How do you cross the sea and end up on the same side?
Lately I have confused myself trying to figure out the path Jesus took when he feed the 5,000, walked on the water and then returned to Bethsaida. Maybe some clues in the text will help me. I see that the crowd ran ahead of Jesus on land and arrived at the dock before He did. That means he didn’t travel to the opposite end of the sea because that would be too far to walk and be ahead of him. When the text says he crossed the sea, I don’t think it means he crossed it at the widest part or somewhere in the middle. I think he crossed it closer to the northern end, where “crossing” is more like going further down the coast. However, since it is east to west travel it could count as crossing. When Jesus healed the demon possessed man that was further down at the southeastern corner of the sea, this trip across would be closer to the northeastern side.
The disciples went out 2 x 2, which means that 6 sets went to surrounding towns. I think there may be a pattern in this for us to consider. Why did Jesus insist that they not take a change of clothes, or any food? Why were they not allowed to have any money? I’m currently thinking that Jesus created “need” in the disciples by doing this. Because they didn’t have food or lodging or any way to take care of themselves they had to seek out and rely upon others. They were compelled to develop relationships with other people. I recently was reminded that our mission is to make disciples, and that can only happen through relationships, so developing relationships is very important. If the disciples could fend for themselves they might have rented a hotel room and bought their own meals. Now they have to meet and get to know people who will invited them into their homes. In Jesus’ day it would be customary to offer food and lodging to any traveler, actually it would be socially unacceptable to ignore a traveler and offer nothing.
Jesus was simply using the social norms of the day to help his disciples make contact with others.
I will have to do the same, but it won’t be by walking into town with no money or clothes…because picking up travelers and taking them home isn’t the social norm for us today. There has to be some other way to interact with people and develop a relationship with them. I’ll make that a topic of prayer.
On the miracle of the 5,000. My discipleship training book (Jim Putman) references this miracle as an example of how Jesus trained the disciples. He challenged them, used question and answer sessions, modeled correct behavior and gave them tasks to do: organize the people, search for food, pass food out, gather the leftovers. Every disciple needs training!
Loving the journey
PR