A little push out the door?

 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.” (Mark 6.45)

Why would Jesus “make” his disciples get into their boat? 

After all, the majority of the disciples were fishermen, owning their own boats, experienced with fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Why would they need to be “compelled” or “constrained” or “forced” to get into their boats? It looks like they needed a little “push out the door” on this occasion.

Interesting trivia: this is the only instance in the Gospels when Jesus “makes” the disciples take a trip in their boat. There are 32 other references to Jesus and his disciples using the boat, and in each of these, they simply get into the boat. No convincing needed.  

There was something about this setting in Mark 6 that seemed to require a little push out the door from Jesus to get his disciples going.

We can only make an educated guess about the circumstances, but we can glean three facts about this story.

First, we know the disciples had just finished a long day. Jesus gathered yet another crowd, healed many of them, and ended the day with another miraculous feeding of the masses.  The disciples were the ones who had to distribute the food to over 4000 people. That must have been real work! Maybe you know from experience how much energy and patience is involved in doing a food outreach! We can assume the disciples were tired, and maybe a little irritated that Jesus chose this occasion to send them on a trip across the lake. 

Second, the boat being used was probably a typical 1st century Galilean fishing vessel. Archeologists have discovered several of these boats – 26 feet long, 7 feet across, with flat bottoms that enabled them to come close to the shore. We know that the means of propulsion was either a sail or oars. Either way, it was physical labor navigating these sturdy little boats – and given their shallow draft, these were hard to manage in the midst of a storm. 

Third, it was late in the day, probably around dusk, and a storm was brewing. Certainly fishermen in that culture were experienced with fishing at night; but they also knew how to discern the approach of bad weather. We know that later that night Jesus “saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.” If the disciples saw a storm coming, they knew they would be navigating without benefit of the stars for navigation, in a boat that could easily capsize or be swamped in a storm. 

So, it’s easy to guess why the disciples needed a little push to get into the boat.

Simply put: they were weary and they saw trouble coming. Taking this trip at this time, in that boat, made no sense. 

Can you see why Jesus had to “make them” get into the boat?  From their experience and with their expertise, this journey needed to wait till morning! Can we hear them muttering under their breath – “Why now? Why here?”

Take a look at the entire story in Mark 6.45-52, and you’ll see what Jesus was up to. 

The disciples were being sent on a mission that would only be successful with Jesus. Natural elements and human limitations would not prevent them from getting across the lake. Jesus shows up when and how he chooses, and they’re able to complete their journey. 

Here are three lessons we can learn from this story.  Take a moment and consider:

1. Jesus doesn’t need our skill or our strength to complete his work through us.

2. He decides when and where he sends us because he is the power in the mission.

3. And, we can expect Jesus to show up in his time, and in his way. 

We only have one work to do when Jesus tells us to go: get into the boat and start rowing!