 6:22.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v16 See this miracle of walking on the sea explained…
See this miracle of walking on the sea explained in the notes at Mat 14:22-33. Compare Mar 6:45-52.
Joh 6:21
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Immediately - Quickly. Before a long time. How far they were from the land we know not, but there is no evidence that there was a miracle in the case. The word translated “immediately” does not of necessity imply that there was no interval of time, but that there was not a long interval. Thus, in Mat 13:5, in the parable of the sower, “and immediately (the same word in Greek) they sprung up,” etc., Mar 4:17; Mat 24:29; 3Jo 1:14.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv19, 21 Five and twenty or thirty furlongs. About three or…
Five and twenty or thirty furlongs. About three or four miles.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 19, 20, 21 when even was come--(See on Mar 6:35).
when even was come--(See on Mar 6:35).
entered into a ship--"constrained" to do so by their Master (Mat 14:22; Mar 6:45), in order to put an end to the misdirected excitement in His favor (Joh 6:15), into which the disciples themselves may have been somewhat drawn. The word "constrained" implies reluctance on their part, perhaps from unwillingness to part with their Master and embark at night, leaving Him alone on the mountain.
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went--rather, "were proceeding."
toward Capernaum--Mark says (Mar 6:45), "unto Bethsaida," meaning "Bethsaida of Galilee" (Joh 12:21), on the west side of the lake. The place they left was of the same name (see on Mar 6:32).
Jesus was not come to them--They probably lingered in hopes of His still joining them, and so let the darkness come on.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv16, 21 16-21. Compare notes on parallel passage in Matthew.
16-21. Compare notes on parallel passage in Matthew.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv16–21 16–21. The Sign on the Lake; Walking on the…
16–21. The Sign on the Lake; Walking on the Water
16. when even was now come] S. Matthew (Mat_14:15; Mat_14:23) makes two evenings; this was in accordance with Jewish custom. It is the second evening that is here meant, from 6 p.m. to dark.
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went down] From Mat_14:22 and Mar_6:45 we learn that Christ ‘constrained’ His disciples to embark: this points either to their general unwillingness to leave Him, or to their having shared the wish to make Him a king by force. S. Luke omits the whole incident.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv16–21 (16) And when even was now come.—Comp. Note on…
(16) And when even was now come.—Comp. Note on Mat_14:15.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 19, 20, 21 Vers. 16-21. (2) The mastery of the forces of…
Vers. 16-21. (2) The mastery of the forces of nature a "sign" of love.
Vers. 16, 17. Now when it became evening. This must have been the "second evening;" for the miracle itself was said to he wrought when the day began to decline. (Mat_14:15 Luk_9:12) The first evening (oqia) lasted from three to six p.m., the "second evening" stretched from sundown to darkness (skotia). The night was drawing on. His disciples went down from the higher ground or grassy slopes to the sea (epi thlassan), and having embarked in a ship, they were making for the other side of the sea to Capernaum; or as Mark (Mar_6:45) says, "towards Bethsaida." This occasions no difficulty to those who remember that there were two Bethsaidas one, "Bethsaida Julias," on the northeastern end of the lake; and the other near to Capernaum, called "Bethsaida of Galilee. The two towns were so near that the latter Bethsaida might reasonably he regarded as the port of Capernaum.
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Vers. 16-21. Christ walking on the sea.
Our Lord had sent the disciples across to Capernaum, to detach them from the influence of the excited multitude.
I THE DISCIPLES EXPOSED TO DANGER ON THE LAKE. "And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea was agitated by a great wind that blew.
1. The sea of Galilee was often exposed to dangerous storms.
2. The darkness of the night must hare intensified the fears of the disciples.
3. The absence of Jesus must have made them feel their helplessness.
4. They were not relieved till the danger had reached its highest point. The boat had now reached the middle of the lake; "they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty stadia." As it was about six miles across, the boat was therefore in the middle of the lake.
II CHRIST"S SUDDEN INTERVENTION. "They see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.
1. Nothing will keep Christ from his people in their hour of danger.
2. He is superior to winds and waves. He can walk on the surface of the water; he can still the winds.
3. The words of Jesus still the fears of his people. "It is I; be not afraid." His gracious presence supports us in all risks and in all afflictions.
4. The willingness of the disciples to receive Jesus in their distress. "Then they were willing to receive him into the ship." How dear he is in the hours of our loneliness, our desertion, our helplessness!
5. Jesus does not leave his disciples till he sees them in absolute safety. "And immediately the ship was at the land whither they were going."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On v16 16–21. His disciples … entered into a ship. For…
16–21. His disciples … entered into a ship. For notes on this storm on the sea, and the Lord coming to his disciples in the storm, see Matt. 14:22–31. Compare Mark 6:46–54.
It is I; be not afraid. This is the gospel message of peace, on the ground—the simple ground—“It is I.” Christ's presence is peace to the soul. How often has he to speak this word of encouragement, even to his own! almost always when they are brought suddenly, or in an unusual way, face to face with him!
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v16 Joh_6:17. Jesus was not yet come.—They had probably understood…
EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES
Joh_6:17. Jesus was not yet come.—They had probably understood that He was to meet them at some point on the shore.
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Joh_6:19. As the stretch from the point where they set sail to Tiberias was perhaps seven to eight miles, the disciples had probably made only about half the distance (Mar_6:47). Jesus walking on the sea (ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης).—Not along the shore, as some rationalistic critics suggest. The whole narrative is against such an interpretation (see also Mat_14:28-33), which is quite conclusive against this conjecture.
Joh_6:21. They willingly.—They were willing to receive Him, etc.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Joh_6:16-21
Christ the hope of the faithful and of His Church in peril.—This narrative of St. John must be taken in connection with the parallel passages in the Synoptists (Mat_14:22-33; Mar_6:45-52, which see), which give a more full and circumstantial account of this incident. St. John’s purpose, it may be, in his manner of narrating the incident, was to emphasise our Lord’s true kingship. He would not consent to be made a king after the desire of the Jews; but He showed in this miracle His true royal dignity. It was for this reason in part that He constrained His disciples to depart to the other side, whilst He remained behind. He did not wish them to be infected with the carnal enthusiasm of the people, and it was perhaps the rising desire in their hearts that He would comply with the wishes of the people that made it necessary for Him to constrain them (Mat_14:22) to depart. And besides, He would turn the occasion into a means of strengthening and confirming their faith.
I. Peace on the mountain side.—
1. After the miracle of feeding the five thousand, which had been wrought on some plain near the lake most likely, our Lord retired alone to the mountain (whither He had gone before the miracle, Joh_6:3), in order to escape the throng of people who wished to proclaim Him a king. But as His kingdom was not of this world, His crown no tinsel or even golden crown of earth, to be placed on His head with acclamation by men, but, so far as this world was concerned, a crown of thorns, He went in the gathering darkness to the solitary mountain side.
2. Yet another purpose also impelled Him thither. It is true the divine Son was ever conscious of His Father’s presence; but as the Son incarnate He needed these periods of restful, undisturbed communion with the Father, whence He came forth strengthened for His work.
3. And especially at such a time would He need this strengthening. The people altogether misunderstood His mission; even His disciples were prone to be led away by the prevailing Messianic conceptions, whilst one of them “had a devil” (Joh_6:70). Therefore the incarnate Son needed to be strengthened now by close and uninterrupted communion with the Father, as in Gethsemane and in other crises of His ministry.
II. Trouble on the sea.—
1. Meantime the disciples had embarked for Capernaum. It would almost seem as if they had tarried for Him at some point along the eastern shore; but, as He had not come, in obedience to His order, previously given no doubt, they launched forth (Joh_6:17):
2. One of those sudden storms which sweep down on the deep trough in which this land-locked lake lies arose soon after the disciples set sail, and drove them, in spite of laborious rowing, toward the middle of the lake, so that when the fourth watch of the night began the toiling vessel was still far from its destination.
3. When suddenly, in the “struggling moonbeams’ misty light,” shining intermittently through the storm-rack, they saw that which confounded and terrified them—a human form treading securely over the heaving waters.
III. Peace on the troubled waters.—
1. On the solitary mountain side Jesus did not forget His followers. As before said, His intention was doubtless to strengthen their faith by that night’s experience. He saw them as they toiled in rowing. But they must be prepared for the hour when He should have to go hence, and they should be left alone to buffet with the winds and waves of the world’s opposition.
2. But when the moment He saw fittest had come He appeared near them walking on the storm-tossed waters. The first effect on them of His appearance was a sensation of terror. They forgot their Master’s power—that once before He had risen from sleep and stilled the storm, with words of rebuke to them for the weakness of their faith (comp. Mat_8:26). They forgot that His power had, but a few hours before, been manifested in the feeding of the multitude. They had now to learn that that power availed though space and storm should for the moment sunder them from Him. And in His cheering hail over the stormy waters, “It is I, be not afraid,” we hear the prelude of the comforting words, “Let not your heart be troubled,” and the resurrection greeting, “Peace be unto you” (Joh_14:1; Joh_20:19; Joh_20:26).
3. Now they joyfully recognised their Lord, and were willing—heartfeltly willing—to receive Him into the ship. And after the incident in which Peter figures conspicuously, and which is recorded by the other Evangelists, Jesus entered the ship, the storm subsided (Mat_14:32), and the vessel, obeying Him who rules in all the realms of being, was “immediately at the land whither they went.”
IV. Christ comes still to His people in storm and trouble.—
1. This miracle, like most of those wrought by our Lord, has a spiritual purpose, as well as that it was immediately intended to effect. His words of cheer, “It is I, be not afraid,” still ring out in the night and storm and tempest to comfort His people, and have done so in all the centuries since that night on Galilee.
2. Christ has passed from our view into the heavenly mount of God, and we have perforce to launch out here on the stormy sea of life. But shall we not, even in the darkest and most troubled hour, remember all He has done for us, His miracles of mercy and power in the past—all His goodness? and can we forget that the Shepherd of Israel, of His own people, neither slumbers nor sleeps, and that in the hour of need He will appear to our aid?
3. And when He does come it may be in unwonted fashion, it may seem as “purposing to pass by” (Mar_6:48), or as to the disciples at Emmaus “as though He would go further.” Yet it is but to quicken our faith and lead us to put confidence in Him, and trust in the fulfilment of His promise that He is with us always (Mat_28:20), even when we cannot recognise Him in the events and circumstances that surround us. And thus, even in the solemn hour when we must fare forth across the waters of death, we shall, if faithful, know that He is near, and hear His cheering word, “It is I, be not afraid.”
4. The Church has fitly appropriated this incident as a type of her experience at earnest periods of her history. So, in these latter days, when fiercer storms than she has before experienced beat upon her, and her company strain wearily, it may often seem vainly, at the labouring oar, let them take courage, remember the past, and believe that He is near.
“And all is well, tho’ faith and form
Be sunder’d in the night of fear;
Well roars the storm to those that hear
A deeper voice across the storm.”
Tennyson.
HOMILETIC NOTES
Joh_6:17. The Christian life under the figure of a voyage.—We see:—
I. The peaceful commencement;
II. The stormy progress;
III. The happy termination.
Joh_6:18. The progress of Christ’s Church on earth like that of a ship.
I. The ship has to contend with the winds and waves;
II. The ship’s company are fainthearted and fearful often;
III. But the Lord leads it by His powerful hand to the quiet haven.—J. L. Sommer.
Joh_6:18. Storms on the Galilean lake.—The traveller on first viewing the Lake of Galilee, approaching it either from the heights above or the Jordan valley, generally looks on a calm and tranquil scene. Lying far below the level of the Mediterranean Sea (600 feet), shut in by sloping hillsides, which are in reality depressions of great tablelands, it seems always the same peaceful, beautiful sheet of water. Its rippling wavelets glitter in the sunshine and murmur gently along the shore; and over the sunlit reaches the wild aquatic birds wing their flight. It would almost seem as if no wild commotion could break in on and disturb the restful scene. But in Syria and Palestine during winter and spring sudden storms arise at pretty regular intervals, lasting usually two or three or more days. Then the turmoil of the elements is often awe-inspiring and grand. The rains fall with tropical violence, lightning flashes all around, whilst the thunder crashes overhead and reverberates among the valleys and ravines of the hillsides. From those heights the storm-winds rush in fury and roar over the level country, lashing the waters of those inland lakes into stormy commotion, and sending foam-capped waves dashing on the shore. It was probably such a storm as this—one of the last of the season—that met the disciples. We have several hints of this well-known phenomenon of the regularly recurring winter and spring storms in Syria in the gospel narrative, not the least interesting being the graphic description in the concluding parable in the Sermon on the Mount.
Joh_6:19. The will of Christ potential in the miracle of walking on the sea.—It is a docetic view of the person of Christ which conceives of His body as permanently exempt from the law of gravitation, and in this way explains the miracle; a hard and mechanical view, which places the seat of the miracle in the waters, rendered solid under His feet. Rather was it the will of Christ which bore Him triumphantly above those waters; even as it was the will of Peter, that will, indeed, made in the highest degree active and potential by faith in the Son of God, which should in like manner have enabled him to walk on the great deep, and, though with partial and transient failure, did so enable him. It has been already urged that the miracle, according to its true idea, is not the suspension, still less the violation of law; but the incoming of a higher law, as of a spiritual in the midst of natural laws; and so far as its range and reach extend, the assertion for that higher law of the predominance which it was intended to have, and but for man’s fall it would always have had, over the lower; and with this a prophetic anticipation of the abiding predominance which it shall one day recover. Exactly thus was there here a sign of the lordship of man’s will, when that will is in absolute harmony with God’s will, over external nature. In regard of this very law of gravitation, a feeble remnant of his power, and one for the most part unconsciously possessed, survives to man in the unquestionable fact that his body is lighter when he is awake than sleeping; a fact which every nurse who has carried a child can attest. From this we conclude that the human consciousness, as an inner centre, works as an opposing force to the attraction of the earth and the centripetal force of gravity, however unable in this present time to overbear it.—Archbishop Trench.
Joh_6:19-21. The threefold word of comfort from our Gospel unto all troubled souls.
I. Be not afraid! for we have near us One who is our Lord and who will be with us even to the end of the world (Joh_6:19-20).
II. Be not afraid! for however strange and unwonted the manner in which He may come to us, His presence will ever bring us joy (Joh_6:21; Joh_6:1 st cl.);
III. Be not afraid! for when He is with us we shall speedily arrive at the desired haven; His presence will bring us success in our labours for Him (Joh_6:21; Joh_6:2 nd cl.).
ILLUSTRATIONS
Joh_6:18. Who is Christ?—Are our opponents right, and has Jesus gone never to return? The ground seems to be giving way beneath our feet! Now, indeed, is the time when faith must “be silent” before the Lord. Yet, what is it comes toward us through the darkness of the night? What kind of appearance is it for whose feet the rolling waters form themselves into a bridge? “It is a spirit”—so imagined the troubled ship’s company on Galilee.… [Equally astray are] those shortsighted interpreters who seek to lead men to trace back the greatness of Christ to a delusion, a seeming greatness, projected on the uncertain and wavering mists of tradition, on the concave mirror of a lively imagination. “He cannot have been really and truly the Son of God; but the superstitious and easily misled multitude proclaimed Him to be so. He did not speak the word of life, nor was He Himself the Word of life, but simply a pious fraud, a spontaneous poetical creation invented by various accomplices. Thus the forgery was executed. He will not quicken us either now or hereafter; but in our common speech and in our thought we may keep Him continually in existence from generation to generation. In all the history there is only a small kernel of fact worthy of belief: the envelope is a floating cometic mantle composed of sheer imaginations, legends, exaggerations, and misunderstandings.” Church of the Lord, can this be the foundation of your confidence!—Translated from Dr. R. Kögel.
Joh_6:19. “It is I, be not afraid.”—But a familiar voice says, “Be of good cheer,” etc. It is I. Thus spake this same voice to thee, my friend, as thy house became lonely and a bier was carried out, as thy heart felt unspeakably wretched. Then that star in heaven—the faith in thy heart—grew dim. But, trouble which appeared like blind chance—a malignant fate, a spectre—death, that grinning skeleton and king of terrors, laid aside the mask, and behold! it was the Lord. Then in quietness and assurance thou wert helped by Him. “It is I.” So the Lord ever makes Himself known to His Church, when, e.g., the State removes the accustomed supports, when Rome furbishes her weapons and increases her fastnesses, when materialism scornfully seeks the outward and visible; and the multitude with their voice ever-changing, now for, now against, like ebb and flow; and parties with their cry of “Here is Christ, or there,” seek reciprocally to excommunicate each other, and finally are in danger of banishing Christ altogether,—then the ground trembles. But everything will turn out otherwise from what men suppose. Only in Jesus has no one ever been deceived. Do the people of Capernaum ask Him, as it is in our text, Rabbi, when (rather how) camest Thou hither? No philosopher can explain this, that Jesus walks on the waters, making what seems firm to be unstable, and what is fluctuating, stable. The conflict of opinions, the loudness of calumny, the raging of passion, the power and roar of the billows, the thunder-roll of events, will at the decisive moment be overpowered at the word of the Church’s Lord. “Ye, My disciples, be of good cheer. It is I, be not afraid.” “The Lord is in His holy temple; be still before Him, all the earth.”—Translated from Dr. R. Kögel.
Joh_6:19. Faith amid the storm.—To the confidence and peace reached by the disciples on this occasion Christian people may and do attain, have trusted and not been afraid in storm and trouble (Psalms 46). A missionary thus described an incident on a great steamship during a terrible storm on the Atlantic. A fearful hurricane swept over the ocean, raising a tremendous sea, in the trough of which the great vessel tossed, helpless and unmanageable. It did not seem that if the storm lasted during the night the ship could weather it. The seamen could not cross the wave-swept decks; and the passengers were shut up in the great saloon. A crowd of anxious men and terror-stricken women, they clustered together, holding tightly to any fixed object. Only the children did not seem to realise all the terror of the situation. The minister-missionary was asked to engage in prayer. He did so, kneeling and grasping with his hands the edge of one of the fixed tables. He did not, however, utter any set ordinary form of prayer. It was just a simple talk with his God and Redeemer, just such a talk, as he expressed it, as a child would have with a loving parent. All were calmed and comforted by the simple prayer of faith, and took courage. Toward morning the storm abated, the ship was got under control, and they were safe.
“Thou Framer of the light and dark,
Guide through the tempest Thine own ark;
Amid the howling wintry sea
We are in port if we have Thee.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v19 Joh 6:19 - Joh 6:20.
John
THE FIFTH MIRACLE IN JOHN’S GOSPEL
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Joh 6:19 - Joh 6:20.
There are none of our Lord’s parables recorded in this Gospel, but all the miracles which it narrates are parables. Moral and religious truth is communicated by the outward event, as in the parable it is communicated by the story. The mere visible fact becomes more than semi-transparent. The analogy between the spiritual and the natural world which men instinctively apprehend, of which the poet and the orator and the religious teacher have always made abundant use, and which it has sometimes been attempted, unsuccessfully as I think, to elevate to the rank of a scientific truth, underlies the whole series of these miracles. It is the principal if not the only key to the meaning of this one before us.
The symbolism which regards life under the guise of a voyage, and its troubles and difficulties under the metaphor of storm and tempest, is especially natural to nations that take kindly to the water, like us Englishmen. I do not know that there is any instance, either in the Old or in the New Testament, of the use of that to us very familiar metaphor; but the emblem of the sea as the symbol of trouble, unrest, rebellious power, is very familiar to the writers of the Old Testament. And the picture of the divine path as in the waters, and of the divine prerogative as being to ‘tread upon the heights of the sea,’ as Job has it, is by no means unknown. So the natural symbolism, and the Old Testament use of the expressions, blend together, as I think, in suggesting the one point of view from which this miracle is to be regarded.
It is found in two of the other Evangelists, and the condensed account of it which we have in this Gospel, by its omission of Peter’s walking on the water, and of some other smaller but graphic details that the other Evangelists give us, serves to sharpen the symbolical meaning of the whole story, and to bring that as its great purpose and signification into prominence.
We shall, I think, then, best gain the lessons intended to be drawn if we simply follow the points of the narrative in their order as they stand here.
I. We have here, first of all, then, the struggling toilers.
The other Evangelists tell us that after the feeding of the five thousand our Lord ‘constrained’ His disciples to get into the ship, and to pass over to the other side. The language implies unwillingness, to some extent, on their part, and the exercise of authority upon His. Our Evangelist, who does not mention the constraint, supplies us with the reason for it. The preceding miracle had worked up the excitement of the mob to a very dangerous point. Crowds are always the same, and this crowd thought, as any other crowd anywhere and in any age would have done, that the prophet that could make bread at will was the kind of prophet whom they wanted. So they determined to take Him by force, and make Him a king; and Christ, seeing the danger, and not desiring that His Kingdom should be furthered by such unclean hands and gross motives, determined to withdraw Himself into the loneliness of the bordering hills. It was wise to divide the little group; it would distract attention; it might lead some of the people, as we know it did lead them, to follow the boat when they found it was gone. It would save the Apostles from being affected by the coarse, smoky enthusiasm of the crowd. It would save them from revealing the place of His retirement. It might enable Him to steal away more securely unobserved; so they are sent across to the other side of the lake, some five or six miles. An hour or two might have done it, but for some unknown reason they seem to have lingered. Perhaps they had no special call for haste. The Paschal moon, nearly full, would be shining down upon the waters; their hearts and minds would be busy with the miracle which they had just seen. And so they may have drifted along, not caring much when they reached their destination. But suddenly one of the gusts of wind which are frequently found upon mountain lakes, especially towards nightfall, rose and soon became a gale with which they could not battle. Our Evangelist does not tell us how long it lasted, but we get a note of time from St. Mark, who says it was ‘about the fourth watch of the night’; that is between the hours of three and six in the morning of the subsequent day. So that for some seven or eight hours at least they had been tugging at the useless oars, or sitting shivering, wet and weary, in the boat.
Is it not the history of the Church in a nutshell? Is it not the symbol of life for us all? The solemn law under which we live demands persistent effort, and imposes continual antagonism upon us; there is no reason why we should regard that as evil, or think ourselves hardly used, because we are not fair-weather sailors. The end of life is to make men; the meaning of all events is to mould character. Anything that makes me stronger is a blessing, anything that develops my morale is the highest good that can come to me. If therefore antagonism mould in me
‘The wrestling thews that throw the world,’
and give me good, strong muscles, and put tan and colour into my cheek, I need not mind the cold and the wet, nor care for the whistling of the wind in my face, nor the dash of the spray over the bows. Summer sailing in fair weather, amidst land-locked bays, in blue seas, and under calm skies, may be all very well for triflers, but
‘Blown seas and storming showers’
are better if the purpose of the voyage be to brace us and call out our powers.
And so be thankful if, when the boat is crossing the mouth of some glen that opens upon the lake, a sudden gust smites the sheets and sends you to the helm, and takes all your effort to keep you from sinking. Do not murmur, or think that God’s Providence is strange, because many and many a time when ‘it is dark, and Jesus is not yet come to us,’ the storm of wind comes down upon the lake and threatens to drive us from our course. Let us rather recognise Him as the Lord who, in love and kindness, sends all the different kinds of weather which, according to the old proverb, make up the full-summed year.
And then notice how, in this first picture of our text, the symbolism so naturally lends itself to spiritual meanings, not only in regard to the tempest that caught the unthinking voyagers, but also in regard to other points; such as the darkness amidst which they had to fight the tempest, and the absence of the Master. Once before, they had been caught in a similar storm on the lake, but it was daylight then, and Jesus was with them, and that made all the difference. This time it was night, and they looked up in vain to the green Eastern hills, and wondered where in their folds He was lurking, so far from their help. Mark gives us one sweet touch when he tells us that Christ on the hillside there saw them toiling in rowing, but they did not see Him. No doubt they felt themselves deserted, and sent many a wistful glance of longing towards the shore where He was. Hard thoughts of Him may have been in some of their minds. ‘Master, carest Thou not?’ would be springing to some of their lips with more apparent reason than in the other storm on the lake. But His calm and loving gaze looked down pitying on all their fear and toil. The darkness did not hide from Him, nor His own security on the steadfast land make Him forget, nor his communion with the Father so absorb Him as to exclude thoughts of them.
It is a parable and a prophecy of the perpetual relation between the absent Lord and the toiling Church. He is on the mountain while we are on the sea. The stable eternity of the Heavens holds Him; we are tossed on the restless mutability of time, over which we toil at His command. He is there interceding for us. Whilst He prays He beholds, and He beholds that He may help us by His prayer. The solitary crew were not so solitary as they thought. That little dancing speck on the waters, which held so much blind love and so much fear and trouble, was in His sight, as on the calm mountain-top He communed with God. No wonder that weary hearts and lonely ones, groping amidst the darkness, and fighting with the tempests and the sorrows of lift, have ever found in our story a symbol that comes to them with a prophecy of hope and an assurance of help, and have rejoiced to know that they on the sea are beheld of the Christ in the sky, and that ‘the darkness hideth not from’ His loving eye.
II. And now turn to the next stage of the story before us. We have the approaching Christ.
‘When they had rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty furlongs,’ and so were just about the middle of the lake, ‘they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh unto the ship.’ They were about half-way across the lake. We do not know at what hour in the fourth watch the Master came. But probably it was towards daybreak. Toiling had endured for a night. It would be in accordance with the symbolism that joy and help should come with the morning.
If we look for a moment at the miraculous fact, apart from the symbolism, we have a revelation here of Christ as the Lord of the material universe, a kingdom wider in its range and profounder in its authority than that which that shouting crowd had sought to force upon Him. His will consolidated the yielding wave, or sustained His material body on the tossing surges. Whether we suppose the miracle as wrought on the one or the other, makes no difference to its value as a manifestation of the glory of Christ, and of His power over the physical order of things. In the latter case there would, perhaps, be a hint of a power residing in His material frame, of which we possibly have other phases, as in the Transfiguration, which may be a prophecy of what lordship over nature is possible to a sinless manhood. However that may be, we have here a wonderful picture which is true for all ages of the mighty Christ, to whose gentle footfall the unquiet surges are as a marble pavement; and who draws near in the purposes of His love, unhindered by antagonism, and using even opposing forces as the path for His triumphant progress. Two lessons may be drawn from this. One is that in His marvellous providence Christ uses all the tumults and unrest, the opposition and tempests which surround the ship that bears His followers, as the means of achieving His purposes. We stand before a mystery to which we have no key when we think of these two certain facts; first, the Omnipotent redeeming will of God in Christ; and, second, the human antagonism which is able to rear itself against that. And we stand in the presence of another mystery, most blessed, and yet which we cannot unthread, when we think, as we most assuredly may, that in some mysterious fashion He works His purposes by the very antagonism to His purposes, making even head-winds fill the sails, and planting His foot on the white crests of the angry and changeful billows. How often in the world’s history has this scene repeated itself, and by a divine irony the enemies have become the helpers of Christ’s cause, and what they plotted for destruction has turned out rather to the furtherance of the Gospel! ‘He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him, and with the residue thereof He girdeth Himself.’
Another lesson for our individual lives is this, that Christ, in His sweetness and His gentle sustaining help, comes near to us all across the sea of sorrow and trouble. A more tender, a more gracious sense of His nearness to us is ever granted to us in the time of our darkness and our grief than is possible to us in the sunny hours of joy. It is always the stormy sea that Christ comes across, to draw near to us; and they who have never experienced the tempest have yet to learn the inmost sweetness of His presence. When it is night, and it is dark, at the hour which is the keystone of night’s black arch, Christ comes to us, striding across the stormy waters. Sorrow brings Him near to us. Do you see that sorrow does not drive you away from Him!
III. Then, still further, we note in the story before us the terror and the recognition.
St. John does not tell us why they were afraid. There is no need to tell us. They see, possibly in the chill uncertain light of the grey dawn breaking over the Eastern hills, a Thing coming to them across the water there. They had fought gallantly with the storm, but this questionable shape freezes their heart’s blood, and a cry, that is audible above even the howling of the wind and the dash of the waves, gives sign of the superstitious terror that crept round the hearts of those commonplace, rude men.
I do not dwell upon the fact that the average man, if he fancies that anything from out of the Unseen is near him, shrinks in fear. I do not ask you whether that is not a sign and indication of the deep conviction that lies in men’s souls, of a discord between themselves and the unseen world; but I ask you if we do not often mistake the coming Master, and tremble before Him when we ought to be glad?
We are often so absorbed with our work, so busy tugging at the oar, so anxiously watching the set of current, so engaged in keeping the helm right, that we have no time and no eyes to look across the ocean and see who it is that is coming to us through all the hurly-burly. Our tears fill our eyes, and weave a veil between us and the Master. And when we do see that there is Something there, we are often afraid of it, and shrink from it. And sometimes when a gentle whisper of consolation, or some light air, as it were, of consciousness of His presence, breathes through our souls, we think that it is only a phantasm of our own making, and that the coming Christ is nothing more than the play of our thoughts and imaginations.
Oh, brethren, let no absorption in cares and duties, let no unchildlike murmurings, let no selfish abandonment to sorrow, blind you to the Lord who always comes near troubled hearts, if they will only look and see! Let no reluctance to entertain religious ideas, no fear of contact with the Unseen, no shrinking from the thought of Christ as a Kill-joy keep you from seeing Him as He draws near to you in your troubles. And let no sly, mocking Mephistopheles of doubt, nor any poisonous air, blowing off the foul and stagnant marshes of present materialism, make you fancy that the living Reality, treading on the flood there, is a dream or a fancy or the projection of your own imagination on to the void of space. He is real, whatever may be phenomenal and surface. The storm is not so real as the Christ, the waves not so substantial as He who stands upon them. They will pass and quieten, He will abide for ever. Lift up your hearts and be glad, because the Lord comes to you across the waters, and hearken to His voice: ‘It is I! Be not afraid.’
The encouragement not to fear follows the proclamation, ‘It is I!’ What a thrill of glad confidence must have poured itself into their hearts, when once they rose to the height of that wondrous fact!
‘Well roars the storm to those who hear A deeper voice across the storm.’
There is no fear in the consciousness of His presence. It is His old word: ‘Be not afraid!’ And He breathes it whithersoever He comes; for His coming is the banishment of danger and the exorcism of dread. So that if only you and I, in the midst of all storm and terror, can say ‘It is the Lord,’ then we may catch up the grand triumphant chorus of the old psalm, and say: ‘Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, yet I will not fear.’ The Lord is with us; the everlasting Christ is our Helper, our Refuge, and our Strength.
IV. So, lastly, we have here in this story the end of the tempest and of the voyage.
Our Evangelist does not record, as the others do, that the storm ceased upon Christ’s being welcomed into the little boat. The other Evangelists do not record, as he does, the completion of the voyage. ‘Immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.’ The two things are cause and effect. I do not suppose, as many do, that a subordinate miracle is to be seen in that last clause of our text, or that the ‘immediately’ is to be taken as if it meant that without one moment’s delay, or interval, the voyage was completed; but only, which I think is all that is needful, that the falling of the tempest and the calming of the waters which followed upon the Master’s entrance into the vessel made the remainder of the voyage comparatively brief and swift.
It is not always true, it is very seldom true, that when Christ comes on board opposition ends, and the haven is reached. But it is always true that when Christ comes on board a new spirit enters into the men who have Him for their companion, and are conscious that they have. It makes their work easy, and makes them ‘more than conquerors’ over what yet remains. With what a different spirit the weary men would bend their backs to the oars once more when they had the Master on board, and with what a different spirit you and I will set ourselves to our work if we are sure of His presence. The worst of trouble is gone when Christ shares it with us. There is a wonderful charm to stay His rough wind in the assurance that in all our affliction He is afflicted. If we feel that we are following in His footsteps, we feel that He stands between us and the blast, a refuge from the storm and a covert from the tempest. And if still, as no doubt will be the case, we have our share of trouble and storm and sorrow and difficulty, yet the worst of the gale will be passed, and though a long swell may still heave, the terror and the danger will have gone with the night, and hope and courage and gladness revive as the morning’s sun breaks over the still unquiet waves, and shows us our Master with us and the white walls of the port glinting in the level beams.
Friends, life is a voyage, anyhow, with plenty of storm and danger and difficulty and weariness and exposure and anxiety and dread and sorrow, for every soul of man. But if you will take Christ on board, it will be a very different thing from what it will be if you cross the wan waters alone. Without Him you will make shipwreck of yourselves; with Him your voyage may seem perilous and be tempestuous, but He will ‘make the storm a calm,’ and will bring you to the haven of your desire.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv16, 19 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
This is the next event in the story. Jesus' disciples go out onto the lake in a boat.
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It was dark by this time, and Jesus had not yet come to them
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disciple
Sea of Galilee
Capernaum
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Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv18–21 6:18 East-west winds blowing down over the eastern cliffs…
6:18 East-west winds blowing down over the eastern cliffs of the Sea of Galilee late in the day commonly caused very rough waters and turbulent storms.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.