Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Have you ever started a project and somewhere in the middle of it wondered what you are doing, or why you started this to begin with? It seemed like a good idea, but now…well, you are not so sure anymore.
That seems to be what Peter is experiencing in this text. It seemed like a good idea to jump out of the boat and walk on the water to Jesus, but after a few steps…well…he wasn’t so sure.
Why do you suppose the Holy Spirit put this episode in the Scriptures? Is it just to poke fun at Peter? We have seen Jesus calm storms showing His power and authority over the created order, is His walking on water simply more of the same?
I think the purpose of this account is to answer a question that we all have…namely, what does faith look like? Recently, I was in a conversation where someone asked me to push further into the statement that we must trust the Lord, and exercise faith.
Fine, he said, but what does that mean, what does it look like to “exercise faith”? That is a great question, and that is what is on display in this text.
We are well acquainted with Peter as a man who is a bit impetuous and impulsive. But it is also true that the picture here is of Peter as a representative disciple. He, and not just in this text but elsewhere, speaks for the rest of the men. And the disciples together are the church in miniature. We are to both see ourselves in Peter as well as in the disciples as part of those who follow the Messiah. In other words, the church was in that boat and Peter represents the church in what he did as well as in his failure.
Don’t forget the context of this chapter. Jesus had just fed the 5,000 and our text says, immediately after that…Peter and the rest of the disciples would have the feeding of the multitude fresh in their minds, a miracle and the first one that involved them. Jesus broke the bread and gave it to the disciples to distribute…and they just kept coming back getting more and more food.
It appears that Peter was thinking if he participated in that great miracle, then why not this one too! And at first he was successful…He DID walk on the water, briefly, but nonetheless.
This miracle is important as it was not a miracle performed before great crowds of people, as was the feeding of the 5,000. This miracle was performed before the Lord’s disciples and before them only. It was a lesson for them and, in particular, it was a lesson in faith.
This is proven by a number of observations: First, the Lord himself draws attention to the place of faith in this episode when, after Peter panicked, the Lord gently rebuked his disciple for his too small faith. Second, it is surely a striking fact that Peter began to sink when he began to doubt. He walked on water and then thought, wait a minute…I can’t walk on water. He notices the circumstances, takes his eyes off of Jesus and sinks.
Now, Jesus could have rebuked his little faith without Peter actually sinking, but there is a connection between Peter’s faith and either his walking upon or sinking into the water and Jesus wants to teach his disciples, he wants to teach us a lesson about faith.
So, in v. 29 Peter seems clearly to have succeeded in walking on the water toward Jesus and v. 31 seems clearly to say that Peter’s fault was his loss of confidence, not his having tried to walk on the water in the first place.
Some will interpret this event as an episode is a lesson in the nature of true faith primarily, in the negative; that is, that we see faith failing. But in that failure we learn what real faith is and, so, to what we are to aspire as believers in and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What does faith do…what does it look like? That is exactly what Jesus is doing here. What we are to take away from this is that faith in the concrete is concentration on Jesus Christ.
Martin Luther once defined faith as “nothing else but a sure and steadfast looking to Christ.” Robert McCheyne once recommended to his congregation that “for every look at yourself take ten looks at Christ.”
Sometimes we are given rather precise and even technical definitions of faith in the Bible. For example, in John 4:50, we are told that the royal official in Cana, whose son was ill, took Jesus at his word and departed in the confidence that his son was already healed. The text reads literally that “he believed the word that Jesus spoke to him.” Faith, in that text, is said to be a believing to be true what Jesus says and acting accordingly. Please don’t forget the second part, believing His Word and ACTING on it. It is not faith, if there is not doing…acting…responding.
Or, in Hebrews 11:1 we read that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Faith is a confidence in the truth of what cannot be seen with the eye or heard with the ear. Faith is a certainty that what God has said to me is true, and again because of this certainty, I am compelled to live, act, behave, desire and pursue a way of life that aligns with that truth.
What is definitely clear is that there is more to saying “I have faith” than just words.
To be contined…
Prayer: Father, may my life reflect the glorious hope that I have in the soon coming manifestation of the King. Help me to live as one who has true and abiding faith and trust in all that You have said and promised.Thank you for Your word, may I heed what you have said, and walk with the Spirit that I might in no way be conformed to this world or the desires of sin, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Abide with Me
