GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 6:53
Off Course
Off Course
In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus started to sail home to Ithaca following the Trojan War, but his ship was blown off course, battered by storms, attacked by monsters, and fraught with temptations. A trip that should have taken a few days ended up taking Odysseus ten years.
The Apostle Paul boarded a ship bound for Rome, but the ship was blown off course, battered by a violent storm for two weeks, and landed on Malta. Under his leadership, everyone on board survived the shipwreck, and he ministered to the people on the island. (see Acts 27)
In 1620, English separatists set sail for the Virginia Colony, but bad weather and strong winds pushed the Mayflower north, off course. They came to shore at Cape Cod, drafted the Mayflower Compact, and founded the Plymouth Colony.
While serving as a pastor, I attended Southern Illinois University, which was a few miles away from the church. I envisioned myself continuing pastoral ministry, but when I completed all university requirements, I received an invitation to join the faculty of Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, which began an odyssey that took my family and me to professorates and pastorates in Missouri, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, and Georgia. I was blown off course.
Following Jesus’ ministry and feeding of over 5,000 people, he told his disciples to get into a boat and sail for Bethsaida, a fishing village to the northwest of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus dismissed the crowd and went up a mountain to pray. Perhaps he planned to walk the seven or so miles and meet them later. Their boat, however, was battered by high winds and waves; Jesus saw their plight, came to them, stilled the storm, and saved the boat and its crew. “And after they crossed over, they came to the land at Gennesaret and anchored.” (Mark 6:53) Gennesaret, however, was south of Bethsaida—so they were blown off course.
The biblical town of Bethsaida on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee has disappeared, perhaps swallowed up by one of the larger towns like Capernaum, destroyed by a storm, or made obsolete by Roman reorganization—archaeologists have proposed several scenarios. John said the disciples were sailing to Capernaum. (John 6:17) Whatever the case, their ship landed farther south along the shore in the region of Gennesaret. They were blown off course.
The experience of the disciples was not unusual or unique—being blown off course is a rather common experience, often described as the vagaries of life, which describe the unpredictable and often seemingly capricious nature of life. What did Jesus and the disciples do when they found themselves off course? They found a new place to minister. The message seems to be that if one is blown off course, he should see what the Father has planned for him.
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