Matthew 14: 22 - 36
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,”they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,”he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
34 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36 and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
Questions:
ReplyDelete- Why did Jesus walk out on the water to them? He could have just walked around and met them in town.
- After everything they had seen, was it foolish of the disciples to think they were seeing a ghost?
- What is the significance of Peter walking on the water?
- Was it sort of strange that everyone was just touching the edge of His cloak? Why not wave a hand or something?
http://www.gotquestions.org/walking-on-water.html says about Jesus walking on the water:
ReplyDeleteThe miracle of Jesus walking on the water, recorded in three of the Gospels (Matthew 14:22–36; Mark 6:45–56; John 6:16–21), came on the heels of His miraculous feeding of the 5,000 with only five loaves of bread and two fish (Matthew 14:17). But it was the miracle of Jesus walking on the water that, more than any other, convinced Jesus’ disciples that He was indeed the Son of God (Matthew 14:32–33).
One of the more noteworthy aspects of this body of water is that it is greatly susceptible to sudden and extremely violent storms. These storms are caused by the cold air rushing down from the mountains surrounding it and colliding with the warm, moist air rising off the surface of the water itself.
Though they were only to travel a short distance, the storm was so violent that, despite all their efforts to control their boat, the storm had driven them nearly four miles out into the very midst of the sea. Being the fourth watch of the night (3:00 AM to 6:00 AM), they had been rowing and straining at their oars for approaching nine hours! They were totally exhausted.
And this brings us to the second significant point of this miracle. Jesus always comes to us in the storms of life. This is reminiscent of the words of God to Isaiah: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you” (Isaiah 43:2). The Lord may not come at the time we think He should come, because He knows when we need Him the most. Jesus had waited until the boat was as far from land as possible, when all their hope was gone. In essence, Jesus was testing the disciples’ faith, and this meant removing every human prop. Why did Jesus walk on the water? To show His disciples that the very thing they feared, the raging, seething sea, was merely a set of steps for Him to come to them. Often we fear the difficult experiences of life such as illness, loss of loved ones, and financial hardships only to discover that these experiences can bring Jesus closer to us.
But we have to ask, why did they not recognize Jesus? The answer is they were not looking for Him. Had they been waiting by faith, they would have known Him instantly. Instead, they jumped to the false conclusion that His appearance was that of a ghost. The point is this: fear and faith cannot live in the same heart, for fear frequently blinds the eyes to the presence of the Lord.
The third significant point is that Jesus proved Himself to be in command of the elements, something only God can do. He revealed this truth to the disciples who recognized His divinity and responded with a confession of faith in Jesus as God: “The wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God’” (Matthew 14:32–33). This was the first time Jesus was called the Son of God by the disciples, a statement that, in fact, built on what they had said earlier about Him in Matthew 8:27: “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him.” Here they answer their own question: “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Though they had a long way to go in their spiritual understanding, the disciples were growing in their faith in the Lord. Also, this was the first time the disciples are said to have worshiped Jesus. In Matthew 2:11, the magi from the East worshiped Jesus. Later, a leper is said to have worshiped Jesus (Matthew 8:2). A synagogue ruler does the same thing in Matthew 9:18. But this is the first time the disciples worshiped Him. It is also important to note that their worship is joined to their confession (Matthew 14:33).
And this is what worship is, acknowledging who God is and praising Him both for who He is and for what He has done. It was in this story that the disciples took the first step and worshiped Jesus as the Son of God.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/2014/05/09/jesus-walks-on-water-bible-story-summary-lessons-and-study/ says about Jesus walking on the water:
ReplyDeleteAfter Jesus fed the 5,000 He “made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side.” Don’t forget that little, seemingly incidental comment. It was Jesus that sent the disciples to the other side of the sea and into the storm but they were about to go out into no small storm in the middle of the sea and in the pitch black of night!
He knew it was coming. Jesus also sends us out in to the storms of life, making us as it were, to go to certain places for Him and by His command with the full realization that we will be heading into fierce storms and we will be out in the middle of nowhere with no light and with possibly no human help available. That is a lesson of trust in Jesus for we too will frequently have “the wind against” us.
The lesson for us is that during the most impossible situations, when all hope seems to be lost, and there is nothing but darkness and doubt with no one that could possibly help us, is the exact time that Jesus is there.
Why did Peter doubt it was Jesus? Because remember it was still during the middle of the night, it was pitch black, and the wind and the waves were still crashing into the boat. Maybe Peter needed Jesus to reassure him.
Peter did and he walked on water and was doing fine until he took his eyes off of Jesus and “saw the wind [and] he was afraid.” That is what happens to us if we take our eyes off of Jesus and look at what we see with our eyes. We must learn to walk on the water (do what looks to be humanly impossible) and keep our eyes fixed upon Him, if not, we will sink into our own fear and despair. We must learn to see with the eyes of faith and believe in Him, even if we can’t see Him our own storms of life.
http://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/bible-study/bible-stories/walking-on-water/ talks about Peter:
ReplyDeletePeter’s fear quickly turned into awe and action. With faith in Jesus Christ, Peter started walking on the water toward his Master. But then the strong wind took his focus off of Christ. Soon doubt started forming in his mind. With his faith in Christ shaken due to the howling wind, he started to sink into the sea.
As he was sinking, Peter called for Jesus’ help. Jesus immediately stretched out His hand and caught him. As He did so, Jesus asked Peter, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Every word of God’s Bible is precious and inspired, so there is a reason God included the story of Peter walking on the water for us today. This story is full of important lessons for Jesus Christ’s followers. Here are three lessons:
1. We need faith. Faith is a strong belief in God and trust that He will do what He said. Without faith it’s impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). The Bible provides many examples of faith, including the examples of Christ and Peter. In John 5:19 Jesus declared that He could do nothing by Himself, but only through God the Father. Jesus walked on water because of His faith in God. Likewise Peter walked toward Jesus in faith before he stumbled. We need the living, true faith that allowed Jesus and Peter to walk on water.
2. Doubt destroys faith. When Peter started to sink, Jesus said the problem was doubt. Doubt damaged Peter’s faith to the point that he couldn’t walk on water anymore. Doubt can also damage our faith. Faith is tied to the promises that God gives us. Once we start to doubt those promises, then our faith starts to fail.
3. Jesus is there when we face trials. In the midst of the waves and the wind, Jesus was with Peter and prevented him from sinking. This is a reassuring lesson that helps to boost our faith. Today Jesus Christ does not walk as a human on the earth next to us, but He is still in charge and able to give us a helping hand, whatever problems we may face.
The apostle Paul explains how God helps us through trials. He said, “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it”
Faith is a big subject, and it goes beyond believing in God’s miracles and trusting in Him during our trials. The Bible says we are saved by faith—our sins can be forgiven and we can receive eternal life because of the faith God gives us (Ephesians 2:8-10). We can’t work this faith up, but we can ask God for it and exercise it by always doing what God says. If we don’t obey God and live His way, our faith is dead (James 2:14-26).
We should always be ready to step out in faith to obey God—to have living faith.
While the story of Peter walking on water ended when he got back in the boat, Peter’s spiritual education and development continued. He did stumble a few times, such as when Jesus was arrested and Peter denied even knowing Jesus. But in the end, Peter was able to get back up and continue walking in faith. Peter grew to become a leading figure of the Church.
Years later, Peter summed up the lesson that he learned in part on the Sea of Galilee with Jesus Christ that windy night. He said that trials help prove “the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold” (1 Peter 1:7). This precious faith will be rewarded with “praise, honor, and glory” and incredible happiness that will last forever (verses 7-9).
As Peter learned, trials can make us begin to doubt God and His promises. At times like that, we must ask God for help and keep the faith!
My 2 cents on touching His cloak:
ReplyDeleteJesus was wearing a 'Talith' (or 'Talit'), which means prayer shawl. The Talit had proscribed tassels on it. Both of these had a lot of meaning in Jewish culture. That is why the people were touching these to be healed.