My Walk Through the Book of Matthew by Annette Godtland

Jesus Walks on the Sea (Matthew 14:22-33)

22Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.

25Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear.

27But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid."

28And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."

29So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"

31And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" 32And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

33Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God."

Once again Jesus needed solitude. Jesus came to this deserted place to be by Himself. But when the multitude came, in His compassion, He worked with them all day to heal them, not even using the excuse of their physical hunger to send them away. But once they were satisfied, He sent them away then returned to His solitude to pray. We are so focused on Jesus meeting the needs of the multitude that we rarely see Jesus' needs. Jesus takes care of others first. But He still makes time for the prayer He needs.

The story of the disciples being afraid in rough winds at sea reminds me of the story in Matthew 8:23-27 where the wind and the wave obey Jesus:
23Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 24And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. 25Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!"


26But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"

"O you of little faith!", "Why do you doubt?", "Why are you fearful?" Both stories emphasize that lack of faith is the root of their fears. But Jesus calms the fears, and saves even those of little faith.

I was surprised in today's story that the wind ceased after Jesus and Peter got into the boat. Why didn't Jesus calm the winds to make Peter's walk on water less fearful? He could easily have calmed the winds. He had done it before. Was He testing Peter? I don't think so. I think we are all asked to "get out of the boat" at times and face the tempest around us, for us to test our own faith. It may look like a tempest outside of the boat, but with faith, you will be able to do what God commands you. Be of good cheer, Jesus will be with you. And if you start losing faith, feel yourself sinking, ask Jesus to save you. Note, He may not remove the tempest from around you, but He will extend you a helping hand.

Another difference between these two stories is that in the first occurrence, the disciples were questioning who He could be. In today's story, they conclude He must be the Son of God.

In the last few verses people have been questioning who Jesus was. His countrymen were asking where He got His wisdom and mighty works. Herod thought He was John the Baptist coming back to life. Here His disciples said "Truly You are the Son of God!" Until now, the only ones in this book who have admitted He is the Son of God are the demons who were cast from the two men into a heard of swine, and Satan when Jesus was tempted in the desert. This is the first time that any person claimed Him as the Son of God.

When Jesus was tempted in the desert, Satan taunted, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.", and while standing on the pinnacle of the temple, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down." Jesus refused to do either. But when Peter asked Jesus "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to you on the water", why did Jesus do as Peter asked? Was Jesus allowing Himself to be tested by Peter? Peter was requesting a miracle. Jesus knew it would take faith for Peter to be able to walk on the water. But I would expect Peter was asking out of faith, for it would take great faith to step out of a boat on a tempestuous sea, if He didn't have faith that it was Jesus in front of Him. In the end it wasn't Peter testing Jesus, but Peter's faith being tested by Peter. But Jesus was there to help Peter when his faith failed him.

How did the disciples manage to come to the conclusion that Jesus truly is the Son of God based on this miracle? They have seen miracle after miracle, and this is the one that finally made the difference for them. Why? Actually, I think it has more to do with what Jesus wanted revealed than the actual miracle. Jesus had just spent much time in prayer. I believe He is readying Himself for the next phase of His mission. I think He is finally allowing His disciples to discover who He really is.

There are so many things we fear and that we don't understand. But we are asked to have faith. Our faith will remove our fears. And through faith things will be revealed to us in due time.

I said that at times we are asked to "get out of the boat" and face the tempest around us. By this I don't mean to take ourselves out to the middle of a sea during a storm and try stepping off the boat to see if we can walk on the water. Rather, I simply mean to step out of your comfort zone, step forward to do things you may be less comfortable with. And what kind of things should we do? Does that mean that we should go out of our way to attempt things that would require a miracle? No, it means we should do whatever God commands us, just as Peter didn't step out of the boat till Jesus commanded it. We should do what God commands, even if it takes us out of our comfort zone. We may even see a miracle happen. Have faith. And have good cheer.