In The Darkest Hour

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

IN  THE DARKEST HOUR

Mark 6:47-50

47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified.

NIV

Mark leaves out the part about Peter getting out of the boat and walking on the water until he starts to sink. We cannot be sure why Mark leaves all that out, but it is for a specific reason. How big was this lake that Jesus could see them struggling against the wind? They were in the middle of the lake and it with the fourth watch, being from 3am to 6am, so we have to know it was very dark out there on the lake. How did Jesus see them? Of course the answer is so simply, Jesus is in fact the Son of God, one of the three persons of the Divine trinity. He has supernatural powers beyond mortal man it would seem; after all he came to them walking on the water. Is this all about revealing this truth of who Jesus really is? What about when he said we would do even greater things then he did? From Matthews account we do know Peter got out of the boat and walked in the water. Does that imply if we had enough faith we could also walk on the water? Surely this is not about water walking. These men may not have quite understand just who Jesus is and he was revealing himself to them in a way so they could see the power of God at work in him and what was available to them. We know from the rest of the story they really did not understand about the five loaves and two fish miracle, so this might have been a way for them to get the picture of who Jesus was. Do we really understand who Jesus is? Of course we have a whole lot of the record of his life and activities while here on earth, if fact, we even know that he was there during the creation. We also know he is back with the Father and he is preparing a place for us. We also know he is coming back for us. We know a lot about Jesus, but do we actually know who he is? Has he revealed himself to us in a way we really understand? Do we believe because we just believe or do we believe because Jesus has revealed himself to us? Maybe if we saw Jesus in the way the disciples did, we would be terrified as well. Have we become too familiar with Jesus, with God, that we are not terrified by his power? We always focus on the love of God, but we must also know of his mighty power and that no matter how dark the hour is he has his watchful eye upon us. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. It is true that Jesus used his mighty power to come to their rescue, and that is a display of his mighty powerful love for them and for us as well. We have to know that Jesus is there keeping watch over us, ready to come to our rescue even in our darkest hour.