The biblical story of Jesus walking on water is a beautiful reflection that renews our faith. Knowing that we can trust and rely on the Lord, come in and discover his message!
Jesus walks over the water
In the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible there is a passage that recounts the prodigy when Jesus walks on the water. This extraordinary New Testament story represents a powerful reflection on persevering in faith.
Matthew 14:22-33 teaches us that with Jesus we can walk confidently and with faith on the water. But in addition, from these verses some other teachings can be extracted for our lives as Christians.
One of them is the dependence and intimacy that Jesus shows us with God his Father. Since, after performing the portentous miracle of feeding five thousand people with only five loaves and two fish, he climbs the mountain alone to pray and glorify his Father.
Matthew 14:22-23 (NIV): 22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 After he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.
This verse is also a good opportunity for us to reflect on our intimacy with the Lord. In that regard, we invite you to read the article, " Intimacy with God : How to Develop It?" Because someone who is intimate with Christ Jesus is one who lives as He did, fulfilling the desires of the Heavenly Father.
Later, late at night, Jesus walks on the waters approaching the boat where his disciples were. At first they felt fear thinking that the figure that was walking towards them was an apparition.
But immediately Jesus calmed them down exhorting them not to be afraid; but the apostle Peter is not satisfied and asks his Lord to call him to go with him. It is there that the truly extraordinary takes place. Peter walks in faith on the waters.
Peter's fear and mistrust
While the rest of the disciples are paralyzed with fear in the face of an unexpected situation, Peter gets up and speaks to the Lord to follow him in faith. Despite the circumstance of the strong wind, he diverted his gaze from Jesus and immediately fear and mistrust invaded him:
Matthew 14:26-30 (NIV): 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they cried out in fear . 27 But Jesus immediately said to them, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid .” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water and went toward Jesus . 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink , cried out, “Lord, save me!”
At first, faith and trust in his Lord made Peter, like Jesus, walk on the water. However, the level of faith was not enough to withstand the strong wind.
How many times in our lives do we find ourselves in a similar situation? When something unexpected happens to us that takes us out of our tranquility; situation that can be called illness, scarcity, unemployment, etc. The important thing about this teaching is to reflect on our response to such an event:
- Do we let fear paralyze us like the rest of the disciples?
- Do we decide to face the situation with our eyes fixed on Jesus?
- If the situation becomes harsh like a strong wind, is our faith enough not to divert our gaze from Jesus?
Jesus gives us three valuable answers in the instructions given to Peter. Teachings that will help us or ourselves to walk on the waters regardless of the strong winds that may arise.
Jesus walks on the water and tells you: Have faith without doubt
Doubt is a condition that puts faith to the test, therefore it can be convenient to exercise and grow faith in us. The more we overcome the states of doubt, the greater our faith will be, as Jesus tells Peter in this passage: Have faith without doubting.
Matthew 14:31 (NIV): Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “ You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt ?”
Maturing in faith as Christians allows us to take a step forward just as Peter did with respect to the rest of the disciples. A mature faith allows us to take risks, knowing that Jesus is with us.
However, in order to achieve that level of maturity in the faith, it is necessary to read and scrutinize the scriptures. But in addition to the knowledge of God, it is necessary to pray at all times, this helps us in our communion with the Father.
Deciding to get out of the boat to walk on the water defines a first level of faith, choosing it even when in doubt. It also defines how our trust in God is found.
In this regard, we cordially invite you to read some verses of faith that maintain your trust in God.
As Christians we cannot allow any situation we may be facing to rob us of our faith. For this reason, I invite you to treasure these 25 biblical verses of faith in your heart, in order to maintain trust in God.
First of all we must focus our gaze on Jesus, author and finisher of faith; and not divert our gaze to the bottom of the sea when we decide to get out of the boat. Because Christ is our strength when trials come, we must therefore build our faith to move forward in our life in Christ.
Jesus walks on the water and tells you: If you fall get up
The second thing that the Lord teaches us in this passage of Jesus walks on the waters, is that if we always fall, his hand will lift us up. So, we should not fear like the rest of the disciples, who were stunned.
Many times we paralyze ourselves without doing anything in a situation for fear of failure. We must be aware that Christ is always with us, he never abandons us and if we fall he lifts us up.
The disciples were scared because they thought that Jesus was far away, but he was always with them. Despite the fact that they were men who were followers of Jesus, the fact that he separated himself from them for a moment made them doubt and thus fear.
But Jesus teaches us that he never took his eyes off his disciples, they were the ones who took their eyes off Jesus. The same happens with us on certain occasions in our lives, it is not Jesus who moves away, it is we who move away and divert our gaze from him.
When we distance ourselves from the Lord, it is difficult for us to recognize him and see him walk with us. In the same way it happened with his disciples who doubted and did not recognize him, on the contrary they confused him with a ghost:
Matthew 14:26-27 (NIV): 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they cried out in fear . 27 But Jesus immediately said to them, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
In this case we need to be like the apostle Peter who kept his eyes on Jesus and could recognize his hand extended towards him to lift him up.
Jesus walks on the water and saves Peter
When Peter recognizes Jesus, he is encouraged to leave the boat and walk on the water, but when he feels the force of the wind, he gets distracted and begins to sink into the water. Peter panics and cries out to Jesus to save him:
Matthew 14:30: But when he saw the strong wind, he was afraid and began to sink . Then he cried out, “ Lord, save me !”
In the same way it can happen with us, we decide to take a step in pursuit of Christ, but a strong wind comes and blurs us from our path. We must therefore strengthen our faith, so as not to succumb during a test in our process of being transformed by the Holy Spirit.
If we are still weak in spirit, we can run the risk of being easy prey for some dart of the enemy, such as fear, temptation or anxiety. Because the devil will always want us to go back to our old way of living.
Let us not allow the enemy to fear, fall or doubt, rather let us always seek to find the hand of our Savior and cry out: -Lord, save me!-. Just as Jesus took Peter's hand and saved him in the same way he will reach out to us and save us:
Matthew 14:31 (NIV): Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
In the same way we must know that when Jesus is in our boat the winds will always calm down:
32 When they got into the boat, the wind died down . 33 And those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
So we must be grateful and worship our Savior at all times, who will always rescue us and keep us on his path.
Faith is developed in our formation in Christ
When we begin our formation in Christ, we realize that the Christian life will always flow contrary to the flow of the waters of the world. In the Bible the psalmist explains them very well in the following verse:
Psalm 1:1 (LBLA): 1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers,
In this verse three terms stand out with a specific sequence, which are: first to walk, second to stop and third to sit. In this sequence the psalmist points out the negative progress that results from walking a path that paralyzes due to sin.
The beatitude of the Christian life is to follow a path of faith in constant movement, in order to complete the good race in Christ Jesus. The progression of this life begins when we are paralyzed by sin, until we hear the call of the Lord.
When this happens, there is a pause in our lives and we stop to say no, stopping following the currents of the world. Having made this decision, we begin to walk on a new and true path towards eternal life that is in Christ Jesus.
The Christian life then points to the following progression: First we were sitting, then we stand up with a brief pause and stop, and then with total security and confidence begin to walk in faith.
With this reflection I encourage you to move forward in life in Christ, even though that implies walking against the current. Even in spite of contrary winds, as Matthew 24 says, because verse 25 gives us hope that Jesus will always come closer to us, even if he is walking on the water:
Matthew 14:24-25 (NIV): 24 And the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it . 25 Early in the morning Jesus came to them, walking on the lake.
We must walk on water with one another
One way to walk on the water is by supporting ourselves among brothers with a solid faith: the Bible teaches us the blessing of having someone to lift us up when we fall. Because one will be able to lift the other and if God is between them, the blessing will be even greater:
Ecclesiastes 4:10 (NIV): If they fall, one can help the other up . But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up!
Ecclesiastes 4:12: Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
They will only have to get up and keep trying with the trust placed in Christ Jesus. So if at any time you feel like you're sinking into deep water like Peter, look for your brother in faith.
Your brother will know how to give you his hand as Jesus does when you are facing a trial or when you feel discouraged, sad or helpless, he can help you lead you back to the calm waters of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.
Continue reading the teachings of Jesus to learn even more about the word of our Lord and grow spiritually in communion with God.
