by Ptr. Art Calaguas
Shalom.
After the episode with the Samaritan woman and the Sychar residents, we now take a look at the second occurrence of these words Ἐγώ εἰμι, “I AM” as spoken by our Lord Jesus in John’s Gospel. It is found in John 6:20. Here is the Greek verse and my literal translation:
ὁ δὲ λέγει αὐτοῖς·Ἐγώ εἰμι, μὴ φοβεῖσθε.
But he says to them; “I AM, fear not.”
The immediate context is the Lord’s night time walk in the Sea (Lake) of Galilee/Tiberias/Kinneret/Gennesaret which is narrated in John 6:16-21 (with parallels in Matthew 14:22-33 and Mark 6:45-52). The bigger picture is of course what had just occurred earlier. From its parallels and John’s Gospel, the disciples had been sent out on their on-the-job evangelism tour proclaiming the Kingdom of God and John the Baptist had been beheaded by Herod Antipas. Then the Lord had just performed an outstanding miracle of feeding around 5,000 men plus women and children with just 5 barley loaves and 2 fish. At the end, the disciples were even able to gather 12 basketfuls of left-overs. It is the only miracle recorded in all the 4 Gospels (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; and John 6:1-15).
In my previous pilgrimage trips to Israel, I remember visiting Tabgha. It is a place in the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee and a small church is now there.
It is just a short distance from another church, the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter. Tabgha is believed to be the place where the Feeding of the 5,000 miracle took place and the church and its altar commemorate this event. The simple altar is on top of a rock where the Lord was supposed to have laid the loaves and fishes before distributing them (see my 2010 photo).
After this Feeding of the 5,000, the Lord Jesus had asked his disciples to go by boat ahead of him to Bethsaida (see Matthew 14:22 and Mark 6:45). Capernaum is about 2-3 kilometers away further north from Tabgha if you hug the shoreline while the exact location of Bethsaida is still being debated by Biblical archaeologists. One can read about the debate on the location of Bethsaida Julias in the Biblical Archaeology Society’s “Bible History Daily” March 9, 2020 article (https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-places/the-great-bethsaida-debate/).
The Gospel of John gives us further information that the crowd, after being fed and recognizing the miracle wanted to make him king, so the Lord withdrew to the mountain to get away from the crowd.
The harp-shaped Sea of Galilee is the lowest fresh water lake on earth at ~212 meters below sea level with ~43 m. max. depth, 21 km. length, 13 km. width, and with a 53 km. shoreline perimeter. Now, because of its topography (surrounded by mountains where cooler Mediterranean downdraft winds collide with warmer, humid lake surface temperatures) the Sea of Galilee is known for its storms that can suddenly occur. In some storms, waves could violently shoot up more than 6 m. high and can easily cause a boat to capsize. His disciples had rowed some 25-30 στάδιον, “stadion” (1 stadion = approx. 182-185 meters) as narrated in John 6:18-19 and were encountering strong head winds. Several of his disciples were Galilean fishermen and surely knew the lake as their regular fishing areas. And yet the disciples were struggling as the waves must have been filling up their boat with water.
One of the things we did on Israel pilgrimages was to take a short boat trip from one end of the Sea of Galilee to another. The modern boats tourists now take are much larger with powerful motors and some of them can take in a busload of tourists. In contrast, the ancient boats in the 1st century AD were smaller and featured masts with sails aside from rowing oars. These boats would have 2 or more oarsmen and 1 or 2 pilots to steer. When the wind was in their favor, the fishermen would raise up the sails. If a squall or stronger windstorm came up, they would take down the sails and row. During violent storms the boats would quickly try to head for the safety of the shore.
During a visit to Israel’s Yigal Allon Center in Galilee, I was able to see in their Museum an ancient Galilee boat; the famous “Jesus Boat” that had been discovered and raised from the northwestern Galilee lake shore during a drought in 1986 that made the lake levels recede and exposed part of the boat. It is dated to the 1st century AD. It took a dozen years to prepare the remains for display in a special temperature and humidity-controlled room in the Museum (see my 2010 photo). For further information on the “Jesus Boat,” one may visit various sites such as https://www.jesusboat.com/Story-of-the-Jesus-Boat/ and other similar ones.
The historian Josephus is said to have pointed out that on a regular day, the Sea of Galilee would have some 300 fishing boats at the same time; probably of different sizes. The disciples’ boat could have been similar to the one preserved in the Yigal Allon Center; used for seine fishing and/or means of transport. This “Jesus Boat” according to my ESV Study Bible is more than 8 m. long, 2.3 m. wide, with a max. height of 1.3 m. (without the mast) and could hold about 15 people. There was a sign in the Museum about this boat. It was a question: to whom did this boat belong? Did it belong to the disciples of the Lord Jesus? Did it belong to the Jewish fighters who perished in the various battles near and at the Sea of Galilee with the Romans during the First Jewish Revolt of 66-73 AD? Or did it belong to an ordinary fisherman in the lake? Who knows? But no matter, this 1st century AD preserved boat is a reminder of the Gospels and other books in the Bible that feature boats and the Sea of Galilee as integral part of the narrative. The Greek word πλοῖον, “ploion” meaning “boat/ship/vessel” is used 67 times in the New Testament (NT). While θάλασσα, “thalassa,” which is the Greek word for “sea” is used more than 90 times in the NT, a lot of it referring actually to the lake of Galilee. In Israel, one could actually visit the places that our Lord went to by the Sea of Galilee. This specially makes the Gospel narratives very real.
Going back to John 6:18-19; the disciples’ boat was apparently far from the shore line and was in trouble. Then they saw the Lord Jesus walking on the water towards their boat at about the 4th watch of the night (3:00-6:00 A.M. as per Roman military reckoning)! They were probably very worried and tired. Understandably, they were frightened; thought they had seen a φάντασμα, “phantasma,” Greek for an apparition, ghost or phantom (used only in the parallel verses of Matthew and Mark) and cried out in terror. And the Lord came by the boat’s side and says to them (John 6:20): Ἐγώ εἰμι, μὴ φοβεῖσθε. Literally: “I AM, fear not.”
Here is the parallel in Matthew 14:27 and my literal translation:
εὐθὺς δὲ ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγων· Θαρσεῖτε, ἐγώ εἰμι· μὴ φοβεῖσθε. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying; “Take courage, I AM; fear not.”
Here is the parallel in Mark 6:50 and my literal translation:
ὁ δὲ εὐθὺς ἐλάλησεν μετ’ αὐτῶν, καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· Θαρσεῖτε, ἐγώ εἰμι, μὴ φοβεῖσθε. But immediately he spoke with them, and says to them; “Take courage, I AM, fear not.”
Most translations render the Ἐγώ εἰμι as “It is I.” It is better English but somewhat diminishes the power of the Lord’s words and their significance.
Matthew and Mark have an extra word Θαρσεῖτε (“Tharseite” from θαρσέω, “tharseo” meaning “take courage” or “be of good courage” or “have courage”) before the ἐγώ εἰμι (“I AM”). But after this imperative the expression in the Greek for the 3 Gospel writers Matthew, Mark and John is the same: “I AM, fear not.” Another difference to note is that Matthew continues the narrative with Simon Peter getting out of the boat and shortly walks on the water himself. Then fear grips him; he cries out for help, so the Lord catches him and they both get into the boat. The disciples worship the Lord and call him the “Son of God” in the end of the pericope.
Both parallel Gospel accounts of Matthew and Mark end with the calming of the windstorm when the Lord Jesus gets into the boat. In John’s Gospel account, the boat arrives immediately to their destination.
Note that this is the 2nd incident for the disciples involving a calming of a “stormy situation” in the Sea of Galilee. The 1st earlier one is narrated in the Gospels of Matthew 8:23–27; Mark 4:35–41; and Luke 8:22–25 and is quite different but similarly features a boat with the disciples in a stormy situation in the Sea of Galilee and the Lord Jesus taking charge.
But it is not only with the NT narratives that we will consider the weight of the Lord’s Ἐγώ εἰμι declarations. Some Old Testament (OT) scriptures were probably remembered by his disciples. These evoked parallel images to their situation.
We will continue next week.
God bless us all.