“Sore Amazed!”

(part 1)

“And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.
And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.”
Mark 6:48-52


Only in Mark is there a connection made between Jesus’ walking on water and His feeding of the five thousand. Mark makes a telling statement is verses 51-52 when he indicates that their “amazement” at seeing Jesus walking on the water was due to a hardening of their hearts. Most of the time, when we think of a person with a hard heart, we think of someone like Pharaoh or King Nebuchadnezzar. Someone in complete rebellion towards God! However, Mark is using it describe Jesus’ disciples. The men who loved him, followed him and served him. So we need to take a moment to examine the meaning of the word “hardened”.

Hardened can be defined several ways, but it is best understood as “becoming set” like as in concrete, to be made calloused, or to become insensitive to. Just hours before the disciples found themselves being tossed about at sea, they were all on a mountainside, on the other side of the lake, participating in an amazing miracle. Jesus had fed 5,000 men (not counting women and children) with two fish and five loaves. He did the impossible before their very eyes. Immediately after this Jesus constrained His disciples to get in the boat and leave for Bethsaida.

For hours they struggled against the wind and the pounding waves. Again, they found themselves in the middle of an impossible situation. However, their hearts began to fill with fear because although they had experienced the miracle of the loaves earlier in the day…they had failed to learn the lesson.

Large crowds had followed them that day and Jesus had compassion on them. So He began teaching them many things. As the day drew on, the disciples realized that there was no way to care for that many people in such a remote location, so they approached Him:

“By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

Mark 6:35-36
It is at that moment the “lesson” began as Jesus turned to them and said:
“You give them something to eat.” Immediately the disciples go into panic mode. They whip out their calculators and start trying to do the math. They went to work trying to figure out how much food they will need to feed that many people, then how much money they need to buy that much food, and then how long it will take to raise that kind of money! They were consumed only with what they could see!

It was in, that moment, that Jesus taught them that there is not always a “natural” answer to our impossible situations. In fact, if it is an impossible situation that appears to have no natural answer…then we need to start looking for a supernatural response.


Pastor Scott Burr http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com