There are times for all of us when we feel bruised and battered by the relentlessness of life. We long for respite, a chance to catch our breath before the next project or crisis consumes us. But often, life’s challenges are unremitting. They just keep on coming!

Jesus’s disciples faced such a situation in Mark 6. In verses 6-13, Jesus sends the twelve out to preach, cast out demons, and heal. When they return, they gather together with Jesus to debrief, sharing all they had done and taught. Jesus in turn encourages them to come away to a quiet place to rest, for so many people had been coming and going that they hadn’t even had time to eat (verses 30-32). But when they get to that quiet place, the crowd is already there. Out of compassion for the people, Jesus begins to teach them and eventually ends up miraculously feeding all five thousand of them with only five loaves and two fishes (verses 33-40). Certainly this was an exciting and significant event, but likely not a restful one.

Jesus then sends the disciples off to cross the sea in a boat while he dismisses the crowd. This sounds promising as an opportunity to get that much-needed breather. Maybe this will be a leisurely and relaxing excursion. But this journey on which Jesus sends his disciples becomes a rather harrowing ordeal, as they struggle mightily against the fierce wind and high waves. When Jesus sees their struggle, he goes to them, walking on the sea (verses 45-48). Verse 48 says that as he walked toward the disciples, he “wanted to pass by them.” At first glance, this is a rather disconcerting verse. After he sent them into this distressing situation and walks all the way out to them on the water, he is just going to walk right by? That seems uncaring and callous—not at all what one would expect from Jesus.

A closer study of the verse and its context, however, reveals a connection with passages such as Exodus 33:19-34:8 and 1 Kings 19:11-12. When Exodus 33-34 talks about the Lord passing by Moses, Moses experiences the presence of the Lord, along with a revelation from the Lord. In 1 Kings 19, the Lord passing by indicates an experience by Elijah of the presence of the Lord, along with reassurance from the Lord. Jesus’s passing by the disciples, then, seems likely to be an expression of his deity, through which he intends to reveal who he is and to reassure the disciples of his presence.

The disciples, though, do not find Jesus’s appearance reassuring; rather they think he is a ghost and are terrified. Jesus was presen