Waiting for Jesus (John 6:16-21)
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jeremy_2_06-11-2025_125124: [00:00:00] It's easy to follow Jesus when things are going well,
when all your prayers seem to be answered, when life feels right. But what happens when Jesus feels like he's nowhere to be found? How do we follow Jesus in those moments?
Elie Wiesel wrote about his experiences surviving the Holocaust. He said it like this for the first time.
I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify his name? The almighty, the eternal and terrible master of the universe chose to be silent. It doesn't take long to find numerous examples of God's silence and anyone who has tried to follow Jesus. For any length of time has gone through one of these moments, and we're gonna explore one of these in the Gospel of John today.
In John chapter six, verse 16. We find this [00:01:00] story that evening. Jesus' disciples went down to the shore to wait for him, but as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn't come back, they got into the boat and they headed across the lake toward Capernaum. Soon, a gale swept down upon them and the sea grew very rough.
They had rode three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, but he called out to them. Don't be afraid. I am here. Then they were eager to let him in the boat and immediately they arrived at their destination. Now, notice the prompts for this story that we just saw in the text.
The disciples are waiting for Jesus. Darkness fell. Jesus still hadn't come back. So [00:02:00] they decide to get into a boat, and then a crazy storm comes upon them. Have you ever felt like in your life it got dark and Jesus didn't come back? Have you ever had that feeling of it's getting dark out and Jesus seems nowhere to be found?
I suspect they were thinking, Jesus, you could have solved this whole thing. You could have prevented this whole thing if you just would've been here. Like, why did you leave us alone at night? Why did you allow this situation to happen in the first place? See, sometimes Jesus' ideas look terrifying, right?
And you may have had experience with this. It's dark outside. Looks like Jesus is trying to do something that humans can't do. And so their first thought here isn't to celebrate this as a miracle. The miracle only comes after the [00:03:00] fear. Their first thought is to be afraid. What on earth is going on? But it leads me to a question that I think is a fun one to explore.
When was the last time you were scared by one of Jesus's ideas for your life? Like, when's the last time you sensed Jesus asking you to do something, prompting you towards something that scared you, that you thought, if I do this, I'm not sure what would happen. I'm not sure how this would play out. Have you ever.
Had a moment like this with Jesus. I'd like to suggest that as we read the scriptures, they would imply that this is a normal thing for anyone who's following God in this way. In fact, I remember clearly sensing Jesus telling me to walk away from what I would've considered at that point in my life. My dream job being a lead [00:04:00] pastor, and I remember so clearly all the events that had led me to that place.
And then this sense of Jesus saying, now you need to walk away from it. Now you need to leave this. And there was no next step there. There was no, and then you know, here's what this is gonna mean, or here's the safety net, or here's how I'll make this all right for you. None of that existed. It was just this clear sense of this is not what you're supposed to be doing anymore.
You need to be willing to leave this. And that was a terrifying idea. The author Shane Claiborne has written this, so it's not hell that makes me shudder, but God, because I have no idea what in the world God's going to dare me to do next. what is God going to dare you to do? Now in this story, we are seeing the disciples have just come [00:05:00] from where Jesus fed the 5,000 men and women and children, in addition to that, which is believed to be at the bottom of the lake of the sea of Galilee.
Now we looked at this story last week, so that happened at the bottom of this lake. Then they're headed to Capernaum, which is at the top of this lake. Now the Sea of Galilee from the north to the south is about 14 miles long. Now we're told the boat with the disciples had just passed three to four miles in, which would've been roughly a fourth of the distance to where they're eventually trying to get to.
On the other side, I. But then verse 21, if you notice, it says that immediately they arrived at their destination. Like once Jesus is in the boat immediately, they're now on the other side. So they go from waiting and waiting and waiting on Jesus to suddenly arriving and they're there. Now, how is this [00:06:00] possible?
How do we explain this? Maybe John is exaggerating as he tells the details of this story. Maybe there's a detail that's missing and so we don't know that it actually did take them another 30 minutes or something. Maybe we don't know that. Or maybe Jesus did something supernatural with the boat or the water or something bizarre took place, which I would suggest in light of the fact that Jesus just walked on water.
Maybe the third option isn't as crazy as we might think. See, this story shows us that Jesus is the God who walks on water to meet us in a storm at night. That's the kind of God that we find in Jesus. Now, you can be mad that you got in that place in the first place, right? That you're there to begin with.
You can be mad that a storm came. You can be mad that it's nighttime. You can be mad that Jesus wasn't [00:07:00] there when you got into the boat. But Jesus is the God who walks on water to meet us in a storm at night. Now, this doesn't mean that the storm is always going to stop in your life once you sense Jesus, and it doesn't mean that we can even clearly see Jesus in the midst of the storm.
I've had plenty of moments where I'm not quite sure where Jesus is or what Jesus is doing, but I do think this story shows us, reveals to us the heart of God. This is who Jesus is. Jesus will meet you in the midst of the storm. So here's a couple questions for you. What does Jesus want to do in your life right now?
What is that thing? If you were to be open to it, if you were to ask, what would Jesus dare you to do? And maybe you know exactly what the answer to that is. Because you've already sensed it, but you're scared, but you're waiting, you're [00:08:00] holding back 'cause you're not sure if you took that step, what would happen next?
My follow up question is where have the storms in your life created fear and how can you say, Jesus, I don't wanna live dominated by this fear, I want to be able to trust you. How can you invite Jesus into the midst of whatever it is, whatever that storm is around you. To invite you into a better way forward.
I would encourage you to look for Jesus in the dark. Look for Jesus to show up in unexpected ways, even when you find yourself in a storm at night and you've been waiting around for a long time. I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
