I picked up a tract one time that had Mark 6:31 on the cover: “Come away with me to a lonely place and rest a while.” It held great promise at a time when I was experiencing great turmoil. I couldn’t wait to get home to see the verse in context. Then I would find out about real peace.

Imagine my disappointment when I read that 5,000 families invaded what Jesus intended to be a quiet place. All four gospels tell the story of the feeding of the 5,000. Three of them follow it with the disciples struggling in a storm at sea.

Where was the peace I wanted to read about and learn to experience?

It took years for me to see it. Two other familiar phrases from Scripture put it in perspective: Jesus gives peace, but not as the world gives. And the peace of God passes all understanding.

Jesus’ invitation to rest

Jesus had sent the disciples out on a missionary journey and wanted to hear from them on their return. Meanwhile, king Herod had murdered John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin. He needed time to mourn. Yet crowds pressed around them, demanding attention everywhere they went.

Talk about turmoil!

So Jesus suggested a leisurely boat ride across the lake to an uninhabited place. They could relax, unwind, and debrief. It must have been a place they regularly visited.

Unfortunately, a crowd of people saw them leave. They knew where Jesus and his disciples were going and ran to get there first. As they ran, many other families joined them. The lonely place wasn’t lonely by the time the boat arrived.

Isn’t that typical? The world constantly interrupts our plans—and especially fellowship with God.

Jesus’ response to the interruption

You or I or anyone we know would probably have been annoyed at the interruption. We might have decided to get back in the boat and go somewhere else even more secluded. We might have had some choice words for the crowd. Or we might have tried to satisfy the crowd’s desire in a grumpy mood.

Here’s where being Christlike becomes difficult:

Jesus felt not frustration and annoyance but compassion. In fact, if you notice, many of Jesus’ best-known miracles happened in interruptions. And the interruptions never ruffled his calm.

For hours, Jesus ministered to the crowd. We don’t know the details, but he probably taught and healed. He gave his undivided attention to whomever approached him. Finally, the disciples thought he had lost track of time. They told him to send everyone home to eat, or at least to surrounding villages where they could buy something.

Jesus had other ideas.  He told them, “You give them something to eat.”

It would cost about eight months’ wages to buy one meal for such a crowd. It wasn’t in the disciples’ budget. When Jesus asked what they had, they scrounged up five loaves of bread and a few fish. John’s account says they got it from a little boy. Left to themselves, they would have been totally unprepared to do as Jesus said.

But with Jesus, we’re never left to ourselves. He took the meager food and gave thanks for it. Then he gave it to the disciples to distribute it. They watched it multiply in their hands until everyone had received more food than they could eat.

The disciples’ response to the interruption

The Bible doesn’t explicitly describe what the disciples thought about all of this, but it doesn’t have to. We know ourselves. We can observe other people. The disciples were sullen and annoyed. Maybe, just maybe, they caught some of Jesus’ compassion as the day wore on and got a better attitude.

Then the crowd finally dispersed. Now they could finally have that quiet time of fellowship that Jesus had promised hours before.

But no. Jesus made them get into the boat and go back to Bethsaida while he prayed alone.

Notice: Jesus didn’t suggest. He didn’t ask. He made them get into the boat. Elsewhere, the same Greek word is translated constrained, compelled, or forced.

They had plenty of good reasons not to want to get back in the boat. For one thing, Jesus had promised rest. For another, they could see a storm brewing and didn’t want to be in the middle of the lake in bad weather. Plus, it was late, and they were tired. None of that mattered to Jesus. They got into the boat and rowed into the teeth of a great storm.

Back on land, Jesus experienced the same storm. It did not disturb his restful prayer or prayerful rest. But he also knew that his disciples were in trouble. So he walked to them on the water. He walked on their troubles. The storm did not control Jesus. In any situation, Jesus is always in control.

He started to pass them by, probably expecting that the sight of him would calm them down and give them some peace. Instead, they became all the more terrified until he joined them.

Mark concludes his narrative saying that they were astounded because they did not understand about the loaves.

The lesson of the loaves

At the very least, the disciples should have remembered that Jesus was a miracle worker. They had never yet seen a problem he couldn’t solve, even if it required something humanly impossible.

Jesus told them to get in the boat and go to Bethsaida. He had also told them to feed 5,000 families with five loaves of bread and a few fish. And they did. They had not merely heard about the miracle or even merely observed it. They had each personally been a part of it. Why couldn’t they apply the lessons learned in one impossible situation to another one just a few hours later?

But more to the point for this post, Jesus had invited them to rest. And in spite of the interruption, they had observed Jesus at rest. They never saw Jesus frustrated, anxious, or fearful. They frequently saw him pray—or go off by himself to pray.

The world can’t provide peace in a storm. God can. The disciples would have known peace in the storm if they had:

• noticed that Jesus was at peace
• noticed Jesus’ compassion in the face of interruptions
• sought fellowship with God while doing work they didn’t want to do
• remembered their own exercise of supernatural power—not only in the feeding of the 5,000 but in the healings and other signs they had worked for several days when Jesus sent them out.
• prayed

We can know peace in storms—the peace Jesus gives—the same way. Will we?