LET ME OFF THIS RIDE | Northstar Church

“Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home. After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.” – Mark 6:45-46.

Have you ever been on a Tilt-A-Whirl? It is a ride that spins around with enough centrifugal force to make you feel as though your stomach will leave your body. As it spins faster and faster, you sit there white-knuckled, holding the center wheel for dear life as your stomach swirls inside your abdomen. Every fiber of your being is shouting, “Stop the ride, I want to get off!”

The Christian journey can seem like that. Sometimes it demands too much. Sometimes, it seems like you are not made for this. Sometimes, you want to say, stop the ride, Lord. I want to get off.

Two stories in the sixth chapter of Mark capture this reality, “The feeding of the five thousand” and “Jesus walks on the water.” For the disciples, this starts out promising enough. Jesus tells them to rest, but that plan got nixed pretty quickly when some unexpected needs arise, in this case thousands of people gather around them. They needed a Shepherd and according to Jesus… food. So, twelve guys delivered food to thousands of people. After this extraordinary event, the disciples probably wanted to kick back and take it all in. No such luck. “Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home. After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.” Mark 6:45-46

Suspend reality momentarily and consider if that was you in the boat. You are sitting there and thinking, “Really, no time to process all this?” You are exhausted, yet Jesus tells you to row a boat while He goes and prays. This may not be so far-fetched when you understand the human element of the disciples in the Gospels. They are not all that different than us. Asked to do all sorts of crazy, tiring tasks with little recognition, did they ever want to get off the ride?

But then the miraculous happens. “Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were totally amazed, for they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in” (Mark 6:51-52).

No one in history has molded our world as much as Jesus. And He still does, every day. There is no way to imagine what this world would be like had He not been born in a stable, had He not given His sermons, had He not died on the cross for our sins. Without Jesus, there is no peace. No assurance. No true love. There is no eternal hope. In the moments of fatigue, conflict, dry seasons, or the incredibly fruitful but fast-paced seasons, when we run on empty, and our hearts get hard. We don’t always understand, but Jesus is there.

This Christian journey is sometimes scary, but it’s even more scary to think about what the world would be like without Jesus. Without His life among us, without His gift of salvation.

So what would our lives be like if we got off this ride?

Discussion Questions:

What would be the most challenging part of life without Jesus?
What is the hardest part of living for Jesus?
What can we do this week to better live for Jesus?