Jitterbugging for Jesus

For the churches and Jesus lovers who follow the lectionary,* today’s gospel reading is from Matthew 14:22-33.

This is no doubt the most famous scripture about Jesus in the Bible — the one in which he walks on water.

This miracle story is not included in the Gospel of Mark, the first and most bare-bones rendition of the birth, life, ministry, crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Mind you, Matthew and Luke and John took the first book Mark and added layers upon layers of stories that the reporter Mark didn’t report.

Matthew is the only Gospel writer to include the walking-on-water story.

Matthew undoubtedly worked in the story to demonstrate that faith overcomes all the storms in life. He also aimed to exalt Jesus as the mighty Lord, as the one who was “truly” the Son of God,” capable of feats that only one sent by the mighty God above could pull off.

But I urge to you read the whole story so we can break it down with the focus on Peter — and I’ve included italics for the point I aim to emphasize:

Matthew 14:22-33
14:22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

14:23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,

14:24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.

14:25 And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.

14:26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.

14:27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

14:28 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

14:29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.

14:30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

14:31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

14:32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

14:33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Note that the killer storm is still raging when Jesus grabs him by the hand. The fierce wind doesn’t cease until Jesus has carried the frightened Peter across the water and placed him in the boat.

That, to me, is one of the most reassuring points of the story.

Jesus walks over all our troubles in life — all our fears, worries and anxieties.

Then Jesus props us up and walks with us, even carries our limp bodies, through the fury of it all.

To put it another way from another famous scripture, he picks us up and carries us through the darkest valleys, all the way to the light of a new day. (See Psalm 23 here.)

Why should we fear?

Why do we fear?

It’s an obvious fact of life that life gets so stormy and dark as to be overwhelming and we can’t help but have fear.

But fear is an overwhelming emotion, or can be, and nothing good whatsoever within us or around us comes from fear intensified.

Be still.

Trust in the Lord.

Peace.

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*If you’re not familiar with the lectionary, it’s a great guide for Bible study. See here for an explanation.