Matthew 14:22 – 33

22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.

23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.

24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.

25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.

26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.

27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

Immediately after feeding the five thousand men and their wives and children, Jesus sent His disciples across the Sea of Galilee in a boat. He sent them ahead because he wanted to send off the multitudes which would take some time because of the large amount of them.

Jesus also needed some time alone on the mountain to pray, it is always suitable to have a conversation with God when it is quiet such as when alone. It was a suitable time for Jesus to speak with His Father.

During this time while the disciples were making their way across the sea a storm materialized and made it difficult, the wind was against them so they would be rowing against the wind. Jesus expected the storm so this would be a time to show His disciples some more of His powers and would help increase their faith in him.

Jesus approached the ship the disciples were in about 3am in the morning. It was still dark but not far from sun-up.

The time of night was not total dark but light enough to see a short distance, but not very clearly, the disciples saw something approaching them in the night in the middle of the sea, it could not be human because it was above the level of the water, they thought it must be something like a phantom or something which appears to exist but belongs in the unseen world. There is enough superstitious beliefs in most of us to be scared because it gives us an eerie or uneasy feeling in this type of situation. So they voiced their fears out loud.

While He was too far away to recognize visually, he was close enough for them to recognize His voice so Jesus spoke up so they would recognize Him and realize it was a situation they did not need to fear.

We do not know why Peter wanted to walk on the water, but Jesus gave him permission to walk on the water.

Peter began walking on the water, He was walking on the surface of the sea and had the proof it was Jesus who was miraculously giving him the ability to walk on the water, he should not have had any fear.

Peter was walking on the, he began to doubt because of the stormy conditions so he began to sink. He should not have doubted the power of Jesus, he was there when Jesus calmed the sea with His voice.(Matthew 8:23 – 27) Jesus power is not limited by the stormy conditions. He would not let Peter perish, but He would rebuke him by allowing him to think he was going to sink and drown.

Jesus chastised Peter at the same time he was rescuing him by accusing him of having little faith. We can learn from this lesson, our faith does not have to be as strong when everything is going well, our faith is stressed when tests and trials turn against us. We need to remember the words of Paul. (Romans 8:31[What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?])

We do not know if the sea calmed because Jesus commanded it to or if it did because he entered the ship. We do know when He entered the boat the wind calmed.

The effect of this miracle on the disciples in the boat convinced them Jesus was truly the Son of God. Their form of worship in this instance was a confession of Jesus divinity.