Smoodock's Blog

When I was a little boy, I used to watch a cartoon, Felix the Cat! As the tune goes, “whenever he gets in a fix he reaches into his bag of tricks!” Is that what Jesus is doing here with his disciples. They were in a fix, vis-à-vis getting nowhere on the troubled waters of the Sea of Galilee, when suddenly Jesus appeared, walking on the great waves, as if they were nothing at all! Many skeptics want us to believe that Jesus the magician never existed, and this is merely a myth. Well, I do agree that “Jesus the magician” didn’t exist, but more is happening here than meets the skeptic’s eye. The real truth runs deeper than the troubled sea that prevented the Apostles progress.

Keep in mind the context of Jesus walking on the water comes after he had fed over five thousand people with a few loaves of bread and two fish. When the disciples gathered up the fragments, they filled 12 baskets (Matthew 14:20). The miracle prompted the multitude to take Jesus by force and make him king (John 6:14-15). Immediately, Jesus had his disciples get into the boat and sail to the other side of the lake, while he dismissed the multitude, after which he walked up the mountain to pray alone (Matthew 14:22-23).

Meanwhile, the disciples were about halfway across the sea, when a contrary wind suddenly came up, troubling the waters whose waves began tossing the disciples’ boat, so that they couldn’t make any progress to get to the other side (Matthew 14:24; cp. John 6:18). On another occasion, the disciples were journeying across the sea, when a storm arose, and they feared for their lives. Jesus was with them at that time, so they rushed to him, waking him from sleep. He told them that they needn’t fear, because he was with them, and they were doing what he told them to do (Matthew 8:24-26). Presently, they were still trying to do what Jesus told them to do, although the wind and waves were contrary to them making progress, but Jesus wasn’t with them this time. How long would they continue?

What’s going on? Is this simply a nice story that turns out well? No, not really! According to Daniel the four empires that troubled Israel arose out of the sea (Daniel 7:3, 17, 21) and in the Apocalypse the “Beast with seven heads” arose out of the sea, and he also persecuted the saints (Revelation 13:1, 7). The storm and the waves of the Sea of Galilee, though real, are also symbolic of the world troubling the efforts of the Gospel, even to the point of persecuting believers.

In the midst of all these things, Jesus comes walking on the sea (Matthew 14:25)! A trick? No, a miracle, yes, but not a trick. There is something deeper going on here than entertainment for the reader. From the beginning, the Lord had created man to have dominion over the earth, the heavens and the sea (Genesis 1:28). The first Adam rebelled and brought death into our race (Romans 5:12-14), preventing man from fulfilling the purpose God originally intended. Instead, he became part of the problem, due to the fact that he was unruly and in rebellion.

Nevertheless, the Lord brings order out of chaos (Genesis 1:2; cp. verses 3 to 25, then 26-31). From the beginning God had intended that man should keep the world in good order, but, instead, he became disorderly and this brought death. The second Adam, Christ, is he that brings order back into the world. He calms the threatening wind and sea (Matthew 8:27). He is able to walk above the threatening waters (Matthew 14:25), which symbolize the rise of worldly powers that threaten the progress of the saints and their labor in the Gospel. Jesus, the second Adam, restores order in the world, and fulfils the will of God, breathing new life into mankind (Romans 5:15-17) so that he can fulfill his original God-given purpose (Genesis 1:28).

When Jesus’ disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled and cried out, thinking he was a ghost. However, Jesus calmed their spirits, telling them, it was he. But, Peter challenged him, asking, if it were truly Jesus, command him to also walk on the water and come to him (Matthew 14:28). While this was truly an attempt to verify Jesus’ word, that it truly was he who came to them upon the waters, it goes deeper than this. Keep in mind, that ruling the sea was what God had originally intended for man (Genesis 1:28). Therefore, Jesus commanded Peter to come out to him upon the water (Matthew 14:29), which was symbolic of his obedience to the original directive of the Almighty.

Interestingly, Peter obeyed and walked upon the water, which symbolized the chaos of the world, which man was commanded to tame and bring or keep in good order (Genesis 1:28). However, when Peter saw the great waves in the water, created by the strong winds of heaven, he became afraid and began to sink, and he called out to the Lord to save him, and Jesus told him that it was his lack of faith that he sank (Matthew 14:30-31). In other words, it is God’s will that we rule the seas, but we do this through faith, vis-à-vis it wasn’t Jesus’ who caused Peter to walk on water; it was his own little faith. Immediately, Jesus gave Peter his arm, and they both walked back to the ship, and when they did, there was a great calm (cp. Matthew 8:26). Moreover, when he came into the ship, the disciples worshiped him, saying he truly was the Son of God, vis-à-vis the Messiah, or the Second Adam (Matthew 14:32-33)!