Walking on Water

Dear Friends,

In John 6:16-24, Jesus intentionally withdraws from the crowd who have misunderstood who He is and why He has come. This is one of His great tasks: to lift people’s Biblical understanding so they know the God of the Bible and why He (Jesus) came. In this passage, Jesus has sent the disciples across the lake. Then, late into the evening, He comes walking to them on the water.

Chapter 14 of Matthew’s Gospel gives more details of this event. The disciples’ understanding of who Jesus is is enlarged. Their eyes are opened and they worship Him as the Son of God. This is in contrast to the crowd, who only have a limited perspective of Jesus. They see Him as an earthly King who miraculously provided bread. This limited understanding of who Jesus is and why He came means that they fail to see that He is the bread of life who comes to meet our greatest need: forgiveness of sin.

Furthermore, if our vision of Jesus is limited and incorrect we will not understand our own identity. Later in 6:27, Jesus explains that He is the one who gives eternal life.

God’s Blessing David O’Mara

From the PM Pastor’s Bulletin, 17 October 2021