John 6:19 - Printer Friendly

ESV: When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened.

NIV: When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened.

NASB: Then, when they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they *saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat; and they were frightened.

CSB: After they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they were afraid.

NLT: They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified,

KJV: So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.

NKJV: So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.

The Sea of Galilee is relatively small, only about seven miles, or eleven kilometers, long. Its position at the bottom of a series of high hills makes it prone to sudden storms and bursts of wind (John 6:18). At the time described here, the disciples are in the middle of a mess: a rough, stormy sea long before sunrise (Matthew 14:25; Mark 6:48). And yet, they are facing this challenge because of their obedience to Christ. He commanded them into the boat in the first place (Mark 6:45). The object lesson there is relatively simple: hard times don't necessarily mean we're doing something wrong. On the contrary, obedience to God can involve inconvenience or even suffering (Acts 5:27–33).

The gospel of John skips over many of the details contained in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John assumes the reader has access to those. However, a key point often missed in this story is given very clearly here by John, as well as Mark (Mark 6:49–50) and Matthew (Matthew 14:26). Namely, that the disciples don't fear the storm: they're afraid of Jesus! Seeing a human figure walking over the waves, they immediately assume it is a ghost. While not the specific point of this story, it's worth keeping in mind that God's intervention can happen in ways we find unexpected, even frightening, at first.

This is the fifth of John's seven signs: miracles used in this gospel to prove that Jesus Christ is God.

John 6:16–21 contains the fifth of John's seven miraculous ''signs'' proving that Jesus Christ is God: Christ walking on the water. This passage also describes a ''hidden'' miracle, not counted in the main seven, involving the disciples and their boat. This incident is important for what it teaches about difficulty and suffering. The disciples found themselves in rough seas, after Jesus told them specifically to sail across the Sea of Galilee. Their hard time was not the result of disobedience; rather, their hard time came because they obeyed. Not all struggles are punishments, and not all storms come due to rebellion. At times, obedience to God means heading into a storm.

In chapter 6, Jesus feeds thousands of people who had been following Him. He does this by miraculously dividing the contents of a small meal, leaving more left over than He had to begin with. At first, the crowd is amazed and they enthusiastically praise Jesus. After sending the disciples across the Sea of Galilee and rescuing them from a storm by walking on the water, Jesus once again addresses the crowd. This time, He emphasizes the spiritual lesson behind His prior miracle. In response, most of those who had been praising Jesus turn away in disappointment.

John chapter 6 occurs some months after the events of chapter 5, bringing the narrative to about one year prior to Jesus' crucifixion. As with the rest of the gospel of John, the purpose is not to repeat information from the other three Gospels, but to focus on Jesus' status as God incarnate. This chapter continues to expand the list of Jesus' miraculous signs and the witnesses to His divine nature. Here, Jesus also gives the first of seven ''I am'' statements found in this gospel. Chapter 7 will once again skip ahead to a major public step in Jesus' path to the cross.

The disciple John wrote the gospel of John decades after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls "signs"— to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.