<p>14:22&nbsp;<em>Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side of the sea, while he dismissed the crowds</em>- Jn. 6:15 says that the crowds wanted to &ldquo;take him by force to make Him a king&rdquo;. Yet these were the same folk, it seems, who had showed little real faith in Him previously- see on :13<em>on foot</em>. They were so fickle. They evidently saw the connection between the feeding miracle and Him being Messiah, but their understanding of Messiah was that He was to be a King offering immediate salvation. Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:9 claimed that &ldquo;...as the former redeemer caused manna to descend... so will the latter redeemer cause manna to descend&rdquo;. We get the impression that the Lord felt under a sense of great urgency- He &ldquo;constrained&rdquo; the disciples to get into the boat and leave, whilst He sent the crowd away. Perhaps He felt that the crowd intended to make Him King and the disciples the leaders of their new&nbsp;<em>junta</em>, but by sending the disciples away, He was greatly reducing the chances of them doing this. However the other reason was simply that the disciples themselves were looking for an immediate kingdom and glory, and He knew the temptation would be too great for them. He likewise works with us so often to deliver us from temptation He knows is too great for us.</p>
<p>The Lord told them to sail to the other side of the lake, but said that they would be &lsquo;going before / ahead of Him&rsquo;. The Greek could suggest that His words could have been understood as meaning that they would sail to that place, He would send the crowds away, and then go behind them- i.e., walking on the water. Of course, they could have understood &lsquo;going before Him&rsquo; as meaning that He would join them there at a later stage. But as they sailed away, they must have debated whatever He meant. Because if He meant that He would join them there at a later stage, however was He going to walk there around the lake, whilst so desperately wanting the crowds to go away from Him? Remember He had no personal boat, and they were in a deserted location. Whichever exit He took, whichever way He walked around the lake, He would have the very people with Him whom He was so earnestly trying to avoid. Again, as in asking&nbsp;<em>them</em>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<em>give</em>&nbsp;and not&nbsp;<em>buy</em>&nbsp;food for the crowd, the Lord was stretching them. He wanted them to reflect upon His words, and if they had done, then logically they were intended to come to the conclusion that He was implying that He would walk over the water to them. And if they were Old Testament minded, they would have known the passages which spoke of Yahweh walking upon the water and the waves of the sea (Ps. 29:3,10; 77:19; Nah. 1:3; Hab. 3:15). When, therefore, the waves arose and they seemed likely to drown, they were intended to figure that He would come to them, manifesting Yahweh, walking upon the waves of the sea- to save them. Whether any of them did actually get that far in perception and faith seems doubtful. But I believe we can discern how the Lord was seeking to lead them and educate their faith. The tragedy is that so many of His detailed plans for us are likewise wasted because of our lack of spiritual perception, and allowing the immediacy of issues to obscure the clear light of His leadership through life.</p>
<p>However, Jn. 6:15-17 implies they got tired of waiting for the Lord Jesus to return from prayer, and so they pushed off home to Capernaum, leaving Him alone. Yet by grace He came after them on the lake, to their salvation.</p>