Mark 6:45-56
Grace and peace from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Some of you have heard the phrase "God is my copilot" or have seen the occasional bumper sticker with the phrase. You may know that that this is the name of a book by Robert L. Scott. Scott was a pilot in WWII and among his many achievements he was a fighter ace in the Flying Tigers.
I often thought the phrase has the priority all wrong. I understand Scott's perspective that God carried him through the war. If you think about it even from Scott's perspective God was not really his copilot, but his pilot.
To be honest I haven't seen one of the bumper stickers or even given it much thought in quite a while. That is until I passed a church this week that had on its sign "If God is your copilot you're in the wrong seat."
Our reading from Mark today records an event that is similar in some respects to Robert Scott's experience. This account is probably more commonly remembered by the version Matthew recorded in which Peter steps out of the boat onto the crashing waves. We don't know why Mark leaves Peter out of his account but it does give us an opportunity to look past Peter's episode and examine the overall experience of the disciples.
We begin after the feeding of the five thousand it's been a very draining day and Jesus needs some time to rest and pray. He rather forcefully insists the disciples get into a boat and go ahead of him to Bethsaida. As they depart and the crowds are dismissed Jesus goes up the mountain side to pray.
When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake and Jesus saw the disciples straining at the oars, because they were headed into the wind. Not only is Jesus praying and looking upward to His Father, He is also looking outward watching over His chosen.
For some reason Jesus waits until the fourth watch to go out to the boat. In ancient times the night was divided into four watches so you can imagine the men have been working hard at the oars for many hours and apparently not making much headway. Many of us would have succumbed to exhaustion or given up long before this point. Perhaps because of the perilous situation they pressed on. The sea is a dangerous place; to give up could cost them their lives.
In fact the sea was feared. The Sea of Galilee is known for its unpredictable weather, many fishermen were lost to the sea. As you know seafaring people are usually superstitious so challenges of weather or anything out of the ordinary is feared as some supernatural event.
Something out of the ordinary does occur a figure is seen walking on the water as if to pass by the boat. When they see the figure they fear it is a ghost. Now it's funny the questions that pop into my mind. When they saw the figure did they grunt and gasp like macho seamen or scream like little girls?
Regardless of their reaction I'm confident everyone had stopped rowing at that point. They had handed over complete control to the wind and waves. Jesus says to them "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." He joins them in the boat and the wind is calmed. Its obvious to us that Jesus was in control of the situation from the start, He was the pilot. To the disciples who were amazed at what they witnessed, Jesus was the copilot, just coming along side to help at the right time.
Despite the miracle of feeding five thousand on the previous day they still had little faith. However Jesus silenced their fears by making himself known to them. Isn't that what he does with us as well? When we give up the pilot seat He reveals himself to us. It may not be in ways we expect but He does reveal himself.
At the beginning of the war Robert Scott was tasked with delivering B-17's to China. The plan was scrapped when the Japanese had overrun some of the planned refueling stops. He was then transferred to India to fly C-47's over the Himalayas to China. He believed that the transports should have an escort fighter. Because of his request for a single fighter plane to escort transports over the Himalayas he ended up flying fighters, commanding a fighter squadron in the famed Flying Tigers, and becoming an ace.
The disciples ended up somewhere they didn't expect and in territory that had been unfriendly if not hostile on their last visit.
Remember that they had started out across the lake for Bethsaida. After the events at sea they actually land at Gennesaret. The last time they were in that region they encountered a demon possessed man. Jesus had cast the demons out of this man into a herd of pigs. The pigs then stampeded down the hillside into the lake and drowned. The people perhaps out of fear, pleaded with Jesus to leave their region. Not a very warm reception for Jesus and the disciples that first visit. However Jesus had left a seed among them, the healed man was instructed to go home and share how the Lord had shown mercy on him.
Imagine their trepidation when the disciples realized they landed in Gennesaret. Would the people attack them or drive them away? How far could they go if they put out on the lake again they were exhausted? I'm sure they were trying to climb back into the pilot seat by letting fear take hold. Again Jesus proved to be the pilot; He brought them to this region and to their surprise they were warmly welcomed.
The seed had taken root and grown. Now people from all over the countryside were bringing the sick into the marketplaces to be healed. They begged Jesus to just allow a touch of His cloak in order to be healed. A curiously similar request as the poor woman that believed just a touch of the fringe of His cloak would heal her. Here we see that same power of compassion reaching out to everyone. That same power didn't stop there it reaches out through every time and place with miraculous transformation for the receivers. All that is needed is the little seed of faith to grow.
How often are we trying to be the pilot and push Jesus into the other seat or even totally out of the plane?
We often do we find ourselves trying to be the pilot. We get tossed about like a ship on an angry sea and react in the same manner as the disciples. We hunker down and try to plow through. We don't seek comfort, help, or guidance instead our focus is on the wind and tide running against us. How much easier things can be, at least from a comfort standpoint, if we just move to the other seat and let Jesus take command.
As the disciples found out God does take care of his chosen. It may not be in a way we expect or in the time we expect. As a new fledgling congregation it's easy to be discouraged. It's easy to forget how little faith these people had and yet Jesus took care of them.
I can tell you with absolute certainty that as long as our focus is on the cross the wind and waves will have no consequence on the mission of sharing the mercy God has shown for us. It may not look like what we expect, the seeds may not be planted where we expect, but we will have comfort in knowing God is our pilot.
In the name of our risen Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
