My Questions to Peter about walking on Water
Photo: smiling_da_vinci
I love this story in the Bible. It is fascinating to read and meditate on. Leading up to this – Jesus feeds the 5000 with the 2 fish and 5 loaves – a pretty amazing miracle it has to be said. One that I would have loved to have seen that is for sure. The disciples must have worked hard distributing all of that food.
At the end of the day, Jesus tells the disciples to get in boat and go over to the other side of the lake, ahead of Him – whilst He goes and spends some time alone, praying. Seems reasonable – especially after the day they have had.
But it is not straight forward. They get in the boat and start to go to the other side – just as Jesus had told them to do – yet the Bible tells us that after many hours of sailing, they are around half way across the lake. Not only that – they had been beaten and tossed, and the wind was against them.
Matthew 14:24-33 (Amplified Bible)
24 But the boat was by this time out on the sea, many furlongs [a furlong is one-eighth of a mile] distant from the land, beaten and tossed by the waves, for the wind was against them.
25 And in the fourth watch [between 3:00--6:00 a.m.] of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea.
26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost! And they screamed out with fright.
27 But instantly He spoke to them, saying, Take courage! I AM! Stop being 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 he came toward Jesus.
30 But when he perceived and felt the strong wind, he was frightened, and as he began to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me [from death]!
31 Instantly Jesus reached out His hand and caught and held 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 knelt and worshiped Him, saying, Truly You are the Son of God!
That is not how a successful day on the mission field, being involved in one of the most talked about miracles of all time should end, surely? If it was me, I would have got into that boat tired, but feeling like Superman.
Yet within a few short hours, the winds of life have battered them and made it very hard to do what God told them to do. I have said it before, and I’ll say it again – an absence of problems is not a sign of the strength of your walk with Christ. It really isn’t. The disciples – if they were modern 21st Century men – would be all down beat and dejected, questioning what God was doing and indeed whether they heard Him right in the first place.
“Did Jesus really, tell us to get in the boat and do this?” “Surely, it would have been easier than this – especially after the miracles of today!”
So many of us judge how well we and others are doing by how many problems we DON’T have in life – those with the easy life must be more spiritual and have less sin…