WWUTT 2028 Jesus Walks on the Water (Matthew 14:22-36)

Jesus came walking out on the water to his disciples and he said to them, take courage, it is I, do not be afraid. What a message of comfort for us now when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ. For he is before all things and in him, all things hold together. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com.

Hey, once again, it's Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel of Matthew, we are in chapter 14, finishing up the chapter today with the story of Jesus walking on the water. So let me read here from verses 22 to 36 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

Hear the word of the Lord. Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he sent the crowds away. And after he had sent the crowds away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

And when it was evening, he was there alone. But the boat was already many stadia away from the land being battered by the waves for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea.

Now, when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, it is a ghost. And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.

And Peter answered and said to him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come out to you on the water. And he said, come. And getting out of the boat, Peter walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened and began to sink.

He cried out saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said to him, you of little faith, why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind stopped.

And those who were in the boat worshiped him saying, you are truly God's son. And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to him all who were sick.

And they were pleading with him that they might just touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were cured. So again, regarding chapter 14, we've got three stories. We have the death of John the Baptist, what we read on Monday, verses one through 12.

You have Jesus feeding the 5 ,000, the miracle that we considered yesterday in verses 13 to 21. And then chapter 14 concludes with Jesus walking on the water to his disciples, verses 22 to 36. And this is also the story where Peter comes out to Jesus on the water and begins to sink.

And Jesus says to him, you of little faith, why did you doubt? Teaching us that we might keep our eyes on Christ. But something that all three of these stories have in common is we see the compassion of Jesus in all three.

Jesus having compassion for John the Baptist so that even after he died, he mourned in his heart and went off by himself to pray. But then when the people found him, the next part of the story, Jesus feeding the 5 ,000, when the people found him, Jesus had compassion on them and began to heal their sick.

He fed them instead of sending them away with this miraculous feeding of five loaves and two fish that he had divided up and fed 5 ,000 men, not counting the women and children who were there. And then we have this story of Jesus walking out to his disciples on the sea, demonstrating to them his power and who he is.

And even though Peter comes out to him and begins to sink, Jesus saves him. And his statement to Peter, you of little faith, why did you doubt? Is out of care and compassion for Peter that he would have faith enough to keep his eyes on Christ, that we might also learn from the same and keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

We conclude chapter 14 with Jesus showing compassion on the people once again. The people come to him, they bring their sick to him. They were pleading with him that they might just touch the fringe of his garment.

And as many as touched it were cured. The compassion of Christ all through chapter 14 here. Let's look a little more intently at this episode of Jesus with his disciples on the sea. Verse 22, immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he sent the crowds away.

So remember, this is the crowd that was there that was fed by the five loaves and the two fish. They got their fill. They were fully satisfied in what Christ had given to them that we may also look to Christ.

We may also feed upon his word and be fully satisfied. Jesus showing his compassion for the people, giving of himself to them. And once the people were fed, he dispersed the crowds. He sends his disciples on ahead of him while he resumes what he was doing when the people found him in the first place.

Remember after John the Baptist had died, Jesus had gone off by himself to pray, to be alone with his father. And so once he had sent the crowds away, once he had sent his disciples on ahead, he goes back to what he was doing, spending time alone with his father in heaven, not missing that time that he would have with his heavenly father.

And so verse 23, after he had sent the crowds away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. And when it was evening, he was there alone. But there in the evening at night, the boat with the disciples is on the sea, several stadia away from the land.

They're probably in the middle of the Sea of Galilee somewhere. And suddenly they're being battered by the waves for the wind was against them. So they're in the middle of the Sea of Galilee somewhere.

A stadia is about 200 yards. They're in the middle of the sea and they're being battered by the wind and the waves. There was not a storm overhead. The scripture never says anything about there being flashes of lightning, thunder, anything like that.

It's just a strong wind. This account of Jesus walking on the water is found in three of the four gospels. It's here in Matthew 14, it's in Mark 6, and it's also in John 6. In all three accounts, it says that there was just a strong wind.

It doesn't say that there was a storm overhead or that it was raining real hard. But most of the depictions of this story, that's exactly what it is that you see. There is a painting I remember seeing of Jesus coming through a storm toward his disciples in the boat.

The movie, Son of God, which was a terrible film, but Jesus is coming to his disciples in the boat, on the water, in the middle of a huge storm that's going on. The chosen, when they depicted this scene, there was a massive storm that was happening.

The scripture doesn't say that. There was just a strong wind and it was stirring up the waters quite a bit, was making the boat very unstable. But there wasn't a storm. There wasn't anything overhead, at least no flashes of lightning and peals of thunder.

It was just wind and waves. And that can still be pretty scary. I don't know if you've ever been out in a boat in the middle of the ocean or a big lake before when a huge wind came up and the waves get real choppy and it's moving against the boat and you're not able to get to where it is that you're going.

The other gospel accounts talk about that, that it was working against the disciples. They were not able to get to the other side of the lake. And so Jesus comes walking out to them on the sea. Verse 25, in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea.

There's a lot of terms here that we don't typically use. First of all, it mentions that the boat was a stadia away from the land. That was about 200 yards. Then you have this happening during the fourth watch of the night.

Well, when was that? That was about between 3 a .m. and six o 'clock, early in the morning. So this was really, really early in the morning. To Hebrews, it would have been in the night. If the sun's not up, it's night.

They don't think of midnight being the start of the next day. Sundown is actually the start of the next day, according to the Hebrews. Anyway, so we have some terms that are used here we don't typically use, but that gives you an idea.

They were many stadia away, so they're hundreds of yards from the shore. And it's during the fourth watch of the night, so it's after three o 'clock in the morning, at least how we would describe the fourth watch of the night.

So then Jesus comes to them walking on the sea. Now, you gotta figure this is out in the middle of the sea. They can hardly see anything. It is dark. The wind is blowing against them. They're trying to get the boat the direction they wanna go.

The moon is probably out, because again, there's not a storm. There's no overhead clouds, flashes of lightning. It's just wind and waves. So there's probably the moon illuminating the sea and the stars.

They're trying to navigate by the stars to get to the other side of the sea, but they can't get there, because the waves are working against them. Now, when the disciples saw Jesus walking on the sea, they were terrified.

And they said, it is a ghost. And they cried out in fear. Jesus is walking toward them. They see this figure that is coming toward them on the water. Kind of make him out just barely through the waves, and then he's getting closer and closer.

And it's not like he's glowing. It's not like he looks like some sort of an apparition or anything of the sort. It's just that there's a man walking on the water. I mean, what do you say about a man walking on the water?

That is a pretty incredible sight. Have you ever seen anyone walk on the water? Especially when you're out in the middle of the sea. Of a deep sea. And here's a man that comes walking towards you, showing Jesus power even over the wind and the waves and the sea.

Now, you've probably heard some of the ridiculous explanations for this story that have come down over the years. I remember several years back, this is while I was working in Christian radio, there was this professor who claimed that he knew how Jesus could walk on water.

There was a natural explanation for this. And it turned out, according to this guy, that there was an ice flow on the Sea of Galilee. So what the disciples saw looked like a man walking on the sea, but in reality, it was just Jesus standing on an ice flow as it was drifting toward the disciples.

My dad read that story on the air. And he said, I don't know what's more incredible, that Jesus was walking on the water or that there was an ice flow in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. One way or another, something miraculous is going on here.

But no, Jesus is walking on water, which no one can do, but Christ demonstrating his power to these disciples. They think it's a ghost. They see a figure in the moonlight and through the waves. But Jesus spoke to them saying, take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.

And Peter answered and said to him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. Now, this was rather bold of Peter. He's coming to accept that this person who's walking toward them is not a ghost.

It's not some sort of spirit or apparition. It is Jesus. And again, Jesus wouldn't have been glowing or something like that, looking like some kind of a spirit. He was just a man there on the water, but he's being illuminated by the moonlight and whatever starlight would have been out.

As Jesus speaks to them and they know that it is him, Peter says, I wanna come to you. I wanna step out on the water to you. If it is you, command me to come and I'll come. And so Jesus says so and getting out of the boat, Peter walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

In scripture, there are two people who ever walked on water, Jesus and Peter. That's a pretty incredible thing that Peter even gets out of the boat and begins walking on the water to Christ, but he takes his eyes off Jesus.

Verse 30, seeing the wind, he became frightened and began to sink and he cried out saying, Lord, save me. So he takes his eyes off Jesus and he's looking around and he sees the waves and it terrifies him.

And because he's not focused on Christ anymore, he begins to sink. I've been out on a boat in the ocean before, just a two-man rowboat. Me and my brother, we were rowing away from the shore and then it started raining on the shore.

So we've rowed a significant distance away from the shore. We would still be able to see it until it started raining. And then the rain completely obscured the shore and we couldn't see it anymore. That was a little bit scary.

And we didn't know exactly where to go. All of the water was going in towards shore. So we just turned the boat to go with the waves and eventually we rowed far enough that we could make out the shore and we could start to see everything again.

But that was a pretty scary moment, being out there in a boat in the middle of the water and not being able to see anything but water. And so you're thinking about this being late at night, there's nothing out but the moon and stars and the wind is continuing to blow these waves up and blowing against the boat.

And so as Peter takes his eyes off Jesus and looks around, it's scary. He's standing on water and there's nothing else to see out there. So taking his eyes off Christ and not trusting in Jesus any longer, he begins to sink and cries out to Jesus saying, Lord, save me.

And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said to him, you of little faith, why did you doubt? Now, it's not as if Peter had no faith, like he completely lost faith because Jesus after all says here, you of little faith, but he takes his eyes off Christ and he doesn't believe, he doesn't trust anymore because he fears the waves more than he trusts Jesus.

James 1, verse two says, consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith brings about perseverance and let perseverance have its perfect work so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith, doubting nothing, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind, for that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all of his ways.

Pretty interesting that James equated doubt there to being like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. And what happens with Peter here? He takes his eyes off Jesus and he's terrified of the wind.

But Jesus saves him and says, why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, you are truly God's son. This was something that Jesus did specifically for his disciples, that they might see something incredible about him.

No one else got to see this, but Jesus' own disciples, this incredible miracle that Jesus did. Now, according to John's account, Jesus gets into the boat and immediately they were on the other side of the lake.

So he even transported them to where it was that they needed to go, in addition to causing the wind to stop and everything to be still. But the disciples worshiping Jesus, that's the big thing here, saying, you are truly God's son.

And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to him all who were sick. They know this is the miracle worker.

They know this is the one who has been healing the sick. So they bring out their sick and they're pleading with him that they might just touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were saved.

They were cured, demonstrating Jesus' love and his compassion, even for this people. Jesus is loving and compassionate toward us. Even when we doubt, when we are of little faith, Jesus is there to take us by the hand and pick us up.

We might receive a rebuke. There might be a conviction of the spirit there in our hearts. The voice of God saying to us in a certain sense is that spirit convicts saying, you have little faith. Why did you doubt?

Instead, remember the words of Christ that he said to his disciples as he approached them on the water, take courage, it is I, do not be afraid. Whatever it is that you are facing, whatever is coming up in your life, wherever you are headed, whatever trials you are going through, take courage for we are with Christ and there is no reason for us to be afraid.

He will deliver us, he will lift us up. He will draw us to himself because he loves us. Heavenly father, I thank you for what we've read here and I pray that it would be something that gives comfort to our hearts.

The very one who walks on the water, who stills the waves, who gives comfort to his disciples is the one who is with us. By faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we are filled with your spirit. We have fellowship with God.

So let it be in this that we have no need to be afraid. Whenever we doubt, may we be convicted that we may come back to the Lord. Jesus, take us by the hand and pull us up again that we may have our eyes opened, our faith restored, our hearts comforted and we may take courage in these days and in these times, knowing that the Lord is at hand.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study When We Understand the Text.