City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea rose because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat. They were frightened, 20 but he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

John 6:16-21

Commentary

The disciples had traveled 3-4 miles on the 8 mile journey across the Sea of Galilee, but once Jesus got in the boat “ . . . immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” (v. 21). John is not saying “the boat made good speed after we picked up Jesus.” John is saying that the boat transcended time and space, traveled the 4 more miles in an instant, and was immediately at the shore. It was a miracle as supernatural as Jesus walking on the water and we should ask why Jesus performed it and John recorded it.

The idea that God sometimes intervenes in human history to bend space and time was not a new concept. When Joshua fought against the Amorites, the Lord intervened in a way that Joshua described as God making “the sun stand still.” Joshua 10:12-14. What Joshua described was visually accurate. From Joshua’s perspective the sun temporarily stopped in its movement across the sky. But there are two possibilities that would cause what Joshua saw.

The first is for the earth to stop spinning on its axis. The sun appears to move across the sky because the earth is spinning on its axis. So, if the earth stopped spinning, the sun would appear to stand still in a fixed spot in the sky. But if that happened the effects would be catastrophic. Water in the oceans would continue to move and create devastating tidal waves. The atmosphere, which moves with the turning of the earth, would continue to move, creating wind blowing continually at speeds like a Category 5 hurricane on steroids. Also, as tectonic plates collided and internal guts of the earth continued to move, it would likely trigger volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. There is no indication by Joshua that any of this happened, nor does it seem likely the Lord would sacrifice the earth for one battle when there was a more elegant way to achieve the same purpose, which leads to the second option.

The second option is for the Lord to simply pause the time continuum. The perception to one on the earth would be that the sun stood still in the sky, but in reality time became static, the present was expanded, and a moment became minutes, to allow activity without the passage of time.

Application

I think Jesus performed and John recorded the miracle of the boat arriving immediately at shore to alert us to all that is possible with the Lord. There is nothing He cannot do. Time is His creation, and He can fiddle with it if necessary to accomplish His purposes on earth.

The Lord can do the same thing with space He can do with time. David praising the Lord for empowering him to do his job as a soldier wrote, “You enlarge my steps under me . . .  I pursued my enemies and overtook them.” 2 Sam. 22:35-36; Psalm 18: 36-37. The average stride of a running adult male is 4.5 feet. However, if God were to compress space under David, He could enlarge David’s stride from, say, 4.5 feet to 6 feet, which would allow David to quickly overtake an enemy in battle.

When I am extremely busy and have more to do than I have time, I pray the Lord would “enlarge my steps under me,” so I can get more done than would otherwise be possible in the time allotted me. 

Unrealistic? So is a boat traveling 4 miles in a moment, but when Jesus is a passenger anything is possible.

Prayer

Lord, I praise You that there are no limits to what You can do. Amen.