Das Boat and 4th Soil

Have you ever noticed how often Jesus got into a boat with His disciples? As intentional as Jesus was, I find it hard to believe that it was just a convenient mode of transportation (sometimes it was downright inconvenient!). We can probably come up with many observations on the “Boat Time” Jesus spent with His disciples but I want to zero in on one; Capacity. We know that Jesus didn’t tap into His deity but operated as a man. He was fully human. He had the limitations of time, space, and energy. This is crystal clear when we read Mark 3.7-10. We see a great mass of people crushing in on Jesus and He tells His disciples “that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him.” Pure Genius! Jesus uses the water and a boat as a natural boundary between Him and the people so they wouldn’t overwhelm Him. In the same way, He used the water and boat to get exclusive time with His 12. With the constant needs of the masses, Jesus breaks away to teach, debrief and even try to get a nap on one occasion. Think of all the private lessons the 12 got from the Master! And the genius of it all? You can only fit 13 in the boat! This provided the environment for focused attention on the 12. Sometimes Jesus would go up a mountain, or on a long walk, use a rock for a pillow, hang out in places where people wanted to kill Him. All of these situations helped Jesus to zero in on a few. So do you recognize that you too have a limited capacity? Do we get young disciples away from the din of the world in order to give them strategic attention? And do we recognize our capacity is so limited, we probably need to fill our boat with the most committed people we can find? What is your “Boat” and who’s in it