Did Jesus Say He Was God? – Ghost on the Water
Ghosts have been a bit of a fringy topic for the Church today. I’ve spent the last few months digging into what God’s Word has to say on this subject, and honestly, it says a lot more than I expected! There’s actually so much to say that I’m only going to focus on one passage in this blog article. Joey, our youth pastor, and I will be doing a short video series in the very near future that highlights my other findings. The best way you can keep up to date with our videos is by subscribing to our Refton Church Youtube Channel. But for now, let’s finish our blog series by talking about the time Jesus walked on water…
There’s a ghost on the water!?
The account of Jesus walking on water is a very familiar story to anyone who has a church background. However, it’s easy for us to miss the cultural nuances of the first century. That’s understandable! After all, this event did happen about 2000 years ago. Let’s take a close look at the passage:
Mark 6:45-52 – 45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. 47 Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
I was really surprised to learn that there’s no shortage of ghost stories in the ancient world. However, they’re not exactly like the campfire stories of our childhood. They’re usually embedded within a larger story and they’re often quite horrifying – some sounded like episodes from Supernatural! But in Mark’s account, while not dark and gruesome, the story of Jesus walking on water has all the makings of a classic ancient ghost story.
I ain’t afraid of no ghost…
The first thing to notice is that the scene takes place on a dark and windy night. But this isn’t sometime in the middle of the night; this event happened “shortly before dawn” (6:48). The ESV translates this phrase as “the fourth watch of the night.” The fourth watch is the final part of the night, just before the sun comes up – hence the reason why the NIV translators went with the word “dawn.”
This is significant because ghosts in the ancient world are almost never described as glowing entities. The late bible scholar J. R. Porter notes that ancient Egyptian literature describes some ghosts as “luminous ones,” but no ancient Mesopotamian literature is known to exist that describes ghosts as “glowing” (232). In fact, according to extant Ancient Near East literature, ghosts can only be seen when there is a minimal amount of light, which makes dawn the ideal time of day to spot a ghost.
Ghosts in ancient literature are often described as “being pale as death or as black as ash, having the image of their mortal body either in life or often at the time of their gruesome death. […] Since these phantoms do not produce light, they are usually seen at night by the aid of fire; and since they are “shadowy,” too much light would cause them to disappear” (Combs, 352; see also The Wisdom of Solomon 17:6). So, it seems understandable that the disciples are “terrified” because they thought they saw a ghost walking on the water. But there’s a major problem to consider…
Ghosts can’t walk on water!
During the time of the disciples, there’s not one example of any ancient ghost story that depicts ghosts walking on water. In fact, if they did go out into the water, that would be their end. One example comes from Pausanias. His story, The Hero of Temesa, is a horrifying ghost story where the entity finally disappears once and for all by “sinking into the sea” (for other examples, see Combs’ article below). The point here is that water acted as a boundary that was impossible for ghosts to cross. Even if they did go out on the water, that would be their destruction.
This made me wonder: Were the disciples not familiar with their culture’s ghost stories? I guess that’s possible, but it seems unlikely. The disciples were living in a culture that thrived on stories. That’s how they learned. Also, there’s the fact that they initially thought Jesus was a “ghost” [the Greek word here is phantasma, which is an apparition/ghost]. So, they’re at least aware of the concept of ghosts. But if they knew that ghosts can’t walk on water, then why would they assume Jesus was a ghost?
Here’s where it gets really interesting…
Mark’s readers would have been familiar with ghost stories in their day. In fact, they “would have been particularly dumbfounded by the disciples’ misunderstanding” (Combs, 358). Why? Because only deities were known to be able to walk on water. There’s no shortage of examples from Greco-Roman writings that “describe divine men and gods walking on water” (358). Knowing this, we can see that Mark is being very intentional here:
Mark is highlighting the deity of Jesus and the disciples’ lack of understanding of who He really was because “their hearts were hardened” (Mark 6:52). Dr. J. R. Combs summarizes the issue well:
“Gods and divine men walk on water; ghosts do not. But when the disciples see Jesus walking on water, they believe the impossible rather than the obvious. Mark’s insertion of this absurdity, “because they saw him walking on the sea they thought he was a ghost” (6:49), emphasizes in dramatic fashion the disciples’ misconstrual of Jesus’ messiahship” (358).
Mark is showing us that the disciples’ knee-jerk reaction was to believe the absurd before they would believe that Jesus was actually God. But before we’re quick to rebuke the disciples, let’s consider the fact that this is true for many people today. Mark and the other gospel writers force us to ask ourselves, “Is Jesus really God?” And if He is, then how does that impact our lives? We’ve seen over the past several weeks that Jesus did claim to be God. There’s no getting around that. Either He is, or He isn’t. So, the question for us is this:
Are we going to recognize Jesus for who He is, or are we going to miss what’s right in front of us?
Maybe you’ve still got questions about Jesus? Feel free to email us and/or join us on Sunday mornings as we continue to learn and grow in the LORD.
Sources:
Combs, Jason. A Ghost on the Water? Understanding an Absurdity in Mark 6:49-50. JBL 127, no. 2 (2008): 345-358.
Porter, J. R. Ghosts in the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East. Published in The Folklore of Ghosts, Cambridge, (1980-1981): 215-238.
Heiser, Michael S. The Naked Bible Podcast, Episode 25