Familiar Shores

“Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.” (Mark 2:13, NIV)

“Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.” (Mark 3:7, NIV)

“Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge.” (Mark 4:1, NIV)

Nestled within a verdant pine forest, my hometown was known for its glistening silver lake. Because I grew up by the water, I thought I knew everything about the lake: the ideal places to go fishing, the best vantages to spot bald eagles, and where tall pilings along the shore were historical relics of logging. My understanding of the local ecology, scenery, and activities ran deep, as only homegrown knowledge can. But there was something about the lake that I did not know—until I went scuba diving in it.

There was an underwater playground. Built mostly of metal bars and PVC pipe, it was a rudimentary structure, with certain pieces anchored in sand while others buoyed toward the surface. According to my dive buddy, the playground had been built for divers as a place to practice buoyancy control and other important underwater skills. As I enjoyed swimming through a makeshift tunnel of massive pipe, I laughed to myself. I would have never known this was here if I wasn’t a diver.

When it comes to spending time around lakes, I’m in good company. Much of Jesus’ ministry and outreach occurred near the Sea of Galilee. In fact, the Gospel of Mark makes such frequent mention of Jesus by this lake that I can’t help but think that maybe he loved the water as much as I do.

When examining the passages where Jesus was near the water, an interesting trend emerges. A lot of the time, he was teaching. In one instance, the listening crowd became so large that Jesus “got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake” (Mark 4:1).

What was it like standing along the pebbled shore that day? Perhaps there was a gentle noise of waves in the background and a feeling of being surrounded by light reflecting off blue as listeners soaked up the words of Jesus. Then he waded into the water, clambered into a boat, and continued teaching and preaching about the Kingdom of God. Through parables and storytelling, Jesus used the familiar aspects of our world to convey the reality of God’s Kingdom. Was the crowd surprised by his words?

Imagine how they felt, discovering new things for the first time along the shore of a place they thought they knew so well. Maybe learning about the Kingdom of God is like discovering an underwater playground in your hometown lake. As we live our lives in relationship with Jesus, let’s remember that there might be surprising new things to learn beneath the surface of what we thought we knew. May we follow him into deeper knowledge, discovering amazing new facets of his character and Kingdom along the way.