Jesus Walking on Water

The story of Jesus walking on the water is found in Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-51 and John 6:15-21. Each writer mentions the story of Jesus feeding more than five thousand people right before the event of Jesus walking on the water, so it was obviously a busy day. I mention this because these miraculous events would help the writers to clearly remember the details of the story. I will tell the story of Jesus walking on the water in my own words.

One day as Jesus and His disciple chums had just finished having lunch with more than five thousand people Jesus instructed His disciples to get into their boat and head for the other side. Jesus was getting real tired of everybody hangin around Him looking for another miracle and stuff. Besides, He just finished picking up the tap for lunch and didn’t want to have to fork over for dinner as well. So He told his pals to start rowing for the opposite shore and He would meet them later. Anyway as they are makin their way across the sea it gets dark and the wind picks up a bit. Eventually, the wind picks up to a near gale force and it happens to be blowin against the direction the disciples are headed.

The guys in the boat are rowing like crazy, but it’s no use because they aren’t getting anywhere. As the night wore on they are tired from all the rowing and everything and they start arguing with each other. One guy says that he’s doin all the hard work and the other guys are on vacation. Then one of the other guys says that they are all rowing equally hard and no one is doing a better job than anybody else. Eventually, tempers start to flare as the guys are really pooped out by this time.

Then one of them notices something really creepy. They see a ghost walkin on the water. By this time it’s about four in the morning and at this time of night the mind can play tricks on you and anyone can start seeing strange things. But as the ghost gets closer one of them says, “Eee gahds. It’s a ghost.” Then the others turn around and see the ghost walkin right by them. One of the guys says, “What kind of a ghost is that? He doesn’t haunt you, or anything he just walks right by you.”

Then the ghost, or should I say Jesus, says to them, “Yo guys. “Take it easy it’s just me. “I’m out taking my evening constitutional. “Only this time I’d though I might show off a little and do it on the water.” Then Peter looks over and sees that it is Jesus so He says to the Lord, “Hey Jesus. “If it’s really you then call me over to you and I will walk out and see how the water is.” The other apostles think Peter is crazy, but they know the man and there ain’t no talking him out of one of his hair-brained ideas.

So they watch Peter climb over the side and start walkin on the water. The apostles all look at each other in astonishment. It’s one thing to watch the Lord walk on water I mean after all He just fed thousands of people with some kids lunch, but this was different. This was Peter, an everyday run of the mill chowder head that can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. Not only can he walk and chew gum he can walk on water.

However, no sooner had Peter fully gained the respect of the apostles, who never got out of the boat I might add, then it suddenly dawned on Peter that he was in the middle of the sea and he didn’t have his water wings on. Then Peter starts noticing the waves, which didn’t seem so large until now and he starts sinking. Then he cries out to the Lord, “Lord save me,” and Jesus immediately takes his hand and grabs Peter and leads him over to the boat.

Once they are both safely on board Jesus asks Peter a question. He said, “Oh you of little faith why did you doubt?” Then the waves began to settle down and the apostles began to worship Him saying that He must be the Son of God to be able to do all that.

I find it interesting that Jesus points out Peter’s lack of faith, but neglects to mention the other apostle’s lack of faith. After all Peter was willing to make an attempt to walk on the water the apostles were only spectators to the event. The answer to this may be that Jesus wanted so much more for Peter and was disappointed that Peter was willing to take a step of faith, but not willing to walk in faith. So when the Lord said to Peter, “Why did you doubt?” He was actually saying, “You almost made it to the finish line. “The other apostles never even got into the race." I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7

It is interesting to note that the text clearly states that Peter began to sink when he noticed the waves. The reason he didn’t notice the waves before was because he was looking at the Lord. When Peter took his eyes off the Lord he began to sink. Let that be a lesson for all of us, even the ones who remain in the boat.