Take heart; it is I

Text observations

• Mark 6:45 says "his disciples"; 6:30 says "apostles." Mark gives no number, so the text doesn't say whether it is the same group or a wider one.
• Mark 6:45 names Bethsaida as where they are heading. Mark 6:32 does not name the place they withdrew to, so the text doesn't say they are being sent back to it. Luke 9:10 names Bethsaida for the withdrawal, and John 6:17 names Capernaum as the destination.
• The feeding ends at 6:44 and this scene begins "immediately" (6:45).
• Mark reports no content for the prayer. He is alone on the land and they are on the sea (6:47).

Commentary

• Matthew Henry notes that the crowd was reluctant to leave, so sending them away took time and effort. He observes that Jesus prayed often and at length despite heavy preaching work, and prayed alone as an example for private prayer. He draws comfort from Christ interceding for his people from the mountain while they are at sea. Henry on Mark 6:45-56
• John Calvin reads "constrained" as the disciples' obedience to a command that seemed unreasonable, since Jesus stayed behind alone as night came. He holds that God often hides his reasons from us to teach us to depend on his word. Calvin says Jesus was aware of the coming storm and that his praying showed his true humanity, and he notes that solitude helps prayer without being a fixed rule. Calvin on Matthew 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-52

Leader observations

The notes on the sending, the pattern of sending and teaching, and the storm are under Unit 3.

• Matthew 14:22-23: the same sending, and Jesus is on the mountain alone when evening comes.
• John 6:14-17: adds why he withdrew, since the crowd meant to take him by force and make him king. John says they were crossing toward Capernaum; Mark says Bethsaida.

Text observations

• The fourth watch: Mark 13:35 lists the watches as evening, midnight, cockcrow, and morning, so the fourth watch falls in roughly the 3 to 6 a.m. range. Mark 6:47 says the boat was already out on the sea at evening, so they had been rowing for many hours. Mark gives no exact length.

Commentary

• John Gill puts the fourth watch at about three in the morning and estimates they had been about nine hours at sea, covering only some three miles. Gill on Mark 6:48
• Matthew Henry says the wind against them was a foretaste of the hardships the disciples would meet when sent out to preach, and that Jesus was training them to endure difficulty. Henry on Mark 6:45-56
• John Calvin says Jesus allowed them to be tossed for a time so that they would pay closer attention to the help he was bringing, and that their rowing wore their arms less than the terror wore their faith. Calvin

Leader observations

The notes on the storm and the pattern of teaching are under Unit 3.

• Matthew 14:24: the boat is a long way from land, beaten by the waves, with the wind against them.
• John 6:18-19: the sea rose because of a strong wind, and they had rowed about three or four miles. Neither Gospel gives a length of time.

Text observations

• "He meant to pass by them" is Mark's detail alone. Similar "pass by" language describes the LORD's self-disclosure to Moses (Exodus 33:19-23, 34:6) and to Elijah (1 Kings 19:11), and Job says of God that he passes by without being seen (Job 9:11). Whether Mark has these in mind is not stated.
• Mark 6:50 says they all saw him and were terrified, so the fear was shared by the whole group, not by one or two of them.

Commentary

• John Gill reads "would have passed by" as Jesus appearing to go on by, as in Luke 24:28; by his course and speed it looked as if he meant to go past without a word, though that was not his real aim. Gill on Mark 6:48
• Matthew Henry says Jesus chose to come himself rather than check the winds from where he was or send an angel. He sees the walking on the stormy sea as showing that the Lord is mightier than the floods (Psalm 93:3-4). On "pass by," he says Jesus acted as if to go on, to rouse them to call to him, and that providence sometimes seems to give us the go-by. He says the ghost fear shows how we frighten ourselves with phantoms of our own imagination. Henry on Mark 6:45-56
• John Calvin says it was great stupidity to be alarmed at his appearance as if he were a ghost, when they were in sore need of him. Calvin

Leader observations (first read, Mark 6:48-49)

1. Right after the feeding miracle of 5000, he has them get into a boat and go ahead. Jesus dismissed the crowd and goes up the mountain to pray.
2. Starting to see a pattern: they were sent with no provision, then He had them help minister where there was more provision. I called it cup running over ministry. This seems to be to reinforce that they need to rely on God for provision, not their own efforts. Now he puts them on a boat, knowing a storm is about to shake them; He orchestrated the storm. See cross ref Ps 77. They had seen Him calm a storm in ch 4 but then He was with them; now they will encounter a storm and He is not in the boat with them. The pattern is place them in a situation to learn something, disciple them about it, place them again to reinforce.
3. Immediately after the feeding.
4. Two levels: the what He is teaching — trust only in Him, do not rely on your own self. And the how He is teaching — we see the discipleship clearly modeled.

• Matthew 14:25-26: the fourth watch; the disciples cry out that it is a ghost and are terrified.
• John 6:19: they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat, and they are frightened.
• "He meant to pass by them" is not in Matthew or John.

Text observations

• Jesus speaks immediately, and what he says is a command with a reason in the scene: "Take heart," "it is I," "Do not be afraid."
• Mark gives no rebuke at this point.
• The same words appear in John 6:20 and Matthew 14:27.
• Mark 5:36 has a similar command to Jairus: do not fear, only believe. Mark 14:62 has Jesus' "I am" at his trial.

Commentary

• Matthew Henry says he quieted their fears by making himself known, that our fears are soon satisfied when mistakes about Christ are corrected, and that the disciples knew his voice as sheep know their shepherd. He reads egō eimi as the divine name given when God came to deliver Israel (Exodus 3:14), and compares John 18:6, where the same words struck down those who came to seize him. Henry on Mark 6:45-56
• John Gill says all of them saw him, so it was no mere imagination, and that Jesus spoke at once so his voice would ease their fears. Gill on Mark 6:50
• John Calvin says Christ is not known as a deliverer until he appears, so he speaks and bids them recognize him, and the confidence he calls for rests on his presence. Calvin adds that the storm did not stop at once, so that the disciples would be roused to desire and expect his help, and that the Lord often has good reasons for delaying a deliverance he has ready. Calvin

Leader observations (first read, Mark 6:50-51a)

1. Similar to previous experiences (ch 4, Mark 4:35-41) they are in a dangerous situation on the sea; this time Jesus is NOT on the boat with them as He was in the other events. Jesus saw their trouble, a storm so bad they were barely making way. He did not go to them right away, He let them struggle, then came to them at the 4th watch. They were frightened when they saw him walking to them on the raging sea. He is not just walking on a calm pool of water, mind you; this is a sea with wind so bad they can barely move the boat. They are afraid and think he is a ghost, but that seems like a reasonable reaction to a man moving on a raging sea without a boat.
2. He is teaching them, see next answer.
3. This seems to line up with the pattern I have seen here. Jesus leads by example; in this case He had been with them last time they woke Him up and He calmed the sea, this time He was not with them. Same as them following Him to all the towns preaching, then sending them out without Him. This is how He is teaching them to rely on Him and not their own ability, and I think especially based on the Ps 107 ref He is teaching that in His sovereignty He saw them/is watching, not only watching but in sovereign control. That wind blowing has His permission to blow.
4. Jesus' sovereignty over His called and the events happening around them.

• Matthew 14:27: the same words. Matthew then adds Peter's request and his walk on the water (14:28-31), which Mark does not record.
• John 6:20: the same words.

Text observations

• Jesus enters the boat and the wind stops. In the earlier storm (Mark 4:39) he rebuked the wind; here Mark records no word spoken.
• Mark reports their astonishment. The "for" in 6:52 gives their failure to understand about the loaves as the reason; "but" then states the condition of their hearts. Mark does not say which causes which.
• "Their hearts were hardened" is passive, and the text does not name an agent. (The Greek is peprōmenē, a perfect passive participle with "was"; the perfect describes a settled state. Check this in your interlinear.)
• Mark uses hardness language elsewhere: Mark 3:5 (the Pharisees, with Jesus grieved) and Mark 8:17 (the disciples).
• Matthew and John do not mention the hardness. In Matthew those in the boat worship him; in John they are glad to take him in.

Commentary

• Matthew Henry says the wind stopped suddenly, without the formal command of Mark 4:39, and that Christ's work is always effective without always being solemn. He says their astonishment was more than fitting, and that its root was culpable: they had not considered the miracle of the loaves, which was as great a proof of power as walking on the water. He calls them strangely stupid and unthinking, hearts hardened, and says we are shocked by his present works because we do not rightly understand his earlier ones. Henry on Mark 6:45-56
• John Gill says they had seen the loaves only the day before and had not learned from them the glory and power of Christ. He reads "hardened" (or "blinded") as not by sin, not against Christ, and not in a judicial way, but as dullness, stupidity and inattention. He adds that, even so, they needed divine illumination to behold Christ's glory. Gill on Mark 6:52
• John Calvin renders the verse "their heart was blinded" and says the charge against them is blameworthy slowness, with the main fault being that so recent a display faded from their minds. He adds that Mark names blindness to show it is no new thing for men to have their eyes closed to God's works until they are enlightened from above, citing Deuteronomy 29:4, and that "heart" here means understanding. He treats this as a warning about the corruption of our understanding, that we may seek new eyes from the Lord. Calvin

Leader observations

First read, Mark 6:51b-52:

1. Jesus arrives at the boat, gets in, and the wind stops; I think that "and" carries the weight that these are not a coincidence. Jesus allowed the wind to stop; Mark records they are "utterly astounded" and remembers the disbelief associated with the loaves, making the point that their hearts are hardened. The word AND: Jesus enters the boat AND the wind stopped, instead of "then" the wind stopped or "also" the wind stopped. I just mean the two things are connected; Jesus kept the wind up until He stepped into the boat. I can see a skeptic just doubting that.
2. Jesus saw them from the shore; the wind was so strong they were barely making way in the boat, and miraculously walked out to the boat to help them.
3. Defer to previous units.
4. I want to spend a lot of time in the class on the hardening heart; we have already discussed before I started these answers.

Other observations:

• Interesting to note the end of 50, "take heart," then that descriptive narrative about hardened hearts. I know the first one means do not be afraid but I think is rooted in the same problem; they are afraid because they lack trust/belief in Jesus.
• This is a really good place to camp out and talk about God's sovereignty and our own responsibility.
• For the last part of 52, "but their hearts were hardened," I wonder is this passive hardening due to unbelief or is it active hardening like God hardened Pharaoh's heart. It is almost unbelievable after everything they have seen in person that they still do not believe, so passively belief has not been granted, or actively kept that way, or is it more correct to say both? Does original language grammar help with this?

Cross-references on hardening (kept for the class)

• Pharaoh, both sides: God says he will harden (Exodus 4:21, 9:12); Pharaoh hardens his own heart (Exodus 8:15, 8:32).
• Purpose stated in Exodus for the hardening and the plagues: Exodus 7:3-5, 9:16, 10:1-2, and judgment on the gods of Egypt in Exodus 12:12.
• Same Greek verb family used by other authors (from my reading of the Greek; verify in an interlinear): John 12:37-40 (after so many signs they still did not believe; God is the one who hardens), Romans 11:7-8 and 11:25, 2 Corinthians 3:14, Ephesians 4:18 (tied to ignorance in them).
• Same theme, different wording: Romans 9:17-18, Hebrews 3:7-15 (an active command not to harden your hearts, quoting Psalm 95:7-8), Luke 24:25 (the disciples slow of heart to believe), Isaiah 6:9-10.
• Within Mark: Mark 3:5, 8:14-21, 4:39-41.
• Taken together, Scripture speaks of hardening with God as the agent, with no agent named, and with the person's own responsibility. Whether "both" is the right way to put it is for the class to work out.

• Matthew 14:32-33: the wind ceases when they get into the boat, and those in the boat worship him as the Son of God. Mark records astonishment and hardness instead.
• John 6:21: they are glad to take him into the boat, and the boat is immediately at the land.