Genesis 9:8-17; Ephesians 3:14-21; Mark 6:45-56

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

How much a phrase can change its meaning simply by the inflection has always amazed me. Whatever word you emphasize can alter the entire meaning. Take the phrase, “You shouldn’t be here.” Maybe you shouldn’t be here but someone else should. Maybe you shouldn’t be here because it’s a bad idea to be here or it was downright impossible. Maybe you shouldn’t be here, but rather you’re meant to be somewhere else.

This phrase almost perfectly describes the disciples’ reaction in our Gospel reading this week. Jesus had just fed the five thousand by miraculously multiplying bread and fish. Immediately after, Jesus sends the disciples away on a boat while he stays behind to dismiss the crowds. We don’t know, but it seems likely that the plan was for them to regroup across the lake, that Jesus would catch another boat or find some way to join them there. But that’s not how it goes.

Imagine the disciples in a boat, in the middle of a lake, in the middle of the night (roughly 3am). They have been rowing hard because the wind was against them, so they haven’t made much progress. As most of them are fast asleep in the boat, one or two would be awake to keep watch as they come to see someone walking on the water in the middle of the sea (Mark 6:48). “When they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out for they all saw him and were terrified,” Mark 6:49-50. You shouldn’t be here!

It's not hard to see why the disciples were terrified. We would be too. Jesus shouldn’t have been there. That is, it was impossible. No one could even imagine they would see someone walking IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA! But the disciples also thought, Jesus should be back on land. You shouldn’t be here. They thought Jesus was far away, and thus were terrified at who this “phantom” might be. This is why the thought of seeing a ghost has always terrified us too. We see people who shouldn’t possibly be here.

“You shouldn’t be here” is also what Jesus says to us. When the disciples were terrified, Jesus speaks to them, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid,” Mark 6:50. Jesus is telling them that even though he shouldn’t be here, he’s here for them. He does the impossible for them! So much is bound up in these few words of Jesus, for he’s also acknowledging the disciples’ difficulty against the wind. You shouldn’t be here; you should have already made it across! But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He comes to us and says, “You shouldn’t be here.” Here in sin, here among the evil and wicked, here under Satan’s reign. Jesus does the impossible to be present with us. So, Jesus shouldn’t be able to be with us as God, yet he is. He comes to die on the cross, doing the impossible by saving us! Take heart then! Jesus is here with us, doing the impossible, coming where he shouldn’t be so that we may go where we couldn’t go… to heaven and eternal paradise!

Pastor Sorenson

Prayer:

Almighty and most merciful God, the protector of all who trust in You, strengthen our faith and give us courage to believe that in Your love You will rescue us from all adversities; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen!