Come

Matthew 14:23-33

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴ but the boat was already a considerable distance^] from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

²⁵ During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and 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 down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Just a short recap.  John is beheaded, Jesus wants some quiet time with God, crowds come, Jesus serves, disciples leave, Jesus goes to the mountain to pray, it gets late, Jesus leaves the mountain to find the disciples, and then . . .

Have you ever been in the mountains in the evening?  It gets dark early!  Have you ever been out on the ocean or a lake at night?  On a lake you can see lights from a distance but out on the ocean it is pretty dark!  In these passages we see Jesus leaving the mountain in the evening and He had to somehow catch up with the disciples that He had sent ahead.  I had never really thought much about how Jesus got down from that mountain at night, I know He didn’t have a flashlight, something I carry with me when I am in the mountains!  Maybe He had a lantern, it really doesn’t say but somehow He made it off of the mountain and now He had to cross the water.  He could either swim or He could walk because He evidently didn’t have another boat to take and He certainly didn’t have any jet skis!  I wonder how the disciples thought that He would reach them.  After all, they didn’t have cell phones!!!  They must not have been too concerned about it because they went ahead as He had told them to do. 

Now it is getting close to morning and they are well on the way to the other side of the lake.  The wind had been blowing so they had made some good time.  The next thing you know they are seeing something on the water and they are a bit scared.  It was Jesus with those famous words, “Don’t be afraid,” how many times have we heard that?   Peter heeded those words and told Jesus to tell Him to come if it were Him.  I always kind of wondered why Peter would put it that way.  Then today as I thought about that I thought of those famous words again, “Come”.  Jesus called His disciples to “Come” when He asked them to follow Him.  He must have said it with such authority that they knew that they needed to go with Him.  Now Peter is telling Jesus to call Him once again and he recognized the voice and He immediately got out of the boat and started walking towards Jesus.  As he walked towards Jesus he was faced with a mighty head wind and I am sure the waves were not small.  He took his focus off of the one to whom he was walking towards and put his focus on what was physically occurring.  At that point he started to sink into the water.  He cried out for the Lord to save him, which the Lord did and they entered the boat together.  Once they were in the boat the wind died down.  At this point everyone in that boat knew that He was the son of God. 

How many times has this same story happened to us.  We are going about our everyday life.  The things of this world hurry us along.  We are not too concerned where Jesus is, after all He has told us to go on ahead.  He will find us when He wants to.  But wait, we see Him in a distance and we hear Him calling.  We quickly stop all that we are doing and we head towards Him only to find ourselves in a little bit of a jam.  Those strong winds of life begin to blow, almost blow us over, those strong winds of life.  That wind may be relationships, sickness, trials of many kinds and all of a sudden we start to see more of our problems than we see of Him.  Our faith seems to weaken and there Jesus is reaching out His hand and saying, “you of little faith”.  It is so true, if our focus does not remain on Him we will be people of little faith.  But, when our focus is on Him it doesn’t matter how hard the wind blows.  When we take the step of faith, just as Peter did, and keep our focus on Him the winds of life will not knock us down.  Then Jesus won’t have to say, “you of little faith”.  I am sure Peter’s faith was stronger after this incident but you know he still had times when his focus shifted just as we have those times.  What is comforting to know is that Jesus is there reaching out to us and the only thing we need to do is reach out to Him and He will lift us up.

When He bids you come, don’t hesitate, run towards Him with open arms, keep your gaze fixed on Him, and seek Him with all your heart. 

Seeking Him with all my heart,

Sheila