What is it about Jesus that makes you love Him?
Is it what He’s done for you?
Or is it aspects of His character?
Maybe a little bit of both?
When you have felt the most drawn to Him, what was it that pulled you toward Him?
One of the things that’s really drawing me to Him lately is His authority. I think that was one of John’s main objectives in writing his gospel–to show Jesus’ authority as the Son of God.
As I dig into the fourth gospel account on these finally-chilly fall mornings, I’m pulled to Jesus’ purposeful approach to His time on earth. I want to sit across a campfire from Him and laugh about how five loaves and a couple fish could feed so many. I want to sit on a Galilean hillside and listen to Him talk about bread and life and faith in Him and the One who sent Him. Lately, though, I really want to stand on top of a raging sea, salty wind blowing hair in my eyes while I’m locked into His gaze—face to face, knowing He’s the only One holding me up.
According to John, Jesus walked a long way across the sea of Galilee before the disciples saw Him. Did the water still as soon as His sandaled foot touched the surface? Did an unbroken, smooth expanse of sea spread out behind Him? When you line up John’s and Matthew’s tellings, you know the sea was still angry when Jesus got to the boat.
I can picture Him: shoulders forward, purposefully striding across a tossing, tempestuous body of water.
Is there any other way for a God-Man to walk across a raucous, salty swell than with determined intent?
When Jesus got to the boat and scared His friends witless, John reports that they finally arrived at the harbor they’d been fruitlessly rowing toward all night.
The study notes in my Bible signal the reader to look back to Psalm 107 as it’s possible John was making an allusion to a portion of this passage. I spent about a week in Psalm 107 in August, so I knew the verses the study notes editors were referencing. Those verses became some of my favorites in all the Bible for the imagery they give:
They went to sea in ships, conducting trade on the vast waters. They saw the LORD’s works, His wonderful works in the deep. He spoke and raised a tempest that stirred up the waves of the sea. Rising up to the sky, sinking down to the depths, their courage melting away in anguish, they reeled and staggered like drunken men, and all their skill was useless. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a murmur and the waves of the sea were hushed. They rejoiced when the waves grew quiet. Then He guided them to the harbor they longed for. (Psalm 107: 23-30, emphasis added)
I know Bible study can be arduous at times, but that is beautiful.
It’s most likely that the subjects of this passage are some of the people God had redeemed from exile, probably the Israelites who had returned from Babylon. They saw the wonders of the Lord at sea. He caused the waters to revolt; He stirred up the tempest Himself so that He would have a stage set for the people to see His goodness to them. Sinking in fear, they cried out to God to save them, and He stilled the storm, hushing it down to a murmur. And then He guided them to the harbor they had longed for.
You’re probably seeing the connections between Psalm 107 and John 6 now, and this is one reason I love to dig into Scripture. It’s seamless. It’s one big story, and while I think the events in Psalm 107 happened to specific people during that time period, I think they were also meant to point us to Jesus. While these exiles were being redeemed, God was sending Jesus, preparing His people then and now for the Savior He was always planning to send.
As believers who have the whole story about Jesus, we can read passages like Psalm 107 and think of Him walking across the water and guiding the disciples to the shore they longed for. We should see that Jesus held authority over the sea He created. We should also picture Jesus as the safe harbor for our souls, the One we anchor ourselves to for all the hope we could ever need (Hebrews 6:19) in knowing our salvation is sure–because the Man who purposefully walked across the raging sea walked purposefully up a hill and secured our soul-safety forever when His blood poured out and ran down the splintered wood of a crude cross, spreading out to both cover our disbelief and give birth to saving faith.
If you feel like your faith is weak and that your life circumstances are stamping out any vestige of hope, look at Jesus. Shift your gaze away from your troubles and toward Jesus. Cry out like Peter, “Lord, save me!” Know that ultimately, Jesus is the safe harbor you are longing for. I know He is mine, and without Him holding out hope across a troubled sea I would surely have sunk long ago. Over and over, He reaches out and keeps me from sinking into unbelief, and every day He is propelling me closer to the harbor I long for.
It isn’t just an allegory. Jesus really did walk on water–a sea He created, actually. He didn’t calm the sea until after Peter jumped out of the boat, and when fear displaced Peter’s faith, Jesus both rebuked and saved him. Only God holds the authority to rightly rebuke and save.
I love Jesus for His authority, His ability to march across the unwalkable, to tame the untamable, to heal the unhealable, to love the unlovable, to trade the unthinkable by exchanging places with me and letting me wear His righteousness like a robe that I feel like I stole while He was watching. But it was a gift, His eyes locked with mine—knowing all the deceitfulness down in me, the hopelessness, my bent to disbelieve Him—and saying anyway, “you are Mine. Get up and sin no more.” And I can because I am His, and because the One who walked on water and quieted the wind and fed the hungry and told broken men to get up is also the One who took out the ugly heart inside me and put in a new one that loves Him.
Glenna Marshall is married to her pastor, William, and lives in rural Southeast Missouri where she tries and fails to keep up with her two energetic sons. She is the author of The Promise is His Presence (P&R) and Everyday Faithfulness (Crossway), and Memorizing Scripture (Moody). Connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.