A NEWSLETTER FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE GREENWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

VOLUME 2 NO. 50                                         January 29, 2006

CHRIST WALKS ON WATER

BY STEVE NIEMEIER

To properly comprehend the following discussion of Jesus walking on water please read Matthew 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-52 and John 6:15-21.  These three accounts describe the same event but each account gives us some distinctive information that requires us to study all three to get the full benefits of the situation.

In John's account we find that Jesus was evidently very popular and may have been at the peak of His popularity as He was concerned that the crowd may take Him by force to make Him king.  It is possible that the crowd remembered the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage as no doubt was told them by their forefathers many times and that Christ could lead them out of the hands of the Romans who they were subject to.  Whatever their thought process was we must remember that they had just witnessed Jesus perform healings on those that were diseased (John 6:2) and fed them (about 5,000 men in number according to John 6:10) with only five barley loaves and two small fish.  They also witnessed an amazing return of twelve baskets full of the fragments of the five loaves of barley after they had eaten their fill (John 6:12-13).

As a result of these unforeseen things they were ready to make Jesus a physical king and Jesus went to the mountain to pray. Many times in our lives we seem to forget that Christ was sent to this earth to be the perfect sacrifice for our spiritual being.  We get confused and want Christ to make things better physically for us.  We fall into the same snare that this multitude did, and that is thinking of this life first over the life to come. Heeding the invitation of Jesus found in Matthew 11:28-30 will allow us to deal with issues of this life in the proper manner but we should not expect this life to be an easy street of perfection because if that was so why would we need heaven and the eternal peace it offers?

The pressure of dealing with this multitude was great and Jesus needed time to spend alone with His father and talk with Him and seek comfort from Him and strength as we all do when temptations and stressful issues enter our life.  Mark's account states that He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side.  He then sent the multitude away and went to the mountain.  Upon finishing His time in prayer He was alone and the disciples were some three to four miles out into the sea (John 6:19).  There is an important lesson for us to learn here from Jesus and that is that we need to spend time alone with God and even though we love our family and our friends, there is a time that we need be alone with our Father in Heaven.  This lesson is often overlooked in the studying of this miracle and yet is one that all of us today need to do more of.  Jesus went up the mountain to be alone with God.  Where is your favorite place to be alone with God?  Jesus had no problem letting His friends go on without Him so He could spend time with His Heavenly Father.  How many times have we told our family or friends that we couldn't go with them because of our need to spend time with God?

Matthew's account tells us that while the disciples were in the middle of the sea the boat was being tossed about by waves because the wind had become contrary.  Mark's account states that the disciples were straining at rowing because the wind was against them.  John records that a great wind was blowing.  On a recent windy day I noticed a nearby body of water and looked at how “choppy” the water was.  White caps were appearing as the water was being churned by the wind.  This body of water was small compared to the Sea of Galilee yet it was disturbing to think about trying to navigate across it with the wind as it was.  In visiting the Great Lakes area it is noticeable how the waves can increase and become violent when a strong wind arises.  Each of us has no doubt viewed a body of water being stirred up by a strong wind.  Take those pictures we have in our minds and consider that in the group of disciples there were experienced fishermen that had no doubt experienced winds like we have seen.  Yet, this wind was much stronger and evidently was a wind that even the most experienced fisherman was having difficulty in navigating.

In a time that most would have been asleep here are these disciples struggling to get across this body of water churned by a contrary wind.  We have recorded in Matthew and Mark's account that it was about the fourth watch of the night (3:00 AM to 6:00 AM) when they see something out on the water that frightened them.  Not that dealing with a rugged sea was not enough, they now see something they have never seen before out in the water.  Their hearts had to be beating fast, their hands may have been very sweaty and their blood pressure was no doubt very high.  What could it be that could be coming across the water?  Matthew and Mark state that the disciples thought it was a ghost and they cried out with fear.  Our lives are much the same way are they not?  We have good days and bad days.  Sometimes the sea of life is still and sometimes it is rugged.  We are fooled at times thinking we can handle the rugged seas of life by ourselves because we feel we have negotiated the still seas of life very well. Then all of a sudden something happens and we do not know what we will do and our hearts began beating fast, our hands get sweaty and our blood pressure rises and we cry out in fear.  When others are asleep we are awake trying to row across the contrary winds of life that have interrupted our peaceful voyage.  In essence we forget that our talents are limited and that we are but a vessel being tossed around in the sea of life and we need the stilling hand of God through Jesus Christ to steer us.

Think of the feeling of relief that must have come over the disciples when they heard the voice of Jesus say “Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid.”  However, as it is so often with many of us these words were not good enough for Peter.  He wanted Jesus to prove Himself and Matthew records this for us.  Peter answered the comforting words of Jesus with “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”  Why Peter asked this we may never know but he seemed to be one that spoke very quickly and I believe that Peter was a very emotional person.  Just seeing Christ and wanting to be like Christ and being filled with the emotion of the moment may all have contributed to his statement. Whatever his reason was think about his excitement when Jesus said to him “Come.”  Jesus has never stopped us from having faith in Him.  He has not limited the amount of faith we can have and here is a great example of that.  Peter asked and received permission to come to Jesus even though it meant walking on the water.  Jesus had no fear for He had been walking on the water even though it was very rugged.  Now He doesn't prohibit Peter coming to Him on this choppy water.  When the storms of life seem to throw contrary winds and high waves in my face, Jesus says come and He will give me rest.  He has the faith in us that we can overcome all things if we trust in Him.

Now that Peter has been given the permission to come to Jesus, Peter must now make a decision to get out of the safety of the boat and walk on the troubled waters to go to Jesus.  He makes that decision and his great faith in Jesus allows him to walk on that water!  Yes my friend Peter walked on that water!  Can you imagine what the other disciples were saying and thinking?  Here is Peter walking on the water, oh yes, we know that Jesus was walking on the water and as amazing as that was, here is Peter doing it.  But then something happened.  Peter saw that the wind was boisterous and he became afraid and began to sink.  He began to cry out for help.  Haven't we all been there?  Walking with great faith and then we get hit with something that just floors us and we start to sink.  We get scared and we lose faith and the next thing we know we are sinking deep into self-pity, crying out for help and recognizing that our family and friends seem to be in a safe boat in the stormy sea of life but can't save us and we are sinking under the pressure of what has been thrown our way.  Jesus has invited us to follow Him and stated He will give us rest.  Yet, even though we strive to follow Him we get ourselves into situations that we shouldn't be in and we lose our faith in Him.

As Peter began to sink after being afraid he cries out for help but he does not seek help from his friends in the boat, he seeks help from the one that he knows can save him.  He cries out “Lord save me!”  Why is it that we forget that our friends and family can not do what Christ can do?  Peter was in danger and needed the help of the only one that could save him and that was the Lord.  Jesus the Christ was sent to this earth to be the perfect sacrifice for us and He overcame every stormy sea that Satan could flood Him with (Hebrews 4:15) so that we could find the rest and peace He promised us.  There is not a boisterous sea that this life has to offer that Christ cannot save us from and yet many still try to steer through the storm alone.

Upon Peter's request for the Lord to save him, Jesus stretched out His hand and caught Peter and saved him.  Jesus said to Peter upon saving him “O ye of little faith, why do you doubt?” There is a question that I am sure that Peter had trouble answering.  He had walked on the water and then sank because he became afraid.  How could there even be an answer to that question?  The question answered itself, little faith was the answer!  Thus we have a lesson being taught us by the walking on the water by Jesus the Christ.  Our faith will allow us to walk on the troubled and boisterous waters of this life by having great faith in Jesus.  He has walked on these waters and He made it safely and we can too!  We are only limited by our lack of faith.

When Jesus and Peter got into the boat the wind ceased and the disciples worshipped Jesus and stated that truly He was the Son of God. This miracle of walking on the water is a miracle that we can gain strength from today.  While we were not there, we are in a dangerous place and that is this world.  I John 2:15-17 tells us the rugged waves that Satan will use against us.  These are the things of this world that snare us but this same Jesus who walked on water stated in John 16:33 “I have overcome the world.”  Satan can only cause me to sink if I lose faith in Jesus the Christ.  The story of Jesus walking on the water and Peter seeking permission to come to Jesus and actually walking on water himself, should give me encouragement to overcome the temptations of this life that will weaken my faith by looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).