John 11 Ch.6.15-21 Mountains, Lakes, Storms and Shores

[HKHaugan]

John 11 Ch.6.15-21 Mountains, Lakes, Storms and Shores

As you look at Chapter 6 it presents an interesting question. Why is the Feeding miracle (vs.1-15) and its explanation (vs.22-71) separated by the miracle of Jesus walking on the water? Let's look at that.

The Lord has just left everyone, the disciples and the crowd, to go to a mountain and be by Himself. He has given them four signs so far to show that He is the Messiah. But we mustn't forget, He is simply obeying the will of His Father while He is on the way to Jerusalem and the Cross. Just as we mustn't forget that every next moment we also are on the way to our Jerusalem, to our crosses, to our Promised Land and to our God in the Kingdom.

In a sense Jesus is giving us a trail to follow, the one He trod in Galilee, the trail of faith in His Father's will. Every encounter recorded shows He always, without hesitation, chose and decided to follow His Father's will in them. That trail was a trail of choices and decisions He made for each of us, heart choices in faith. This is what it means to take up our cross and decide to follow Him when the moment of choice arrives. He, as opposed to us, had one attitude in everything He thought, said and did,---please His Father. Our calling? The same. But note how the Father wants to be pleased, “This is my Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him (Mt.17:5)!”

After the 'Feeding' He goes to a mountain just like Abraham, Moses and the Prophets before Him. The idea of mountains, going up them, peering into the heavens, brought that sense of being nearer to God. God spoke to people in and on the mountains as He did when He fed the 5000. Think of those oft repeated verses, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord who made Heaven and earth (Ps.121:1-2).”

Jesus knew this Psalm. You can picture Him looking 'unto the hills' knowing His Father would strengthen Him in moments of prayer and meditation on His Word. His was a lonely walk, a lonely vision and being aware that His destiny in this world would have to be fulfilled alone in every next moment. What He was carrying in His heart was the aloneness every human being knows, has to face and has to bear from one moment to the next. He was filling our steps of aloneness with His presence. Jesus was showing us how to climb a mountain, why we climb it and what we find on the way up and on top of the mountain.

Everyone needs a mountain and wherever Jesus is, that is our mountain. Climbing mountains makes you sweat, makes you watch your step, builds the muscles of your inner character. In fact it keeps you focused on every next step. A mountain has a peak from which you can see the vast land below, the valleys you've come from and through. It's a place for contemplation and vision making. The vista from above fortifies you for the trip back into the valley, into the forest and the daily walks demanding specific duties and responsibilities and...all of which...are in that perspective you got while looking from above. It's a piece of the image of God in us that we have been given to see the larger picture and what life means from His view. So even if we live in the flatlands we have the mountain moments He makes available for us.

Another piece of that view is the mountain range of His Word, worship and worth. The climb through His Word studying, questioning and pondering when the Holy Spirit honors it with His insight, the peak reached for that moment of blessing prepared for you. Then comes worship when we gather to sing and voice our praises, climb on the steps of shared testimony, hear His Word taught, receive the Lord's Supper and find ourselves at the summit. Then to realize the worth of God in those moments of 'worth-ship' soaked in His worth and find our worth in Him.

But there's more in this Psalm. Vs.2 assures us He is behind all Creation and it follows in vs.3 that as His spiritual children He will not allow us to lose our standing in Him nor will He ever be found sleeping, that is, not attending to us personally. Rather each one is watched over just like He watches over and has maintained Israel (vs.4). We sleep but God is always standing watch over us. No matter the dangers that come by day or night He is your cover (vs.5). Despite the spirits of compromise and manipulation in the day and the spirits of fear and anxiety in the night, He is there with you (vs.6). Each of us is a precious soul to Him and He will preserve what He has spiritually birthed. Evil cannot overtake you. In fact every movement of your life in the Spirit is preserved from the moment of your receiving Him and that lasts forever (vs.7-8). God is Spirit. By faith we are His children. Inseparable.

The proof comes in the next sign, sign 5, vs.16-21, Jesus Walking on the Water. This is just after the 'Feeding.' It's evening and getting dark. The disciples without Jesus get in a boat and start rowing for Capernaum across the 13 mile long lake. The wind is blowing, the waves growing, conditions are worsening. John really opens us to see the spiritual dimension in everything. Here is an example, how so much in life parallels a boat. Think of the boat as being any anxiety producing situation or circumstance. A normal human reaction follows. You start to tense up, grow increasingly anxious and panic takes over. It's all about fear and our natural cautious fear being infiltrated by a spirit of fear and then it becomes all about me and my survival. This applies in every kind of 'boat group setting' from teen age angst to corporate executive position and promotion. It squeezes into families with sibling rivalry, child rearing conflict between parents, husband-wife tensions and neighborhood social pressures. It doesn't matter what kind of a group you're in, individuals start thinking of themselves first.

The Lord is certainly familiar with this kind of dynamic. He experienced it first hand when His 'boat' of disciples deserted Him just before His crucifixion. He knew what they were thinking after the crucifixion when they were gathered in an upper room behind locked doors for fear of being arrested (Jn.20:19). He anticipated it when He declared that He was the bread from Heaven and many who had followed Him left (Jn.6:66). The hostility of Jewish leadership caused many to deny Him.

Departing for a moment, think of the denominational and political boats that have run adrift being more culturally accommodating than spiritually and biblically honest.

He experiences it even now when we choose to remain quiet in the midst of school, college and local officials caving in to the singular voices of a few who feel offended at anything that they feel is a cause. The fear of public opinion characterizes the yellow streak of silence that grips the hearts of leaders in every field who fear loss of power, approval and money. Quiet compromise is the devil shouting, “I'm winning!” Trigger words like sexist, homophobia, right wing, conservative are used to negate, accuse and ridicule any and all opinion and reason. The idea is to make truth irrelevant and emotion the norm. Political expediency and correctness are the moldy smudges rotting in the corners of our most revered institutions. What they actually show is the spirit of fear waging its private war in the hearts of individuals who are afraid to stand out.

Now let's look at the miracle of Jesus walking across the lake. This whole atmosphere of fear we have just described is like the lake with a boat full of disciples trying to cross it in the night's darkness without Jesus.

Now think about this before we continue. They have just left a miracle and experienced the power and presence of the Lord. Yet in their momentary aloneness they find themselves adrift at the mercy of the next storm. Had they forgotten Him so quickly?

As we have said the fear atmosphere is going on all around us all the time. It's a spiritual dilemma and calls for spiritual action. The winds toss us, our conditions may worsen and it may seem like we are alone. But we are not. Just as He wanted His disciples to know He really is with them, He walks across that lake and gets in the boat. That walk was for us as well so that we will know He is always with us. When He walks across our lake, the sea of our fear's darkness, He gets in our boat with us and we immediately make it to the shore He wants for us reach (Jn.6:21). He is that shore

This miracle has its Old Testament foundation to secure it as a Messianic prophecy in Job 9:8, He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea, and Ps.77:19, Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. The fact that it happens between the Feeding and Jesus explaining its meaning is all about emphasizing God's power, God's will and God's plan being so deeply personal, spiritual and relational, “...even the darkness will not be dark to you, the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you (Ps.139:12).”

Jesus may have gone to the mountain to be alone but His disciples were always on His mind and in His heart. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me (Ps.23).” When He took bread and said, “This is my body (Lk.22:19)” and then took the cup and said, “This my blood of the new covenant (Lk.22:20)” He meant for that to be our constant awareness that He is forever present in the believer's life. Consider this, His movement from 'mountaintop' to 'watertop' in the moment of need. This is what makes Chapter 6 such a hinge chapter. He went from feeding a crowd to be alone on the mountain then to appear at the critical moment atop the dark waters to join in the lives of His disciples and take them to the shore, His shore, safely. The distance covered, the time involved, the dark of night: they all point to one thing. While God is always on the mountain top, He is always there for us. He is a forever God and we are His forever people. What a God, what a Savior, what a Lord!

Chapter 6 raises three questions for believer and unbeliever alike:

What turbulent lake are we on, what valley are we walking through, in the darkness, the unknown, the uncertainties, the fears of today, tomorrow and the next day?
and
What shore, what mountain---economic, social, spiritual, physical, emotional, relational---are we reaching for to feel safe?
and
What hope, temporary or lasting are we depending on when we reach it?

Everyone needs a shore. Everyone needs a mountain. Wherever Jesus is, both are there.