In the Gospel according to Matthew, after Jesus fed five-thousand men along with an unspecified number of women and children with a mere five loaves of bread and two small fish, we find the following recollection:
22 Immediately he [Jesus] made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25 And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
28 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Matthew 14:22-33, NRSV
Let’s begin by reflecting on the image of Jesus walking on the sea. Two historical narratives are bound up with this picture. They are creation and Israel’s exodus from Egypt.
We notice first in verse 25 that the disciples saw Jesus walking on the sea. The word translated sea is the Greek word thalassa. That’s an unusual word to use for a body of water like Galilee. In the first century A.D. thalassa was more commonly used to describe larger, ocean-like bodies like the Mediterranean. The Gospel of Luke reflects the more common Greek term for smaller bodies of water like Galilee—limnē (lake). So, why do Matthew and Mark choose to call Galilee a thalassa (a sea)? Because of creation and the Exodus.
In the beginning, when God created, everything was covered by the waters. On the second day of creation, God separated the waters above from the waters below and created an expanse between them which He called the heavens. Then, on the third day, God gathered the waters below the heavens and separated them from the land. These gathered waters He called yamiym, in Hebrew—seas. When the Hebrew was translated into Greek, the translators used the word thalassas to translate yamiym.
So, calling gathered waters seas, irrespective of their size, is reflective of the terminology of creation. And this is why during the Exodus, the body of water that God parted before the Israelites was called a yam, a sea—more specifically, the yam-sūph, the Sea of Reeds or, in the Greek translation, the Red Sea.
When the psalmist, Asaph, recalled the crossing of the Israelites through the yam-sūph, he told the story this way:
16When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; the very deep trembled.
17The clouds poured out water; the skies thundered; your arrows flashed on every side.
18The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.
19Your way was through the sea, your path, through the mighty waters; yet your footprints were unseen.
20You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Psalm 77:16-20, NRSV
Of course, the path the Israelites walked through the sea, led by God’s unseen feet, was on dry ground. Jesus did not part the waters of the sea in this instance in Matthew. He walked upon them. But, in the case that this might cause us to miss the Passover/Exodus significance of what Jesus was doing, the Gospel of Mark tells us that Jesus intended to pass by them. Mark used the Greek verb par-erchomai to explain Jesus’ intent. Par-erchomai is the Greek verb used to translate the Hebrew pasach, to pass over.
When the disciples witness this event, they are terrified because they think they are seeing a phantasma, in Greek. The NRSV translates the word as ghost, and it can mean that. But, the translation ghost misses something. The word phantasma relates to an apparition or a supernatural appearance of something. The writer of Hebrews in chapter 12, verse 21 of his epistle used the verb form of the word to describe the appearance of God to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. He also described Moses as terrified in that moment. Matthew’s language is meant to indicate that Jesus was revealing Himself to the disciples in ways similar to those by which God revealed Himself to Israel in the events of the Exodus and at Sinai.
And these connotations are highlighted even further by Jesus’ response to the disciples’ fear. Jesus said, “Tharseite, egō eimi; mē phobeisthe.” Literally it translates, “Take courage, I am; do not be afraid.” The same command against fear is spoken by God when He appeared to Abraham in Genesis 15:1, to Hagar in Genesis 21:17, to Isaac in Genesis 26:24, and to Jacob at Bethel in Genesis 28:13. And in this instance Jesus designates Himself as egō eimi, I am. It could be translated as “It is I.” But, given the creation-Passover-Exodus context of this event, it more likely reflects the divine name of God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14:
14 God said to Moses, “I Am Who I Am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’ ”
Exodus 3:14, NRSV
And then Peter interrogates the moment.
“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
The Greek word for water is plural, reflecting again the Hebrew mayim, waters, of original creation. And Peter uses the Greek word Kyrios to address Jesus. This is not surprising. Kyrios simply means lord or master and means generally what Adonai means in Hebrew. However, Kyrios is also the word that the writers of the New Testament and the Greek translators of the First Testament used to translate the divine name, Yahweh. Was Peter saying, “If it is you, Jesus, command me to come to you on the water”? Or was Peter suggesting, “If you are the Lord, Jesus, command me to come to you on the water”? I suspect Peter was wrestling with a bit of both of these questions.
Perhaps surprisingly, Jesus invites Peter to step onto the waters with Him, and perhaps more surprisingly still, Peter gets out of the boat and actually takes a few steps upon the waters. But, then something happens…
30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Matthew says it was the wind that scared Peter at that moment—not the walking on water, not the realization that it was Jesus who had summoned him out of the boat and into this miracle. It was the mighty wind that took his attention off of Jesus, and for good reason, I’m sure. Peter was a fisherman on this very lake, and certainly he knew the difference between a survivable storm and a perilous one. Despite the miracle, despite the revelation of Jesus, despite even the presence of Jesus, Peter knew where he was, and he knew its peril. As the Egyptians before him, he began to sink into the waters.
But, then Peter remembered Jesus, and he called to Him for help, using the same address—Kyrios, Lord! And, as God had delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt by His outstretched arm, Jesus delivered Peter from the waters and into the boat. And then Jesus asked Peter the hardest of questions:
“You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
The word translated little faith is rare in Greek. It does not occur in the First Testament Greek translations, and it occurs only five times in the New Testament—four times in Matthew and once in Luke. And, in each case Jesus uttered it, He was reprimanding folks who were allowing earthly concerns to diminish their trust in God. In Matthew 6:30 Jesus called those who worry about clothing “you of little faith.” In Matthew 8:26, Jesus used the phrase of His disciples when they were afraid of another storm on the Sea of Galilee. In Matthew 16:8, Jesus again used the phrase to accuse His disciples when they were worried about not having enough to eat. And, here, in Matthew 14:31, Jesus uses it to describe Peter.
And Jesus proceeded to ask Peter, “Why did you doubt?” The Greek word here is distazō. It means to hesitate or to be uncertain. Jesus might as well have asked Peter, “Why were you uncertain which to trust—Me or the wind?” It’s a penetrating question. Which do we trust more? Food or Jesus? Clothing or Jesus? Housing or Jesus? Nature or Jesus?
Why do you suppose Peter was uncertain? Could it be because he knew from personal experience, as we do, that God does not always deliver us from earthly perils? Could it be that even with the miracle of walking on water and the presence of Jesus with him, Peter wasn’t sure that the wind could be safely ignored? That is familiar space for me—certain that God can deliver me, but not certain that God will deliver me. Why would Jesus reprimand such a dilemma? After all, Jesus Himself was soon to be crucified—the waters of death soon to rise above His head. And that, too, was God’s will. How can one trust such a God? Wasn’t Peter justified in being uncertain about the danger the wind posed to him?
But, of course, as the life and teachings of Jesus demonstrate abundantly, Jesus’ criticism was not meant to indicate that there are no dangers in the world when one walks with God. Jesus Himself would subject Himself to those dangers and perish in the flesh at their hands. So, the point of this reprimand from Jesus could not have been that those with sufficient faith will not fall prey to earthly perils. Peter himself would one day be executed for his faith in Christ. The wind was certainly dangerous to him.
So, what was Jesus looking for that day? I think Jesus was saying to Peter,
“Don’t let the wind distract you, not because it is not dangerous, nor because it cannot kill you. Don’t fear the wind, Peter, because God can order the chaos. God walks upon the waters. God created out of nothing and ordered what was lifeless. God can raise the dead. The threat of death is real, but the fear of death is slavery. Are you afraid to die, Peter? Are you afraid to suffer? Then the wind has you, and the world is your master. Keep your eyes fixed on me, and then, even if the winds kill you, I will deliver you from the waters.”
And still today, where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also. So long as we fear sickness, so long as we fear suffering, so long as we fear loss, starvation, exposure, and death, the world will have us—we will remain slaves to sin and death and the world and the worldly will remain our masters. To follow Jesus out of the boat and into the chaos no matter the road no matter the cost, is life everlasting. This is what it means to become a Christian, and it is the road carved out by Jesus for all who would be His disciples.
“You of little faith, why do you doubt?”
Will you follow Him?