Jesus Walks On Water – By Ritchie Way

Jesus Walks on Water – by Ritchie Way

Jun 15, 2015 8033

A little while before morning, Jesus came walking on the water toward his disciples. When they saw him, they thought he was a ghost. They were terrified and started screaming.

At once, Jesus said to them, “Don’t worry! I am Jesus. Don’t be afraid.”

Peter replied, “Lord, if it is really you, tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come on!” Jesus said. Peter then got out of the boat and started walking on the water toward him. But when Peter saw how strong the wind was, he was afraid and started sinking. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.

Right away, Jesus reached out his hand. He helped Peter up and said, “You surely don’t have much faith. Why do you doubt?”

When Jesus and Peter got into the boat, the wind died down’ (Matthew 14:25-32 CEV).

There have been many attempts to explain, in natural terms, how Jesus ‘appeared’ to be walking on the water. Some say he was walking on a sandbank near the shore. That would hardly fool these fishermen who knew the lake like the back of their hands. Besides, Matthew says Jesus came upon their boat ‘a considerable distance from land’ (14:24); Mark says the boat was ‘in the middle of the lake’ (6:47); and John says the disciples were five or six kilometers from land at the time (6:19).

According to Mark, Jesus had asked the disciples to take the boat around to Bethsaida and wait for him there (6:45). But when Jesus hadn’t shown up by sunset the disciples launched the boat and set off across the lake to Capernaum (John 6:17). Because they were rowing into a stiff north-easterly they were straining at the oars when Jesus passed them sometime before dawn the following morning (Mark 6:48).

Some of the disciples had spent their lives fishing at night on Lake Galilee, but never before had they seen anyone, illuminated by the Passover moon, striding across the lake beside them. To say they were terrified by this ‘ghost’ would be to put it mildly; they were wetting themselves.

Immediately Jesus put them at ease by calling out, ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Impetuous Peter called back, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” Jesus said.

While Peter revealed that he was only human after all, because he had at least a shaky faith in Jesus, he is the only one other than Jesus to ever walk on water. Like Peter, there are times when we have to step out of the ‘safety’ of our boat and go to Jesus. Many have done it, and many more will do it in the future. The only thing that can separate us from Jesus in such a situation is the severance of our faith in him. The moment something appears to be more powerful than Jesus, at that moment we will go down. When that happens, our only salvation will be to cast ourselves completely upon Jesus. He won’t let us down.

The disciples left Bethsaida after dusk; Jesus joined them at dawn. They left in an opposing wind; when Jesus got into their boat the wind died down. Without him their journey was hard work; with him they arrived at their destination in no time at all (John 6:21). It is no different for us.

– Ritchie Way

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