Walking On The Water

“And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.  But straightway Jesus spake unto them saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.”  Matthew 14:26-27

To set the scene, Jesus had just miraculously fed 5,000 men along with their families with five loaves of bread and two fish, a definite miracle.  After dinner Jesus sent the multitudes home and instructed His disciples to go on over the Sea of Galilee while He remained behind.  He needed some “alone time” to spend in prayer with His Father.  Night fell while Jesus was alone, but His disciples found themselves in the midst of a storm at sea.  Mark 6:48 tells us that as the disciples were rowing as hard as they could against the wind, Jesus was watching them.  (It is a great comfort to know that while I am “rowing” as hard as I can to get through the day, Jesus is watching me.  He is probably thinking to Himself that His child, me, sure does spend a lot of effort when I could be resting in His peace and allowing Him to “row my boat”.  He can certainly handle it better than I can alone.)

It was sometime between three a.m. and six a.m. when Jesus stepped out onto the sea and walked toward the boat.  They had witnessed Him doing many miracles, but they had not seen one like this before.  It was pitch dark, and I can imagine, since there was a storm, a flash of lightning would streak across the sky and light up the image of a Man coming to them walking on top of the waves.  They thought that He was a ghost.  We’ve seen movies or television shows about ghosts and ghost ships in particular which do seem very spooky.  The disciples were mostly fishermen and had spent much time at sea.  They had probably heard many ghost stories as they spent nights on the ships.

Jesus, sensing their fear, called out to them.  But Peter was not quite convinced.  He shouted out, “Lord, if it’s You, then allow me to come to You on the water”.  Jesus said, “Come”.  Peter climbed out of the boat and begin to walk on the water towards Jesus.  That must have been pretty cool!  As long as Peter kept his eyes and his confidence in Jesus, no problem.  However, all of a sudden the storm began to rear its’ ugly head, and got Peter’s attention.  He began to sink.  He cried out for Jesus to save him, and Jesus reached out and caught him, saying, “Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  Peter doubted because he took his eyes off the Lord.  Peter’s lesson is a good lesson for us all.  We need to keep our eyes, our minds, and our hearts focused on the Lord; otherwise we will drown in a sea of doubt, confusion, and deep distress.