2023

Matthew 14:22-33      (also in Mark 6:45-52 and John 6:16-21)

 (22) And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. (23) And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. (24) But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. (25) And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. (26) And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. (27) But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. (28) And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. (29) And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. (30) But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. (31) And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? (32) And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. (33) Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

 When it comes to some of the miracles Jesus performed this one is usually at the top that many people account for. It is a very straight forward passage that we can learn a lot from. The disciples find themselves in the middle of the storm and notice a "spirit” walking toward them on the sea and cried out for fear. (Note: even Jesus power can surpass the laws of Physics) Jesus immediately tells them to be of good cheer for it is I, do not be afraid. How many times in the Bible have we heard the phrase, do not be afraid. There is a lesson to be learned just. On that one phrase.

2 Timothy 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

1 John 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Isaiah 41:10  Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

 Being afraid and fearing things of this world should not have any place in our Christian life. It forces us to walk around always being defeated and not with a loving heart. Ask yourself, what are you afraid of? What keeps you from functioning as you should as a child of God?

Lets not let this get confused with the only time we are to fear.

Proverbs 1:7  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: And the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

 Peter then asks, Lord if it is you, bid me to come out on the water. Jesus says "come”. I am sure if we take the time in our daily lives, we would hear the exact same words. Peter was simply implying to be able to come to Him even in the midst of the turbulent sea. Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. We all experience having issues in our life and instead of reacting to them in fear, we should simply bide to draw near to God. When we continually walk in fear, we are burdened on things that we should have given to God to carry. But instead, we carry ourselves. This requires a step of faith, just as Peter did stepping out to go to Jesus.

   As Peter is walking out to Jesus, he notices the storm around him and begins to sink. How often do we do the exact same thing when we have everything going right, then something creeps in and gets our attention, and totally distracts us from our original goal. We can get a bad medical report, or many times it is something financial. Often it puts us in a slump, and totally defeats us, then we have this "fear” not knowing how the situation will work out. When Peter starts to sink he cries out to Jesus to save him. Jesus is faithful. Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Go read my favorite verse. Psalm 55:22

  Jesus then responds to Peter, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? When I read this first line, o though of little faith, I do not believe Jesus was telling him his faith was not good enough. It was, he was walking on water. Read Matthew 17:20 and Mark 11:23. Peter had enough faith to walk on water. Peter took his eyes of Jesus and started to focus on the things not of Jesus and allowed doubt to set in on the "enough faith” he needed to walk on water. We can believe that God do all things, but as soon as there is any doubt or question, it erases the faith we have. Then we start to see fewer and fewer great things God is willing to do. In one of our earlier Bible studies we saw Jesus remove those who doubted/not believe in order for Him to perform a miracle.

 When they got back in the boat, the storm ended, and they worshiped Him stating that he was truly the Son of God. Do we do that when we have got do something great in our lives?

When you read this passage, what stands out to you?

To give you a heads up, next week we will take a break on Jesus’s miracles and look at a request that was sent over for us to study. You can read the whole chapter of Luke 11 to get started.