Matthew 14:22-33 “How to Walk On Water”
Translation & Sermon by
Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 09 Sept 2012
Translation
14:22 And Jesus immediately made His disciples get into in
the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side until whenever He had dismissed
the crowds
14:23 Then, after dismissing the crowds, He went up the hill
by Himself to pray. And after it was late, He was alone there.
14:24 Now by this time, the boat was in the middle of the
lake, being beat up by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
14:25 Then, during the last
quarter of the night, Jesus went out to them, walking upon the lake,
14:26 And, once the disciples saw Him walking upon the lake,
they became agitated, saying that it was an apparition, and because of their
fear they cried out.
14:27 So Jesus immediately spoke to them, saying, “Keep
being courageous! I myself am [here.] Stop being afraid!”
14:28 Then, in answer to him, Peter said, “Lord, if you
yourself are [here,] command me to come to you upon the waters.”
14:29 And He said, “Come!” And after disembarking from the
boat, Peter walked upon the waters in order to come to Jesus.
14:30 But as he saw the strong wind, he became frightened;
then he began to drown
and cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
14:31 And immediately Jesus extended his hand and grabbed
him and said to him, “Little-faith, why did you think twice?
14:32 And after they got up into the boat, the wind quit.
14:33 Then the men in the boat
came and bowed down to him saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Introduction
·
“When God made Phil Keaggy, He was just showing off!” – Michael
Card at the 2012 Creative Life conference, Glen Eyrie, CO.
·
It seems odd to think of God or Jesus as showing off, but I think
our human tendency to show off to others to win their admiration is a
reflection of the way God is, because we’re made in His image. I think Jesus
was showing off to His disciples when He walked on water, but unlike us, He was
able to pull it off without sinful motives, because as God, He really does
deserve to be worshipped!
Exposition
14:22 And Jesus immediately made His disciples get into
in the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side until whenever He had dismissed
the crowds
Και ευθεως-אC
ηναγκασεν [‘ο Ιησους] τους
μαθητας [αυτου] εμβηναι
εις [το]
πλοιον και
προαγειν αυτον
εις το περαν ‘εως
‘ου απολυση
τους οχλους
- Jesus forced
(KJV-constrained) His disciples to leave early and go home ahead of Him -
- Why? The parallel account in the gospel of John tells us:
“Therefore when the people saw the sign [of the feeding of the 5,000]
which He had performed, they said, ‘This is truly the Prophet who
is to come into the world.’ So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending
to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew…” (John 6:14-15 NASB)
- “The Prophet” would refer to Moses’ prophecy from
Deuteronomy: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet
like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.” (Deuteronomy
18:15 NASB)
- The urgency with which Jesus sent His disciples ahead and
sent away the crowds was to prevent them from implementing their bad idea
of proclaiming Him that night to be the new king instead of Herod.
- Perhaps Jesus convinced His disciples by saying that
somebody had to take the boat back to its dock, and He wanted to be alone,
and they needed to get on home to sleep since it was past their bedtime
and they were tired. Perhaps Jesus had to tell Peter, “Look, just do as I
say and go now; you’ll understand why later.”
- The “other side” of the lake to which they were headed was
the North end of the lake where Capernaum and Bethsaida and the plain of
Genessereth were, as we’ll see later (Mk. 6:45, John 6:17, Matt. 14:34).
It would have been three or four miles of sailing as the crow flies, but a
wind from the North or Northeast apparently blew them off course so that
they strayed to the very middle of the lake, doubling the length of their
journey.
- Jesus also had to act authoritatively to interrupt anyone
in the crowd from carrying out a plan to proclaim him the next king, so He
goes back and tells them, “It’s time to go home now.”
14:23 Then, after dismissing the crowds, He went up the
hill by Himself to pray. And after it was late, He was alone there.
και απολυσας
τους οχλους
ανεβη εις το
ορος κατ’ ιδιαν
προσευξασθαι
οψιας δε
γενομενης
μονος ην εκει
- Seventeenth Century Bible commentator Matthew Henry noted
that the word “send away” (απολυσας)
“intimates somewhat of solemnity in the dismissing of them; He sent them
away with a blessing, with some parting words of caution, counsel, and
comfort, which might abide with them.”
- Jesus then ascended the side of the basin in which the Lake of Galilee sits and spent the night praying in the hills.
- Matthew Henry also noted that the Jews were fond of
building private prayer sanctuaries, so Jesus probably spend the night at
one of those.
- What do you suppose Jesus was praying about? We know from
the other places in the Gospels (where Jesus’ prayers are actually
recorded) that He prayed not only about His own personal issues but also
for His disciples and for future generations of disciples, so I expect He
did the same this night.
- 20th Century Bible commentator William
Hendricksen wrote the following: “O that an artist would reproduce this
combined scene: the disciples apparently in peril of losing their lives on
this stormy sea, but Jesus on that hill interceding for them, undoubtedly
including also this petition, that they might be safeguarded against
misleading Messianic conceptions and that their lives might be spared so
that they would be able to carry out their tasks. Seen from that angle,
were not these men perfectly safe after all? And does not this combined
picture have many applications for the present day and for every time of
trouble and distress?”
14:24 Now by this time, the boat was in the middle of the
lake, being beat up by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
το δε πλοιον [ηδη-D,Vg] μεσον
της θαλασσης
ην
βασανιζομενον ‘υπο
των κυματων ην
γαρ εναντιος ‘ο
ανεμος
- Now, if you’re reading from an English Bible translated in
the 20th Century, it probably says something about the boat
being a “distance away from land,” but if you’re reading a King James
Bible, it says instead that the boat was “in the midst of the sea.”
- I personally don’t think that the set of ancient Greek
manuscripts that were recently discovered (and which the modern English
Bibles followed in this case) are enough of a reason to abandon the
traditional Greek text found in the majority of ancient as well as the
majority of medieval Greek New Testament manuscripts, so I prefer the KJV
reading here.
- I don’t have a quarrel,
however, with the actual wording in these modern English Bibles, because
it is supported by the parallel account in the Gospel of John, which uses
the same unit of distance that the new alternate reading of Matthew 14
uses (stadia),
- John says that the boat had
gotten out “25 to 30 stadia” from land, which would be the same as “many
stadia” – or as it is translated “a long way” or “a considerable
distance.”
- As it turns out, the 25-30 stadia mentioned by John
equals about 3.5 miles, and since the Sea of Galilee is 7 miles wide at
the middle, then that is the “middle of the lake,” which Mark 6:47 and
the majority of Greek manuscripts for Matt 14 say, so ultimately, all the
accounts are saying the same thing.
- As usual, God preserves His word despite it getting
variations in copying.
- So, the wind is blowing them the opposite way of where
they were supposed to go, so they’re having to row against the wind, and
apparently they weren’t making progress toward their goal. It was blowing
hard and whipping up waves that are beating and buffeting and battering
the boat and tossing it around. These guys were in trouble.
- I believe that this entire thing was a divinely-planned
setup
- to purposefully put the disciples into a stressful situation –
rowing all night long in a storm,
- then show off the power of Jesus in an extravagant way –
walking on water, for crying out loud,
- so that they would grow stronger in their faith – which
is the point.
- Jesus knew then when He ascended into heaven after dying
for our sins, He needed to leave behind a group of men who were utterly
convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that He was God and their only way
of salvation. I think Jesus was being very purposeful in orchestrating
this exercise for His disciples.
- The disciples didn’t know this of course. They probably
had a lot of misgivings as that storm whipped up.
- Maybe they remembered Jonah and how God sent a great
storm to prevent him from running away from what God had told him to do,
- but wait, hadn’t Jesus told them to go on home?
- What a terrible mistake; now they would all die out here
in the middle of the lake and nobody would ever know!
- The doctrine that some popular preachers preach that if
you become a follower of Christ, all your troubles will go away is just
not in line with what the Bible actually teaches.
- It is God’s typical strategy to bring stresses into the
lives of those He loves in order to teach them to trust Him more and
more.
- Matthew Henry wrote, “It is no new thing for Christ’s
disciples to meet with storms in the way of their duty… Christ designs
hereby to manifest Himself with the more wonderful grace to them and for
them… Christ [accustomed] His disciples first to less difficulties, and
then to greater [The last time they were in a storm at sea, Jesus was in
the boat with them; this time He wasn’t with them, so it was a
progressive challenge for their faith.], and so [He] trains them up by
degrees to live by faith and not by sense. .. Note: Though troubles and
difficulties may disturb us in our duty, they must not drive us from it;
but through the midst of them we must press forwards [Just as the
disciples did not tack about and followed the orders of their Master and
made the best of their way forward].”
- So they’re rowing with their backs to the wind and facing the
shore that they came from, which gives them a full view of Jesus’ walking-on-water
stunt.
14:25 Then, during the last
quarter of the night, Jesus went out to them, walking upon the lake,
τεταρτη
δε φυλακη της
νυκτος [απ-CT]ηλθεν προς
αυτους [‘ο Ιησους-CT] περιπατων
επι την
θαλασσαν
- Roman soldiers divided the night into four parts, three
hours each, so the fourth watch would be between 3 & 6 am; so the
disciples are exhausted from rowing all night long.
- There’s an old saying, “He may not come when you want Him,
but He’s right on time.”
14:26 And, once the disciples saw Him walking upon the
lake, they became agitated,
saying that it was an apparition, and because of their fear they cried out.
‘οι δε μαθηται
ιδοντες αυτον
επι της
θαλασσης
περιπατουντα εταραχθησαν
λεγοντες ‘οτι
φαντασμα εστιν
και απο του
φοβου εκραξαν
- In Matthew 8:29, the evil spirits that possessed the men
in Gadara cried out in the same way with fear when Jesus drew near.
- Now, the followers of Jesus are crying out with fear
thinking that an evil spirit is making itself visible to them as it
approaches.
14:27 So Jesus immediately spoke to them, saying, “Keep
being courageous! I myself am [here.] Stop being afraid!”
ευθεως δε ελαλησεν αυτοις ‘ο Ιησους-אD λεγων Θαρσειτε εγω ειμι μη φοβεισθε
- When Jesus corrects a problem, He speaks into it, and His
words change things.
- He begins by speaking to His disciples in the boat the
same word He had given to the paralyzed man lowered through the roof and
to the woman with the issue of blood, “Θαρσειτε /Be of good cheer/take heart/be courageous.”
- “You men have made a good show of courage by rowing for 8
hours against a contrary wind in the middle of the night; keep your
courage up, don’t allow fear to creep in and paralyze you. Kick those
fears out and trust that I will keep you safe.”
- While it is reasonable to translate the phrase egw eimi
“It is me,” the literal translation is, “I myself am” – the very name of
God given in Exodus 3:13, when Moses asked, “Behold, I am going to the
sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent
me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say
to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall
say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'”
- It was on the basis of who Jesus was that the disciples
could be courageous and not fearful. The only reasonable reason not to be
afraid is the “limitless power and infinite, intensely personal love” of
Jesus. If He were not all-powerful, and if He did not love us, we would
have good reason to fear, but since He is all-powerful and does
love us, there is no reason to become paralyzed by fear.
- Then we can affirm with the writer of Hebrews: “…He
Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE
YOU," so that we confidently say, "THE LORD IS MY HELPER,
I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?" (Hebrews 13:5-6 NASB)
- “Nothing needs be a terror to those
that have Christ near them and know He is theirs; no, not death itself!”
~Matthew Henry
- At the end of His earthly ministry,
Jesus gave the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18ff) and told His followers to
teach the world all that He had commanded. That is why I like to take
extra time considering the imperatives that Jesus issues, word for word.
If we are going to teach disciples to obey all that Christ commanded, we
need to know the orders that He gave. And here are two of them: 1) Keep
being courageous, and 2) Stop being afraid.
14:28 Then, in answer to him, Peter said, “Lord, if you
yourself are [here,] command me to come to you upon the waters.”
αποκριθεις
δε αυτω ‘ο Πετρος
ειπεν Κυριε ει
συ ει κελευσον
με ελθειν προς
σε επι τα ‘υδατα
- The grammatical form of Peter’s if-then statement in Greek
(ei + indicative) indicates that Peter believed it to be true that
it was indeed Jesus standing there and that Jesus is the God of Moses who
was named I AM.
- Some Bible scholars (like John Calvin) believed that Peter
was rash and unbelieving for wanting to walk on the water with Jesus, and
there is a certain recklessness in his request, but then again, when did
Peter ever do anything halfway? (“No, Lord, you will never wash my feet…
What? Well, O.K. then wash my whole body then!”)
- Other Bible scholars believe that Peter was doing the
right thing. Matthew Henry wrote: “Christ is well pleased with the
expressions of His people’s love, though mixed with manifold infirmities,
and makes the best of them.”
- Have you ever seen a movie with a love story where the guy
and the girl are running in slow motion across the field of flowers to
jump into each other’s arms? What if the guy was running across the
field and the girl was standing at one end if the field with her
arms crossed, tapping her foot impatiently, waiting for the guy to reach
her. It just wouldn’t be the same, would it? Christ “comes” to us, but we
also “go” to be with Him.
- Notice that Peter does not frame his request as wanting to
do the glamorous deed of walking on water; what he asks for is to be
commanded to come to Jesus. He loves Jesus so much that he is not content
to stand in the boat and wait until Jesus climbs in, he wants to rush out
to be with Jesus as quickly as possible, just like he did later when he
jumped out of the boat when he saw Jesus on the shore after the
resurrection.
- Notice also that Peter moderates his eagerness with a
humble acknowledgement that Jesus is his Lord and Master. “You are the
Master, so when you say ‘Jump,’ I’ll say ‘How high?’ So I’m just letting
you know if you say the word, I’ll be over the gunwale and on my way to
you, storm or no storm!”
- This submission to the will of Christ is just as important
as loving Him. Once again, I’d like to quote Matthew Henry: “Our will to [accomplish]
services and sufferings is interpreted, not [as] willingness, but [as]
willfulness if it have not a regard to the will of Christ and be not regulated
by His call and command.”
14:29 And He said, “Come!” And after disembarking
from the boat, Peter walked upon the waters in order to come to Jesus.
‘Ο δε
ειπεν Ελθε. Και καταβας
απο του πλοιου ‘ο Πετρος
περιεπατησεν
επι τα ‘υδατα
ελθειν
προς τον Ιησουν.
- Wow. It was some miracle for Jesus to go for a midnight
stroll across the surface of a stormy lake, but double wow for Him to turn
it into a stroll for two!
14:30 But as he saw the strong wind, he became
frightened; then he began to drown
and cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
Βλεπων δε
τον ανεμον
ισχυρον-אB
εφοβηθη και
αρξαμενος
καταποντιζεσθαι
εκραξεν λεγων Κυριε
σωσον με.
- There was another power at work besides the supernatural
one keeping Peter on top of the water, and that was the natural power of
the boisterous storm wind that was streaking foam off the tops of the
whitecaps and blowing it in Peter’s face.
- Inevitably those of us who take a step of faith will have
occasion to have second thoughts. “Whoah, what was I thinking?! This is
nuts! There is no way this is going to work. Maybe I jumped the gun and
was presumptuous. Maybe I heard wrong from God.”
- “Looking at difficulties with an eye of sense more than
at precepts and promises with and eye of faith is at the bottom of all
our inordinate fears.” ~M.Henry
- “You forgot Jehovah, your Maker, who stretched out the
heavens and founded the earth, and you were in continual dread all the
day from the face of the wrath of the oppressor, such as when he set up
to destroy…” (Isa. 51:13 NAW)
- Then all that’s left to do is say, “Lord, save me!” just
like Peter did.
- And God’s right hand will uphold you (Psalm 63:8, Ex.
19:4, Ps. 20:6)
- “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble, therefore we will not fear…” (Psalm 46:1-2 NIV)
14:31 And immediately Jesus extended his hand and grabbed
him and said to him, “Little-faith, why did you think twice?
Ευθεως
δε ‘ο Ιησους εκτεινας
την χειρα
επελαβετο
αυτου και
λεγει αυτω Ολιγοπιστε,
εις τι
εδιστασας;
- Déjà vue! Remember the last time
Jesus had rescued His disciples from a storm on that lake? Matt 8:25-26 So they [His disciples] approached
and woke Him up saying, “Lord save us! We are perishing!” And He
says to them, “Barely-trusting guys [oh you of little faith –oligopiste],
why are you intimidated?”
- Now Jesus says it to Peter, and adds an interesting word: edistasas – why did you doubt?
Literally, “why did you think twice?” “What did you think you could get
out of dividing your attention between me and the waves? What purpose
would having second thoughts have? Peter, you have the courage and faith
to go to the ends of the earth and move mountains for me, don’t let doubts
creep in and stop you! He who hesitates is lost.’”
14:32 And after they got up into the boat, the wind quit
[Ceased/stopped/died down].
Και αναβαντων αυτων εις το πλοιον εκοπασεν ‘ο ανεμος
- It’s like the faith-training exercise is over, and the
simulator shuts down. No more wind; stress levels can return to normal
now.
- And that’s when it hits them. “Wait a minute; this whole
experience was totally under Jesus’ control: The wind, the course of our
journey, the timing, and the appearance of Jesus – it was all a
carefully-orchestrated situation for us to see how awesome Jesus is. No
normal human can do this kind of stuff; He really is God!”
- In the scriptures previous to Matthew, God has already
been portrayed as being able to break the physical properties of water:
- “At the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up,
The flowing waters stood up like a heap; The deeps were congealed in the
heart of the sea.” (Exodus 15:8 NASB)
- “Who turned the rock into a pool of water...” (Psalms
114:8 NASB)
- He even made an iron axehead float in a stream for the
student of the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 6:6)
- “God alone… tramples down the waves of the sea” (Job 9:8
NASB)
- “Your way was in the sea And Your paths in the mighty
waters, And Your footprints may not be known.” (Psalms 77:19 NASB)
- Jesus has just done what only God can do, and so the
disciples worship Him as God.
- This is a step up from the last time Jesus calmed a storm
and His disciples responded by saying, “What sort of man is this?”
- Now they’re saying, this isn’t just some man, this is a
man with the qualities of God!
14:33 Then the men in the boat came and bowed down to him saying, “Truly
you are the Son of God.”
‘Οι δε εν τω πλοιω [ελθοντες] προσεκυνησαν αυτω λεγοντες Αληθως θεου ‘υιος ει.
- Remember, Jews didn’t bow before humans. The word
translated “worshipped” is the same word for “bow down before” so this was
significant, acknowledging Jesus to be God.
- The phrase “Son of God” is also an acknowledgement that
Jesus is the Messiah.
Conclusion – Focus your attention on Jesus;
believe these things about Him
- Jesus is Powerful
- He controlled the crowds (v.22)
- He controlled the wind (v.33)
- He had mastery over the water (v.25) and could even use
the storm as His pathway.
- He had power to save Peter and the rest of the disciples
from drowning (v.31)
- And He even had power over locomotion – John 6:21 says
that they were suddenly at shore and no longer in the middle of the lake
when Jesus climbed into the boat.
- And if Jesus had that power back then, then He still has
that kind of power today; power over every problem we face and power to
control any situation for us.
- Do you believe it?
- Jesus is Involved
- Just as Jesus didn’t use His power to prevent the storm
and make His disciples’ life easy, but used a stressful situation to
increase His followers’ faith, so too, you can expect that God will not
remove all stress from your life.
- However, if you trust Him in this stress, He will meet
you in it and will bring you through (so look for Him!).
- He will not be aloof to your hardship. Just as Jesus was
praying for His disciples as they braved the storm, so Jesus even now
stands before the throne of God interceding for us (Hebrews 7:25).
- For this reason we can take courage and not be afraid
- And because Jesus
is both powerful and involved, we can obey Him even when we don’t
understand. John Calvin wrote, “We do not obey God properly and
substantially unless we simply follow whatever He commands even though it
conflicts with our ideas. God always has the best reason for His purpose,
but He often hides it from us for a time so that we may learn not to be
wise in ourselves but to depend entirely on His will.”
- Jesus sets the example
- We particularly see Jesus’ example in prayer. (v.23)
- He had told His disciples in Matt. 6:6 “But as for you,
whenever you pray, enter into your closet, and after you have closed your
door, start praying to your Father who is in the secret [place], and your
Father who sees in secret will reward you...” Jesus practiced what He
preached.
- Although praying alone isn’t
the only Biblical way to pray, it has many benefits; John Calvin wrote:
“Those who set themselves to pray with God as their only witness will be
more watchful, will pour forth their heart into His bosom, will examine
themselves more carefully, and, knowing that they have to do with God,
will rise above themselves.”
- In this and many other ways,
Jesus is our example.
- Jesus is about the work of nurturing faith
- His name for Peter “Little-faith”
was intended to stimulate Peter to have big faith. (v31)
- Jesus’ question of Peter is a good one to help us
consider how to grow in our faith: “Why did you doubt?” We would do well
to analyze why we doubted God in our last failure of faith. Think it
through.
i.
Was it because you have a hardened heart (Mark 6:52)?
ii.
or was it because you were thinking about the contrary forces arrayed
against you rather than on Christ? (v.30)
- Jesus will get the mature faith that He wants:
i.
Once He revealed who He was, His
disciples wanted Him to be with them (John 6:21), and that’s what He wanted.
ii.
And once He had shown His power over the water and wind, His disciples
worshipped Him as God, and that’s what He wanted. (v.33)
- Jesus is gracious
- When we find ourselves in trouble due to our own
foolishness, Jesus doesn’t say, “I told you so” and let us drown. He
responds with salvation to those who ask for it, even when they don’t
deserve it.
- Jesus could have yelled, “Up!” and made Peter rocket out
of the water and land back in the boat, but He didn’t. He moved in closer
to Peter and took hold of him. Jesus does not become disgusted at us for
failing and distance Himself from us; instead He gets closer to us and
relates to us personally.
- Jesus does not stand there laughing at Peter as Peter
drowns. He is not saying, “You weakling, if you can’t run with the big
dogs, just stay home!” Jesus doesn’t make fun of us and leave us to
suffer when we fail; instead He saves and trains us to trust Him in a more
focused way.