Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "You are certainly God’s Son!"
In the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, John the Baptizer was the wilderness preaching to the people of Israel to repent and be baptized, telling them that the the long awaited Messiah was coming to finally bring in the Kingdom of God. However, it wasn’t the kind of kingdom that men thought. Nonetheless, things seemed to be going according to plan, then at the end of chapter 13, Matthew tells us that Jesus was rejected in by the people in His hometown of Nazareth. And Jesus said to them "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household. In chapter 14, Matthew tells us Herod had John beheaded. Now things seems to be heading in the wrong direction. He needed to get away, to spend some time alone with His disciples to instruct them and to pray but the crowds followed Him, and having compassion on them, He healed the sick and fed five thousand people.
Now let's look at verse 22, "Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away." The first thing I want you to note here, is that Jesus had absolute authority, He controlled everyone and everything, those who were His own and those who were not. Not only did He teach as one having authority, He had authority over the minds of men, He had authority over demons and the supernatural world, life and death, heaven and hell and time an eternity.
Later in Matthew 21, the chief priests and the elders challenged Jesus' authority, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?" To which Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?" And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet." And answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know." He also said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." In other words, it’s none of your business.
In Matthew 28, just before giving the Great Commission, Jesus said "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."
So why did Jesus command the disciples ahead of Him? John tells us in chapter 6, "So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king." There's no doubt the disciples were delighted by the crowds desire. They were gonna kidnap him. For two years, they've been waiting for this, in anticipation the kingdom would come. They've endured the hostility of the political and religious leaders, they were excited and ready to get to work. Jesus knew this was difficult for them, so He simply removed the temptation of the political plans of the crowd. He sent them away, I’m sure they didn’t want to leave because it says "He immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him," implying they may have initially resisted, but in obedience to His authority they headed towards Capernaum. Mark says they were headed to Bethesda, which is a suburb of Capernaum.
Verses 23 says, "After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone." The quest to find peace is difficult for many of us even today, trying to learn the meaning of suffering, how to overcome trials and the evils of the world, is the journey of a lifetime.
Luke 6 tells us "It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God." "After He had sent the crowds away," I've asked "Where'd they go?" Well, He had just fed them dinner after a long day of healing and teaching, they went to sleep. Thousands of them, sleeping wherever they could. They were on the hillsides where He had fed them. How do we know they went to sleep? Because when they woke up the next morning they were in the same area.
John says in chapter 6, "The next day the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone. There came other small boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus."
This is when things really began to descend for Jesus, and as His popularity declined He began to spend less and less time with the crowds and more and more time with His disciples. Things are moving closer to His crucifixion.When Jesus would not be forced to be a political leader on their terms, I'm sure He shattered their hopes of a king, they were ready to push him into Jerusalem, imagine what a king with His power could do for them. I've often wondered if this would have been a temptation for Christ, to bypass the cross and become King. This would have had many of the same elements as Satan's temptation back in Matthew 4.
He went off to be alone and in the presence of the Father, which would have been a familiar place to be, I imagine that's why we often find Him alone, praying, communing with His Father. I often think to myself, if Jesus, the perfect, sinless Son of God needed to be alone with the Father, how much more do I. Have you ever asked yourself for whom does He pray? We find the answer in John 17.
"Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was." Interceding for His own not to fall into temptation, following after the shallow celebrity of the world. That they would be victorious, just as He had been. Did you know that now, at this very moment, He is at the throne of His Father, interceding for you and me? What a comforting thought!
Verse 24, "But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary."
John 6:19, "Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles," Mark 6:48 tells us "Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them," The Greek word "basanizó," or battered in our text indicates they "felt tormented." In verse 18, John says "The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing." The wind was contrary, or "enantíos," means hostile, antagonistic in feeling or act. They’re trying to be obedient to His authority but they were having a hard time of it. This was a violent storm and there's no Jesus. You will remember the last time they faced a storm like this, Jesus was in the back of the boat and all they had to do was wake him up. But this time He isn’t there. To make matters worse, they know He can't get to them because they have the boat.
They don’t know it but they’re safe and secure, Jesus is in the Father’s presence on their behalf to pray for them. Allow me to point out something here, I believe it's a valuable less for all of us. That even if it looks hopeless, if Jesus asks you to do it, you can do it. Where we often get into trouble, is when we try to fight against it. Before we strategize, making our own plans, we need to be sure it's actually something that God has called us to do. This can be a difficult thing to discern. When was the last time you actually prayed asking God, "Lord, is this your plan or mine?" If God is pulling you into His plan, you can trust that He will keep you afloat. When you pray and actually listen to Him and discern what you are supposed to do to, you will rise above the chaos.
"Verse 25, I love this. "And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea." Even in the midst of the storm, the darkness was no barrier for Him, He knew exactly where they were. David tells us in Psalm 139:12 "Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You." There is no barrier too great for Him. He knows our circumstance, our fears and distress, He knows exactly where we are and He knows how to get to us. "In the fourth watch of the night," is an interesting term, when you were a sailor, somebody always has to keep watch at night. So they divided the watch into four shifts, with one man for each watch. The first watch was 6 to 9 in the evening. The second watch was 9 to 12 midnight. The third watch was 12 to 3, and the fourth watch was 3 to 6, the morning watch.
He knows everything there is to know, even the number of hairs on your head. Have you ever stopped to contemplate the power of God, that even in the middle of life's most terrifying storms, He can handle it? Or do only see that He often takes a long time to show up? I believe that waiting on Him is all part of the lesson. Jesus could’ve made sure the storm never happened, He could've just stopped the storm. He knew they're anxiety and fear, but it's in the chaos of the extremity that we see His power. And He knows your needs and mine. Psalm 139:8-10 says "If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me." The Lord knows the afflictions of His people. No matter how bad things may appear, you can trust Him to be there. We have no need to fear anything! That’s what He's teaching the disciples here.
Mark 6:48 says "Seeing
them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the
fourth watch of the night He *came to them, walking on the sea; and He
intended to pass by them." This is another example of Jesus having power over nature.
Look at verse 26, "When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost! And they cried out in fear." It was still dark, the winds were raging, it's no wonder the men were terrified. Can you imagine? You’re in the middle of a fierce storm, it's dark, you're panicked and if that's not bad enough, and sudden someone comes walking towards you on the water. The word ghost is the Greek noun "phántasma," an apparition, meaning a sudden or unusual appearance. They were absolutely horrified.
I want you to notice He responds to their cries, verse 27 "But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." Take courage, the Lord will always be there for the one who calls out to Him to give you peace that you didn’t think you could have. God is a protector, He always protects His own. If you are a Christian, there’s no reason to fear for your life. There’s no reason for worry or anxiety no matter how hopeless it looks. This is not to teach us how to walk on water, it's to teach people that God can. When we proclaim the name of Christ, when we live for Him, we are acutely aware of this great Truth. If we want to feel His presence, if we want to experience His grace, love, and mercy. We just need to call out to Him, "Lord, I need You."
Jesus spent time in prayer when He needed strength, to pray for guidance and protection for those He loved, shouldn't we of all people be people of prayer. Whether it's the storms of life, or in times of thanksgiving and praise, isolation with the Father is what we desperately need.
In Jude 1:20-21, he says "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life." Keep yourselves in the love of God, and it doesn't matter what the storm is and you'll be safe as you can possibly be. Jesus Christ, not our circumstances, dictate the joy and peace in our lives. Even now as some of you are facing challenging circumstances, the troubling storms of this life, Jesus is saying "Have courage, I am here, do not be afraid."
Verse 28, " Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." Peter, you have got to love that guy. Peter wanted to follow Jesus with his whole heart. He says things that other people only thought. He was the bold one of the disciples, he did things that the others didn’t have the nerve to do. I can really relate to Peter, for as much as he loved Jesus, and wanted to be obedient to Him, he made many mistakes. But I'd like you to notice, that Peter is the only disciple who asked to come to Jesus. None of the others even dared to ask.
In verse 29, "And He said, “Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus." Peter wanted to get in on the action, he's the guy who says "I don’t know how this will work, but I'll do it." Knowing Peter as we do, it’s really no surprise that without even thinking about the logistics, he wanted to go to Jesus. He just asked Jesus for opportunity. When we ask God to grant us opportunities to serve Him, He will work in ways that we never imagined. In Matthew 7:7, Jesus says "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Peter sought the opportunity and Jesus invited him to, "Come."
I find it interesting that many people have chosen to focus on why Peter did what he did, rather than the message. Some have said that Peter was unrestrained and overconfident, he overstepped his bounds. I submit to you that Peter spent his entire life on the Sea of Galilee, and he never walked on water. Granted, there may be a certain amount of impetuosity to his character, but he's no fool.
Others have suggested that Peter was showing off. You don’t show off by walking on water, even those of us who are showoff's know our limitations. I believe that's a ridiculous view. In the darkness, amidst the raging storm, Peter was willing to climb out of the boat and go to be where Jesus was, I believe the best answer is his tremendous faith in Jesus. Because unless you believed that He had the power to hold you up, you wouldn't begin to attempt to do that. Peter knew how much Jesus loved him, and that Jesus would never let him drown.
How awesome is must have been to be in Peter's sandals. Do you have that kind of unconditional faith in Jesus? That no matter how bad the storm is, would you trust Him enough to step out of the boat? How do you spend your time? Are your eyes fixed on Jesus in the middle of the raging storms of life or are focus on the wind and the waves? Do you saturate your mind with the Word of God or are you drowning in the problems of this world? All Peter could think about was running to Jesus!
Verse 30, "But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" As soon as Peter took his eyes off Jesus, he noticed the strength of the wind and he began to sink.
Peter may have had his faults, but his heart was consumed with his love for Jesus, he trusted Jesus enough that if Jesus commanded it, he could get to where He was. So don’t chastise Peter. Most of us would have lacked the faith needed to step out of that boat. How many times have we denied Christ with our silence because we were afraid of what someone else would think or it might cost us our jobs? I believe that each of us, in our own way lives his story. I hasten to say, it's only when we focus on Jesus we will rise above the chaos. We don’t need to be learn what we already know; but we do need to be taught what we don’t know.
We see in verse 31, "Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" Jesus is saying, "If I called you didn’t you believe I’d sustain you" That's the reason why the Lord allows trials and difficulties, because when we go through them, we discover that He sustains us. By the way, Peter's prayer is one of the most theologically sound prayers in all of Scripture, "Lord, save me." Like many of us , Peter is still growing and learning to completely trust Jesus when our circumstances seem impossible. May I remind you that even a little faith is better than no faith. Jesus didn't say Peter has no faith, He said He had little faith.
I image that Peter’s faith was not the only faith that grew that night. I would encourage you keep a log of all the times Christ has sustained you in difficult circumstances than let that knowledge of who Jesus is and what He can do increase your faith even more. It's easy to overlook our past assurances when facing a new trial, having it written down is a great way to remind ourselves. As I have matured in the faith, I have learned to trust Him like I never knew was possible. Whenever I've cried out to Him, "Lord, save me!" as in the past, He has never to failed to do so. When you’ve lost all hope and you've no where else to turn, that's when He comes to your rescue. Jesus takes care of us when we can't take care of ourselves.
We have the assurance that the Lord loves us and we can be confident He cares for us. Satan is the author of confusion. He loves to cause us to doubt everything we know to be true. Through God’s grace He has already rescued us from our sin. He loves you enough to lay down His life for you. Isn't that enough to be deserving of your trust? Allow me to remind you that there was nothing about Jesus that caused Peter to sink, He didn't change. Peter took his eyes off Him. That's what changed. Many people like to point out that Peter sank, but few dare to mention that at least he stepped out of the boat. That takes faith.
Verse 32 says, "When they got into the boat, the wind stopped." He got into the boat with them and the storm stopped, in the blink of an eye, just like that. Mark says "they were utterly astonished." Christ demonstrated authority over nature, the omniscience, sovereignty and power of God. One can't help but see that nothing is too big for Jesus. In the uncertainty of this world, it's easy to become overwhelmed with fear, Christ gives us peace in a difficult situations. The key is to focus on the One who has power over every situation! What a blessing to know the Creator of the universe, who has power over all things, loves and cares for His own. The disciples had already seen Jesus perform many miracles. They all knew Peter. When they saw that Jesus could cause Peter to walk on the water, their lives were changed. When we step out in faith, keeping our eyes focused on Jesus, He will do amazing things.
That brings us to verse 33, "And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "You are certainly God’s Son!" They disciples knew they were in the presence of God and they were overwhelmed with the affirmation that this Jesus was the Son of God. While we were not present on the Sea of Galilee that night, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit at work in the Apostles we are able to relive these miraculous details. How can we not worship Him?
In 1 John 1, John writes "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete."
In Closing..
We are called as they were by the clear sight of all that He did, to bow the knee and worship the One Who treads upon the waves of the sea and calms the storms, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. Paul writes in Romans 14:11;"For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God." Each of us are free to choose between the false testimony of the world or the true testimony of Christ. You can choose to bow to Him as Lord and Savior or as Judge.
Unfortunately, if you are bowing before him as your judge, acknowledging Him as Lord at that point will be too late. Your eternal fate will have already been determined. Isaiah 65 says "Because I called, but you did not answer; I spoke, but you did not hear. And you did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight."
It is my prayer that you will be a living testimony for Jesus.
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen