M-W-F Bible study: John 6:16-21 Jesus walks on water

John 6:16-21 (The Message)

16 In the evening his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got in the boat, and headed back across the water to Capernaum. It had grown quite dark and Jesus had not yet returned. 18 A huge wind blew up, churning the sea. 19 They were maybe three or four miles out when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, quite near the boat. They were scared senseless, 20 but he reassured them, "It's me. It's all right. Don't be afraid." 21 So they took him on board. In no time they reached land - the exact spot they were headed to.

(commentary by Marion Adams from www.easyenglishinfo/bible-commentary)

Verses 16-21 Jesus fed the crowd on the east side of Lake *Galilee. Then he escaped from them and he went up to the hills.

Probably, he wanted to pray to his *Father. But it had become night, and he had not returned. So the *disciples decided to cross the lake without him. It seems strange that they did not wait for him. But in Mark’s account of this incident, Jesus had sent them ahead of him (Mark 6:45). Probably, they had arranged to meet him later.

They got into a boat and they started to cross the lake. They were heading towards Capernaum. Many hills surround Lake *Galilee. It is deep. Because of this, sudden storms are common. Several of the *disciples had fished on the lake for their work. They were familiar with the weather on the lake. But these sudden storms frightened them still. (See also Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25.)

Then, when they were about half of the way across, they saw Jesus. The most direct route to Capernaum is about 10 kilometres (6 miles). Jesus was walking on the water towards them. This made them very afraid. They thought that he was a *spirit. (See Matthew 14:26; Mark 6:49.) They had seen him do *miracles. But they did not expect him to walk on the water. This surprised them very much. But as soon as he spoke, they were not still afraid. They wanted him to get in the boat. But another wonderful thing had happened. Suddenly, they had reached the place where they were heading. Their struggle was over. They were safe and Jesus was with them.

This account shows us how Jesus helps us, too. Bad things can happen to us suddenly, like the storm on the lake. We may feel that we have no control over our situation. We may think that we are struggling alone with our problems. But sometimes Jesus comes to us when we do not expect him. He may surprise us by the way that he comes to us. But Jesus can do anything! He protects us from bad things. We know that we are safe with him.