Text Used to Create the Splice “Jesus Walks on Water”

Matthew 14:22-33 (Greek Text Analysis beginning with Matthew 14:22)

Mark 6:45-52 (Greek Text Analysis beginning with Mark 6:45)

John 6:15-21 (Greek Text Analysis beginning with John 6:15)

 

Psalm 25:4

Make me know Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.

 

THE SPLICE

The disciples were collecting the fragments of food left over from the 1feeding of the 5,000 men, plus the women and children.  And those who had witnessed this miracle of feeding so many people from five barley loaves and two fish, said, “This is truly 2the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew back up to the mountain by Himself alone. Now when it was later in the evening, Jesus 3made His disciples go down to the sea, get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to 4Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. Now while Jesus was sending the crowds away, and after the disciples had gotten into the boat, they started to cross the sea towards 5Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.

After bidding the crowd farewell, 6Jesus had sent the crowd away. He left for the mountain and went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and He was there alone on the land and the boat was in the middle of the sea, a long distance from the land. The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing and the wind was contrary and against them, so the boat was battered by the waves. 7Jesus saw the disciples straining at the oars and at about the 8fourth watch of the night, when they had rowed about 9three or four miles, Jesus came to them, walking out on the sea; and He intended to pass by them. The disciples saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened/terrified because when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that 10it was a ghost, and they cried out in fear, saying, “It is a ghost!”. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”  Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, Peter became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” The disciples were willing to receive Jesus into the boat when they realized it was Him and when Peter and Jesus got into the boat, the wind stopped and all those in the boat and the boat were immediately 11at the land to which they were going. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “12You are certainly God’s Son!”  They were utterly astonished by this, for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their 13heart was hardened.

1. feeding of the 5,000: Many Bible scholars have estimated that the crowd was more like 15,000 people, because the women and children weren’t included in the count, according to Matthew 14:21. To read about the feeding of the 5,000 men, see Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:33-44, Luke 9:12-17, John 6:1-14. To read the Splice about the feeding of the 5,000, click here. ↩︎
2. the Prophet: In reference to Deuteronomy 18:15 and 18 and reinforced that the Prophet is the Christ in Acts 3:20-23. The prophet is mentioned in Deuteronomy 18 because the Israelites are told not to participate in spiritism, such as using mediums or participating in witchcraft, necromancy, spellcasting, divination, and other similar practices of their pagan neighbors. God promised to raise up a prophet that would speak to them for Him, as all of the prophets of God did, Moses being the first real prophet of Israel. Such practices such as visiting mediums, or using Ouija boards are still a sin today. A Christian who cares about Christ should never be involved in these practices, as they are demonic. See Deuteronomy 18:9-22 for the information concerning spiritism and the announcement of the prophet, and see Acts 16:16-18 about the slave-girl who was possessed by a spirit of divination. See Exodus 22:18 where God commands that those who practice witchcraft in Israel should be put to death. ↩︎
3. made His disciples…: The Greek word used for made in Matthew 14:22 and Mark 6:45 is anagkazó and means “to force or compel” and has a flavor of urgency along with the force. ↩︎
4. Bethsaida: Bethsaida is very near the region of Galilee, sitting square on the NE shores of the Sea of Galilee, but was it actually a part of the region called Gaulanitis. Bethsaida was the hometown of Peter, Andrew, and Phillip (John 1:44). It is a possibility that James and John were from Bethsaida (John doesn’t mention himself or his brother in 1:44, but he also doesn’t mention their recruitment at all in his account), because James and John were fishing partners with Peter and Andrew (Luke 5:10). Although Jesus is sending them to the town of Bethsaida (Mark 6:45), they are already in a secluded spot (Matthew 14:13, Mark 6:32) associated with the town (Luke 9:10). Also, they are actually heading towards Capernaum once they are on the sea of Galilee (John 6:17), possibly because of the strong winds and inability to control the boat. Capernaum and Bethsaida are not that far apart, as best as we can judge two thousand years later, and it is possible that Capernaum and Bethsaida were conflated back then. Unfortunately, Bethsaida no longer exists as a town, nor does Capernaum. However, there is a bus stop named Bethsaida Junction, along Highway 87, about 4 1/2 miles northeast of Capernaum. ↩︎
5. Capernaum: Capernaum is Jesus’s home base. He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum at the beginning of His ministry (Matthew 4:13). Peter and Andrew have a house there (Mark 1:21, 29) and it’s likely that Jesus recruited Matthew from Capernaum (Matthew 9:1, 9; Mark 2:1, 14). Capernaum has been the site of extensive excavations and digs since the 1800’s, and there is a memorial built over what is supposed to be Peter’s house and some churches that were built there in the 4th and 5th centuries. The memorial has a partial glass floor so you can see the remains of these ancient ruins. Capernaum itself is now owned by the Franciscans and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchy of Jerusalem. ↩︎
6. Jesus had sent the crowd away: The Greek text for Matthew 14:23 says “And having dismissed the crowds”. The Greek wording used gives more of a feeling that He “wrapped up” His time with them (releasing them) before He went up the mountain and less of a “get out of here” feel that the English phrase “sent the crowd away” gives. ↩︎
7. Jesus saw the disciples: Understanding that the disciples are already far away from the land, this must be a miraculous sighting, using His power as God to see these details where human eyes could not. ↩︎
8. fourth watch: The fourth watch, the last watch of the night, was between 3am and 6am. Roman guard duties were divided into four watches throughout the night. The first watch was from 6pm to 9pm, the second watch from 9pm to 12am, the third watch 12am to 3am, and then the fourth. ↩︎
9. three or four miles: The Greek text for John 6:19 says “stadia twenty-five or thirty”. A stadia is a Greek measurement of distance and where we get our word “stadium” from. A stadia is about 1/8 of a mile or the distance of a Greek race course. ↩︎
10. it was a ghost: This is not proof that ghosts exist. The disciples were terrified and grasping at legend or superstition to explain the unexplainable. For those who belong to God, there is no possibility of ghostliness, as 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 gives us the clue that once our souls are absent from the body, we are together with the Lord. For those who reject God’s grace, we can only look at Jesus’s parable about Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31) which says that Lazarus was taken by the angels to Abraham’s bosom (a place of comfort) and the rich man to Hades (hell). The parable doesn’t say “there is no such thing as ghosts” but it certainly does give the footing to say so. Ghosts or not, we know that God controls all things (Ephesians 1:11) for His purposes, even the demons (Job 1:6, 12, 2:6), and therefore it is God who should be feared (Matthew 10:28). ↩︎
11. at the land: Matthew 14:34 says that they landed at Gennesaret, a town about 2.5 miles from Capernaum. This was an instantaneous landing at Gennesaret, a miracle, as they were in the middle of the Sea of Galilee when Jesus approached the boat. They were ultimately going to be heading out to Bethsaida, as Mark 6:45 says, and they do finally get there in Mark 8:22. But as we are told in Mark 6:53-55 as well as Matthew 14:35-36, Jesus made this side trip and healed many people while He was there. ↩︎
12. You are certainly God’s Son: The disciples had seen lots of miracles (Matthew 5:23-25, 11:4-5, 20-21) performed by Jesus before He walked on water and facilitated an instant landing of their boat. The wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11), healings (much of Matthew 9, Mark 5:21-42, Luke 7:1-10, John 5:1-9) casting demons out of people (Matthew 8:28-33, Mark 5:1-20) and they had JUST seen (and participated in) an NBA stadium’s worth of people (approximately) fed from 5 loaves and 2 fish. ↩︎
13. heart was hardened: Mark 6:52. The Greek word used for heart is kardia and means “the heart; mind, character, inner self”. The Greek word used for hardened is póroó and means “harden, petrify, callous”. The words together give the meaning that the collective minds of the disciples were unperceiving or dull to the miracle that they had witnessed in the feeding of the 5,000 men. ↩︎