How to Walk on Water (Matthew 14:22-27 )
22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And 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. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
(Matthew 14: 22-33)
I. In The Hour of Trouble, Do Not Be Afraid
The lesson of this passage is abundantly clear but what actually happened is not. First of all, let me do a little scene setting. After the feeding of the 5000 which we looked at yesterday, Jesus sent his disciples away. In fact, the text says he made them (compelled them) to leave on the boat and go on ahead.
At first sight the word compelled sounds strange; but if we turn to John's account of the incident, we will find the explanation of why he used this word. John tells us that, “after the feeding of the multitude, the crowd wished to come and to make him a king by force”.(John 6:15). Upon Jesus’ arrival on the scene there was a surge of popular acclamation, and in the excited agitated state of the people there was a real possibility of some sort of revolution might well have begun. The reaction of the p[people was complicated, and many were still thinking of Jesus in terms of earthly power. Jesus sent away his disciples because a situation had arisen with which he could best deal alone, and in which he separated himself off from everyone including his disciples because did not wish them to become involved in any potential insurrection, and he wanted to be alone with his father in heaven.
When he was alone, he went up into a mountain to pray; and by this time the night had come. The disciples had set out back across the lake. One of the sudden storms, for which the lake was notorious, had come down, and they were struggling against the winds and the waves, and they were making little progress. Sudden gusts are common on the Sea of Galilee. There had now arisen one of those sudden and violent squalls to which all inland waters, surrounded by lofty hills intersected with deep gorges, are liable. As the night wore on, Jesus began to walk round the head of the lake to reach the other side. Matthew has already told us that, when Jesus fed the crowds, he made them sit down on the green grass. From that that Bible experts have deduced it was springtime. Very likely it was near the Passover time, which was in the middle of April. If that is so, the moon would be full. In ancient times in that part of the world the night was divided into four watches--6 p.m. to 9 p.m., 9 p.m. to 12 midnight, 12 midnight to 3 a.m., and 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. So, it would seem that at some time after three o'clock in the morning, Jesus, was walking on the high ground at the north of the lake, from where he would have seen the boat fighting with the waves and came down to the shore, perhaps to help.
26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.
(Matthew 14: 26)
A ghost? An apparition as some translations call it, an unreal appearance of a real person. The word is sometimes also rendered "spirit." He would appear to them at first like a distant moving spectre upon the waters, then as a human figure would have emerged; but in this situation of it being in the middle of the night with a dark and stormy sky creating the backdrop, and not dreaming that it could be their Lord, they take it for a spirit, a ghost. (Luke 24:37).
There are times when we are up against it and life is a desperate struggle with ourselves, with our circumstances, with our temptations, with our sorrows, with our decisions. At such a times it is natural to be afraid and make wrong judgements. But Christ Jesus comes which tells me that none of us need struggle alone, for Jesus comes to them and to us across the storms of life, with hand stretched out to save, and with his calm clear voice bidding us take heart and--have no fear.
This passage is clearly meant to be taken as a sign and the symbol of what he is always willing to do for his people. When times are hard, when the wind is against and we are in danger of being overwhelmed by the storms of life, he is there. Jesus speaks the words to us also “It is I; be not afraid”.
How often in your life have we needed to hear him speak this word of encouragement to you. “It is I”, literally, “I am”. The same language used by Jesus in Jerusalem (John 8:58), for which the Pharisees wanted to stone him, and identical to the phrase in the Old Testament to designate I am Jehovah God, the phrase by which God revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush. “I am, that I am”. (Exodus 3:14). Here I believe Jesus reveals himself as the great, “I am” but revealed to anyone who is his disciple, and has chosen to follow him.
"It is I”, your Friend and “It is I”, your Lord. “It is I”, the great "I AM," who is coming to you, the Almighty One who rules wind and waves, who made them, and whom they obey.
II. How to Recover From a Loss of Faith.
Let’s remind ourselves of what the text says here.
28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
(Matthew 14: 28-33)
I don’t think there any other passage in the New Testament in which Peter's character is more fully revealed than this. I believe it tells us three important things about him.
Firstly, Peter was given to acting upon impulse and without thinking about what he was doing. It would be his pattern that again and again he would say or acted without fully counting the cost. He was to do exactly the same sort of thing when cutting the Roam soldiers ear off in the garden, or when he affirmed undying and unshakable loyalty to Jesus in Matthew 26:33-35, and then denied his Lord's name a few verses later. And yet there are worse sins than that, Peter's only trouble was that he was ruled by his heart; and, although he might sometimes fail, his motivation was nearly always in the right place and the instinct of his heart was always the love of his Lord. Like al of us he was occasionally overtake by fear or anger.
Secondly, precisely because Peter acted on impulse, he often failed and came to grief. It was always Jesus' insistence that we should look at a situation realistically even if it appears bleak before we act. (See Luke 9:57-58, and Matthew 16:24-25 ). Peter's act did not always act out of faith but was moved by his fears and his doubts. True faith never attempts amazing things merely for the sake of doing them. It is a fact that ought to be noted that the Gospels narrate the failures in miraculous power on the part of the apostles as well as their success. No book of myths would do this. At the same time, it is always made plain why they failed. Jesus was completely honest with people; he always asked them to understand how difficult it was to follow him sometimes. A great deal of Christian failure is due to acting upon an emotional moment without weighing the situation first, or even counting the cost.
Thirdly it tells us Peter got there in the end, he never ultimately failed, for always in his moment of his breakdown he always clutched at Christ. The wonderful thing about him is that every time he fell, he rose again; and that it even his failures brought him closer and closer to his Lord. As has been well said by many before me, a Christian is not someone who never fails; a Christin is someone who gets up and goes on again every time he falls. A Christian is not some who never sins but repents and moves forward again. Peter's failures only made him love Jesus Christ the more. These verses finish by depicting another great and eternal trust. When Jesus got into the boat, the wind reduced. The great truth is that, wherever Jesus Christ is, the wildest storm becomes a calm. Reading from the letters of St. Francis of Assisi we discover Francis had noticed a certain custom in district of the country in which he lived. One day he noticed a farm servant going across a farmyard to draw water at the well. He also noticed that, before she lifted the brimming pail, the girl always put two pieces of flat wood across it and through the rope. One day he went out to the girl and asked her, "Why do you do that?" She looked surprised and answered, as if it were a matter of course, "Why? to keep the water from spilling ... to keep it steady!" Writing to a friend later on this story and he added: "So when your heart is distressed and agitated, put the Cross into its centre to keep it steady!" In every time of storm and stress, the presence of Jesus and the love which flows from the Cross bring peace and serenity and calm.
III. Many Touch Him and Are Made Well
34 When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, 36 and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.
(Matthew 14: 34-36)
This is just one of Matthew's little connecting passages. It is only a sentence or two of the gospel stories and we might easily pass over it, not recognising it’s importance; and what it reveals about Jesus.
Firstly, it obviously shows that no sooner did Jesus appear anywhere than people were still crowding around him and clamouring for his help; and he never refused it. He healed them all. There is no evidence here that he preached or taught at any length; but there is simply the record that he healed. The most tremendous thing about Jesus was that he taught the people not only by what he said but by he taught them what God was like by showing them what God was like. He did not just tell them that God cared; he showed them that God cared. It seems to me that today there is little use preaching the love of God in words without showing the love of God in our actions.
However, there is also anguish here. We can read this passage without recognising the grim fact that there were hundreds and thousands of people who desired Jesus only for what they could get out of him, for in spite of all this the crowds would soon turn against him. Once they had received the healing which they sought, they were not really prepared to go any further. It has always been the case that people have wanted the blessing of Christianity without its responsibilities. It has always been the case that many only remember God when we need him. Ingratitude towards God and towards Jesus Christ is the worst of all sins; and there is no sin of which men and woman are more often and more consistently guilty.
Yet still he knows that and continues to offer forgiveness and reconciliation.