Craig Barnes meditates on a familiar, yet perplexing observation in Mark 6:48
“He intended to pass them by.”
Your disciples were “straining at the oars against an adverse wind” when they caught a glimpse of you walking on the water. This time you were planning to pass by them. Apparently, you were hoping that just a glimpse of you on the stormy waters would be enough to encourage the disciples. But this hint of your presence only made them all the more “terrified.” What if it wasn’t you? What if their eyes only saw what they imagined? What if … ? There is no end to these questions.
When I am straining at the oars, I also want more than glimpses of you passing by. I understand a glimpse should be enough, but it’s not. A beautiful anthem by the choir in worship, a stunning sunset, the contentment of a four-year-old girl holding her mother’s hand – all of these glimpses of your grace should be sufficient, but we disciples have always needed more than that. We need to see you in the boat with us.
This is embarrassing since we should be stronger in faith after all these years. But it is silly to pretend with you. As you have long known, we live with too much anxiety for mere glimpses of hope. Please, dear Savior, do not pass us by.
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