Focusing on Jesus: Jesus Walks on Water

Jesus Walks on the Water
22(Q) Immediately he(R) made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23And after he had dismissed the crowds,(S) he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When(T) evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat by this time was a long way[b] from the land,[c] beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25And(U) in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea,(V) they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried out in fear. 27But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, (W) "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."
28And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." 29He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and(X) walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind,[d] he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out,(Y) "Lord, save me." 31Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, (Z) "O you of little faith, why did you(AA) doubt?" 32And when they got into the boat,(AB) the wind ceased. 33And(AC) those in the boat(AD) worshiped him, saying,(AE) "Truly you are(AF) the Son of God." Mat 14:22-33

I changed the picture on my blog to reflect this powerful story. Think about it this way, right after feeding the 5000, Jesus sends his disciples ahead of him in a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. Well into the night, a storm comes up on the Disciples. Jesus appears walking on the water. This terrifies the disciples and they think they are seeing a ghost. Jesus tells them in verse 27, "Take heart! It is I. Do not be afraid."

Peter replies, "Lord, if it's you, command me to come to you on the water." So Jesus invites Peter to come. Peter gets out of the boat and begins walking on the water toward Jesus. But when Peter takes his eyes off Jesus and sees the wind and waves, he begins to sink. Peter cries out to the Lord and Jesus immediately reaches out his hand and catches Peter. As they climb into the boat together, the storm ceases. Then the disciples worship Jesus, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

Some reflection:
• Jesus sends the disciples away so he can be alone on the mountainside to pray. With everything going on spending time with God is a priority for Jesus.

• The disciples, even though they have spent much time with Jesus, don't recognize him in the storm. Sometimes we don't recognize the Lord when he comes to us in the middle of our "storms." In fact, many times things that appear appear frightening to us are actually instances of Jesus "drawing near". It's not until we're extremely close to Jesus that we can actually recognize Him.

• Peter doesn't begin to sink until he starts looking around at the wind and the waves. Taking our eyes off Jesus, and focusing on the difficult circumstances in our lives will cause us to get under our problems- we start to sink. But when we focus on Jesus, he catches us by the hand and raises us above the seemingly impossible circumstances.

• Peter starts out with good intentions, but his faith falters. Sound familiar? This does not, however, end in failure. Peter, even in his fear, cries out to the Lord, the only one who can help him.

• When Jesus gets in the boat, the storm ceases. When we have Jesus "in our boat" (our life) the storms of life will be calmed and we can worship and be in relationship with Him.