John 6:16-21

Read John 6:16-21 Jesus walks on the water

This is the 5^th of John’s 7 “signs.”

In a sentence or two, what happens in this incident?

The reason why Jesus is not with the disciples in the boat is because, as verse 15 tells us, he withdrew to the mountain on his own.  Why do you think he wanted to be alone, without his disciples?

Matthew 14:23 tells us that he went up the mountain to pray, but can we take that a step further?  Why do you think Jesus wanted to pray alone at this time, and not with his disciples?

Are there times when we need to be alone?  How is spending time alone important?

Jesus is alone on the mountain, but the disciples are also “alone” in the boat in the sense that they are without Jesus.  They have probably gotten used to having Jesus around, everywhere they go.  Now they are facing strong winds and rough waves without him.  At verse 19 before Jesus appears, how do you think they are feeling?

Think of the fears you have had over the years, from when you were a child to now.  What did you used to fear most, and what do you fear most now?

What is Jesus’s response in verse 20?

As you face troubling times in your life today, what do these words of Jesus say to you: “It is I; do not be afraid”?

What effect do you think Jesus’s presence has on the disciples?

Can you think of a time that Jesus had a similar effect on you or someone you know, where he came to you or made his presence known in a time of struggle?

How important is Jesus’s presence to you?  How important is it to feel his presence?

In verse 20, most English translations have Jesus saying, “It is I.”  However, in the original Greek, his words are, “I am,” which calls to mind the name by which God revealed himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14.  (In Hebrew, God’s name is spelled using the Hebrew letters for “YHWH,” which is often written in English as “Yahweh” and also inaccurately written as “Jehovah”).  Jesus also used “I am” with the Samaritan woman in John 4:25, but why is this moment on the sea an especially appropriate time for Jesus to claim for himself the divine name of God?

At Cana, Jesus showed his power to transform nature, turning water into wine.  With the feeding of the 5000, he showed his ability to multiply things in the natural world: to make something exist that did not previously exist.  Here he shows his transcendence over nature: his ability to overcome the limitations of human nature and the chaos in the natural world.  All of these acts show his power, but the third of these miracles demonstrates that he is not just a magician manipulating things; he transcends the natural world as only God does.

How can you apply this passage in your life?

What does this story tell us about faith?

John ends abruptly with the cryptic statement in verse 21 that they immediately arrived at the shore.  In Matthew’s telling of the story (Matt. 14:22-27), there is a dialogue and Peter walks on the water.  John has a different focus.  Perhaps to John the great miracle here was not the walking on the water but the immediate arrival at their destination once Jesus was with them.

John emphasizes that once Jesus was present, the struggle is over: they don’t even have to do any more rowing – they immediately reach their goal, arriving at Capernaum immediately.  How does the presence of Jesus make a difference as we try to reach a goal?

In all 3 Gospels that have this story (Matthew, Mark, and John), Jesus walks on the water immediately after the feeding of the 5,000.  They are connected in the movement of Jesus and the disciples and the crowd away from and back to Capernaum, but are they also connected symbolically?  In what ways are the two stories similar in what they tell us about Jesus?

Take a step back and consider this:

The crowd so thoroughly misunderstood Jesus’s nature and purpose that they wanted to make him a king.  So he withdrew from them.  He also sent the disciples without him to Capernaum.  Later in this Gospel, Jesus will say that he must go away to prepare a place for us but that he will return (John 14:3, 28).  We can explore whether this passage says something to us about the times when we feel alone.

There are times in our lives when Jesus feels more present and times when he feels more absent.  How might those times when we feel more alone have value in our spiritual life?  How might they help us become who we are meant to be?

What does Jesus want us to do when we don’t feel his presence?

How can this story help you in those difficult times?  The disciples must row hard for a long time as they struggle to get across the lake while Jesus is not with them, but he hasn’t forgot about them and when he arrives, they reach their goal.  What does that say to you in your times of trial?