Back in the Boat

So they were willing to receive Him into the boat.... (John 6:21)

I see a lot hidden within this simple phrase.

What is implied by this?

Up to this point the disciples were not very happy with how Jesus was conducting things. They had just had all their lifelong plans, their cherished dreams of national liberation and glory dashed to pieces. They had been humiliated publicly as their attempts to get Jesus to be their deliverer and king had been undermined by His determined avoidance to cooperate with them. Possibly even more than the crowds around them, these disciples in the boat felt that the motives of Jesus were now becoming questionable. Their plans seemed to not synchronize at all with how Jesus was acting and they had become extremely frustrated with Him.

Up to this point they were not very eager to have Jesus in their boat, at least not as long as He insisted on His way of doing things. They had not even planned on being in the boat themselves. They had planned to have a grand inauguration that day, to declare Him the great Messiah of the Jews, to possibly launch the mother of all wars that would annihilate or subjugate all their hated enemies and exalt the Jewish nation into an era of unrivaled power and glory.

But Jesus refused to go along with any of these ideas. Jesus seemed to have a totally different agenda that He could not be swayed from pursuing. No matter how much they desired a conquering king, they could not induce or even force Him to go along with their plans. Instead, He had sent them to the boat and ordered them to go back across the lake, effectively separating them from the people and their intense reservoir of emotions that were fueling their shared dreams. Now they had been rowing in brooding discontent across the troubled waters that increasingly reflected their own emotions. They were angry with Jesus and were in no mood yet to have Him around them with His strange ways of looking at the world.

He had ruined their day big time, maybe even their lives. He had foiled all their dreams of national greatness and embarrassed them in front of thousands of people. Why should they want Him and His stubborn ideas in the same boat as they were in? So much about Him just didn't fit with their identity.

We have an expression about being together in the same boat. It usually means that when it is all said and done, in spite of our many differences we can see that our situations are similar to other people's. We are in the same boat in our circumstances even though many of the details may be different. And when we recognize that fact it becomes easier to accept other people. We have a sense of shared identity and direction. We share similar liabilities and frustrations. We are in the same boat together.

But how many times do we feel just like these disciples about how Jesus relates to us? How many times have I been frustrated with Jesus for not fulfilling my hopes and desires or answering my prayer requests the way I want to see them happen? There comes times in my life when I wonder what God is really up to anyway. Why doesn't He show up and demonstrate His power in my behalf when I so obviously need Him to intervene? Does He really understand my situation and if so, why doesn't He cooperate with my plans and advance His kingdom here the way I think it should be advanced?

When these kinds of feelings swirl around in my head, I often find my heart to be just as reluctant to let Jesus into my boat as the disciples were up to this point. I may not be too keen on having Jesus and His strange ways and ideas be that close to me. My plans and His plans seem to be so much at odds that we may have a difficult time speaking together coherently. The things He wants to talk about make me too uncomfortable and the things I want to see happen seem to not interest Him. How can we share the boat together when our interests are so divergent?

But inevitable in those kinds of situations, if I continue to brood over my wounded feelings and hang on to my agenda rather than humbling myself and seeking God's agenda, I soon find myself in a storm of conflict that threatens me in ways I had not expected. My attention is quickly drawn to focus on things much more intense that my hurt feelings or frustrated dreams. I find myself fighting to just hang on to life as I know it and survive the things bombarding me from every side. A storm has taken me by surprise and my opinions about having Jesus in the same boat with me suddenly take on a whole new perspective.

If I have clung to my agenda instead of submitting to the agenda Jesus has been seeking to advance, I certainly may find myself in deep trouble with life-threatening events closing in around me. But God has a way of using anything and everything to get my attention and clarify my vision to begin to see things differently than I have in the past. When my dreams have been shattered and my reputation or plans or comfort have been removed, I am much more ready to reconsider having Jesus in the boat with me again and listening more intently to what He may have to say about my situation and my ideas.

It says here that they were finally willing to receive Him into their boat. That strongly implies a reversal of their previous feelings. Though they had resisted Him intensely up to this point and resented His refusal to go along with their plans, now they viewed things quite differently and were very ready to once again have Jesus as their Master and Friend. When things had gotten totally out of control and they were desperate for a rescuer, they were willing to let Jesus back into the boat with them and once again pay attention to whatever He wanted to do or say instead of trying to force Him to go along with their plans. They were now willing to let Him be in charge again instead of them wanting to tell Him what to do.

Whenever I try to grab the controls and take over the direction of my life, God is willing to let me at it and see how things might work out for awhile doing things my way. But sooner or later I have to learn the lesson that I simply do not have the wisdom or skill or perspective necessary to run my life successfully. No matter how insistent I may be that I can handle things on my own, even with some supernatural assistance from Him, I have to learn the important lesson that my Father in heaven always knows what is best and it would be much better for me to simply trust in His ways instead of always trying to insist on my ways.

I may think that my plans are advancing the kingdom of God on this earth just as the disciples were quite certain that making Jesus their king was the fulfillment of Messianic prophecies. But God's plans are almost always at odds with our plans, even our plans for His business on this earth. And the sooner we learn to let Him do things His way all the time and seek to cooperate with His ways instead of trying to force Him to follow our agendas, the sooner we will begin to experience genuine peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The ways of Jesus may often seem very strange and even backwards at times to us. We may feel that His ways are counterproductive to advancing His agenda on this earth. Most of the people in Jesus' life felt that way about many of the things He said and did. But when we begin to catch a glimpse of the much bigger picture and the real issues going on behind the scenes, it all begins to make much more sense and we find it easier to simply trust His heart and seek His guidance and wisdom in every situation. We learn that it is best to not just let Jesus back into our boat but to keep Him there permanently no matter what that may require.