Lessons at Sea

The account of Jesus walking on the water communicates the power of Christ, and it also communicates the power of Christ that sustains us day by day. The details of this story are highly important, because this is not simply a story about what Jesus can do. It is an example of the kind of power Christians have access to, the power that fuels the lives they lead. So we need to pay attention to the details if we want to understand what is being communicated to us. Matthew has given us nine of them, and each one has something to say about the Christian life.

Notice first that Jesus sends the disciples on ahead of him by themselves (v. 22). He made them get into that boat. And Jesus, knowing all things, knew exactly what was waiting for them out there on the water. He did not keep them from it. He sent them into it. That is the first lesson, and it is the one that reorders how we read our own hard seasons. The storm did not catch Christ by surprise, and it was not evidence that these men had taken a wrong turn. They were precisely where he put them. Some of you are rowing into the wind right now and have been assuming that means you missed his will somewhere. It may mean you are doing exactly what he said.

Notice next when he comes. It is the fourth watch of the night (v. 25), the last watch before daybreak, and he comes to them walking on the water. This shows the power of Jesus, and it shows a particular kind of power. It was Jesus who came out of the tomb early in the morning, having risen from death (Matthew 28:1). In the scriptures the sea is the place of chaos and of death, and God alone treads upon the waves (Job 9:8). So when Christ rises over the water in the dark hours before dawn and puts the deep beneath his feet, he is showing us in advance what he will do to the grave. This is resurrection power on display before the resurrection. Whatever is trying to pull you under is already under his feet.

Notice what he says when he gets to them: "Take heart; it is I; do not be afraid" (v. 27). That is not a comment, it is a call. In the middle of everything that gives us reason to be afraid, Christ calls us to trust him instead. How we heed that call determines a great deal, as we are about to see in Peter. Fear and faith are both responses to the same storm, and both of them are decisions about who Jesus is.

Notice what Peter does with the call. He asks permission. "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water" (v. 28). He does not ask for the power and he does not ask how it is done. He asks Christ to command him, and this teaches us that we can do nothing without the word of the one who upholds all things by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3). Apart from him we can do nothing (John 15:5). The Christian who wants to attempt something great for God and never bothers to ask him first has skipped the only step that makes the water hold.

Then comes the word, and it is one word. Come (v. 29). And Peter gets out of the boat and does what Jesus is doing. This detail teaches us how we are meant to be living. Jesus is our example of human life and how it is to be lived. We are to mirror him. We are to walk in the same way in which he walked (1 John 2:6), following in his steps (1 Peter 2:21). If Jesus walks on the water, then at his word we go out and seek to walk on the water like him. And if his walking on the water symbolizes his power over this fallen world, over chaos, and over death, if he is wielding resurrection power out there, then that is the power he supplies to those who follow him. Paul says we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37) and that we can do all things through the one who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). Christ does not only command us to live like him. He gives us his own power to live like him through his Spirit, who sustains us day by day.

Then Peter begins to be afraid (v. 30). Remember what Jesus had just told them. Do not be afraid. And when fear comes in, what happens? His ability to walk on the water like Jesus ceases, and he begins to sink. The moment fear untethers us from the sustaining power of Christ is the moment chaos and weakness start to override us and keep us from living like him. This is worth saying plainly to ourselves. The Christian life is a life given to faith in Jesus, not a life given to fear. What Peter lost was not the water under him but his hold on the one who was holding him.

Then Peter cries out, "Lord, save me," and immediately Jesus reached out his hand and took hold of him (vv. 30-31). Do not pass over that word immediately. It teaches us that Christ is never slow to us, that he sits on the edge of his throne ready to rush to our aid when we call. He is not waiting for us to get our composure back first. He caught Peter mid-sink and corrected him afterward, and the rebuke came from a hand that was already holding his arm. This is why we are told to come boldly to the throne of grace to find help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). Christ accounts for everything we need in the Christian life. He gives us the power to live like him, and when we fail, he comes and gets us back on our feet and walks with us.

Then they get into the boat, and the wind ceases (v. 32). It has always been taught in the Church that the boat represents the Church, and all who believe and follow Christ are in that boat. Notice that the wind does not stop out on the water. It stops when the presence of Christ is back among his people. These men had been fighting chaos all night, and they find calm in one place. If the boat is the Church, then we are being taught that the Church, which holds the presence of Christ, is where rest from the chaos of the world is actually experienced. Christ may not remove the hardship of living in this world, but he does give rest from the storm, and he gives it from within his Church. This is why we gather. We come in worn out from a week of navigating the world, and we get a breather in his presence, because he is the Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8) and he gives rest to all who come to him (Matthew 11:28).

And then, finally, they worship him and say, "Truly you are the Son of God" (v. 33). Watch how they got there. The tempest, the walking on the water, the sinking, the saving hand, the calming of the wind, all of it led these men to know who Jesus is, and knowing that, they fell down before him. That is where our own experiences are meant to land too. Our trials, our successes, our failures, and the rest we are given all point in one direction, and it is not toward ourselves. It is toward the worship of Jesus.

So take all of it together and see what this account says to the Christian today. Jesus does not remove trial and hardship from our lives, but he uses them to teach us to live like him. He gives us his own resurrection power, so that we do not merely endure our trials but overcome them. He walks ahead of us as the example of how a human life is to be lived through them. When fear takes hold, and we sink anyway, he is immediate, and he comes down to where we are and sets us back on our feet. He gives us relief and true rest among his people, where his presence is. And all of it, the chaos and the calm alike, is driving toward one end: that we would know him as Lord and Savior and God and fall down and worship him. Your storm is not the interruption of your Christian life. It is the water he intends to walk you across. Keep your eyes on him, go where he tells you to go, live by faith, not in fear, and as you strive against the chaos, come into his house, experience his presence, and find rest.

Peace be with you,

Pastor Bruce