What is Rocking Your Boat?

Matthew 14:22 “Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitude away.”
There are several reasons why Jesus made the disciples go ahead of Him and I hope to address each of them in the coming verses. Since He strongly urged them to get in the boat before the crowds were dismissed, suggests that the disciples were unwilling to go without Him. I am sure they were caught up in the excitement that still buzzed around this meeting because of the miracle they had witnessed when the multitude of people were fed from a few loaves and fishes. Or perhaps Jesus knew that there was pressing business in Capernaum that they needed to go and prepare the way for Him, but the people there needed further instruction and Jesus was unwilling to leave.
There have been many times I have been talking to someone when I realized that they only heard about half of what I said because their mind was on the task that I was keeping them from. I also realize that there have been times that I have been guilty of this same thing and I have to stop myself and focus on what the person is saying. Our lives are so busy with things that we need to do and appointments we have to make that we forget that the most pressing thing we have to do is right in front of us. Our minds get occupied with where we need to be and we tend to forget that the most important thing to God may be our ministering to someone at that moment in time. We don’t have disciples to go ahead of us but we need to weigh what is more important, a meeting, our golf game, a TV show, getting home early, the sale at Wal-Mart or showing the love of God to another who just needs someone to listen to them.
Verse 23. “And when He had sent the multitude away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.” If you go back and read all of Chapter 14 you realize that Jesus had been trying to get alone with God since He had heard that John the Baptist was dead. One of the reasons that He needed to be alone with God was He needed to mourn for His cousin. There are many times in our pain from loss that the weight of what has happened doesn’t fully hit us till we are by ourselves and fully grasp the meaning of our loss. It is at these times that we need the comfort that only the Father can give us. We need that time to greave before God and allow His peace to lift us up.
After all that Jesus had witnessed God do at the meeting He needed to be alone with God to give him glory and reflect on God’s grace to His people. Whenever we see a great movement of God or an answer to prayer how do we respond? Do we get alone with God and give Him the glory and pray for further guidance or do we just brush it off. These things happen that we might draw nearer to God and gain a better relationship with Him.
God had worked some great things through Jesus and it would be very tempting to take the glory for Himself. The people had their needs met in a way that was miraculous, and from John 15:16 we read that Jesus realized that these people were going to make Him king by force. They wanted to lift Him up and place Him upon the throne of man and worship him as an earthly king, not because of who He was, but because of what He had done. Jesus knew the nature of His disciples, who were jockeying for position amongst themselves so much so that even James and John’s mother wanted them to have the seats of honor in Jesus’ kingdom. He knew that they would embrace this crowd’s excitement, so perhaps this is why He sent them ahead.
Jesus needed to get off by Himself to pray that God would keep him humble. If you read Matthew Chapter 4:8-10 you will see where Satan offered Jesus the same thing, that these people now did, and His response was; “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” The devil will come at times of great triumph for God and try and steal the glory away from the Father and place it somewhere that it does not belong. We need to give God the glory for His work in order that we are not tempted to boast in our works. We need to pray that God will keep us humble and show us how He can further be glorified in all His work. Our job as Christians is not to lift ourselves up, but to lift up the name of Jesus Christ.
Verse 24. “But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.” The sea that is mentioned here is the Sea of Galilee. The place where Jesus fed them was near Tiberias. John says they were going to Capernaum, located six miles to the north on the same side of the lake, Mark says they were going to Bethsaida, eight miles to the north on the East side of the lake. Matthew mentions the area as Gennesaret, which was the name for the area surrounding the lake. So they were going to one of the two towns from reading in scripture we can find them both mentioned but the works that Jesus did in Capernaum are recorded in the gospels.
Matthew says that they were halfway into their journey when the going became difficult. There are a lot of times when we are sent out to do the work of the Lord filled with high expectations, and urged on by God’s Spirit, only to find the task not as easy as we thought. We are met with resistance to the gospel, Satan’s attempts to come against the work of the Lord, and trouble in our own lives that make us question if we are doing the right thing. We start out on our journeys with Christ but as we meet with the troubles that rock our boat, we tend to loose our focus and question our faith as well as God’s faithfulness to us and we become fearful. These men were experienced fisherman and knew how to handle a boat in a storm and yet they were fearful. So the length of time of our journey with Christ does not ensure that our way will be smooth. The faith that propels us to begin our journey with Christ is soon questioned as the winds buffet our boat and we long for the safety of shore. As the disciples looked around them they only saw water, and the only safety they could cling to was in that boat, as they worked together to get to the other side. As the troubles of life surround us and it seems that it is all we can see, the safest place we can be is in the boat of Christianity rowing as hard as we can to get through this journey of life. We all have times in our lives that we feel that all we do is spend our days waiting for the other shoe to drop, the next problem to come along, the next wave to hit our boat that makes us question of faith, or drives us closer to God. I know that Teresa and I had that time in our lives that we dreaded getting up in the morning for fear of what would come at us that day.
Mark said something interesting in 6:48 of his gospel. He said; “Then He saw them straining at rowing,” I have been atop some hills and mountains where the view is so spectacular, as I felt I could see for miles. To believe that Jesus could physically see the disciples rowing on the lake is not that hard, except that Matthew says that it was the fourth watch of the night in verse 25, which was between the hours of three and six in the mourning. Jesus was alone with God in prayer when it was revealed to him in the Spirit that the disciples were struggling. There have been times in all our lives that we have felt the sudden urge to pray for someone. I have heard stories where people have awaken in the middle of the night with a burden for another that need their prayer, I have felt the burden on my heart for others that I wasn’t thinking of and went to prayer for them. We are never out of sight of the Father’s eyes and He cares for us. We are never alone in our struggles against the waves that crash against us seeking to destroy us each of those disciples could look around and find someone who was sharing the same burden they were. As we share our burdens with one another in the church we come together with a body of believers who will lift us up and share our grief, pain, and joy with us. I have said often that no matter how hard I have it I can always look around and find someone who is going through the same thing or worse. By going through a difficult time we are able to minister to someone who is sharing the same pain. I would never be able to know how it feels to loose a child, but I do know how it feels to suffer through divorce, so when another comes to me hurting from the sting of the waves of divorce I am able to understand a little of how they feel. Look around you any Sunday morning in worship and you will find a group of believers ready to come along side you and share your pain, your fear, and your joy.
Verse 25, 26. “Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.”
Jesus could have gotten in another boat and followed behind them for in John’s gospel it says that when the people realized that Jesus had left and which direction they had gone they got into boats and followed Him to Capernaum. I don’t know which would be the scariest thing to see, Jesus walking on the water, or a group of boats following after them. Jesus could have walked along the shore till He was beside them and waved them in to pick Him up, but that is not what the bible says. It says that He took the quickest route to them, which was walking on the water to get to them.
When you go to certain web sites to get directions for a trip, you are asked if you want the best route or the quickest. By car the quickest route is not always the best route. When we travel to Athens from Laurelville the quickest route is to take 56, but it is curvy and hilly and though it saves you a few miles, the best way is to take 180 to 33 and down to Athens. When we are in trouble we only care that our help comes fast, if your house was burning you wouldn’t care how the fire department got there as long as they got there as quick as they could. If you were in a boat and afraid you were going to sink as the waves crashed against you would you care where your help came from as long as it came fast?
The disciples had never seen anyone do this before so they thought it was a ghost. Perhaps they assumed since they left Jesus alone that the people had killed him and now they were seeing His ghost, and they were sunk. Who would help them now? When we feel that we are alone in our trouble, or that there is no relief insight we begin to loose hope. When all we can see is the waves that crash against us we begin to fear that we are lost. When everything that we have tried has failed to bring any end to our trouble we begin to think that trouble is all we’ll see. Or when an answer comes that we don’t understand we feel that God has forgotten us.
Verse 27. “But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
Jesus speaks to our fear and says don’t worry it is I. We don’t always understand why trouble comes, but sometimes we being who we are bring trouble upon ourselves. No really, there are times when we make mistakes that get us in trouble that we fear just as much, if not more for we feel we do not deserve help in them, than trouble that comes upon us for what seems no reason. We beat ourselves up thinking that we deserve what comes our way because of the sin that we commit. But Jesus died for our sins and took the punishment for them. We may still have to wrestle with the results of our mistakes, but we can call out to God and say, “Okay God, I did it again!” Jesus never tells the disciples that He will stop the waves here, He just says be of good cheer! Not because of the trouble we are in, but because Jesus is with us. Nobody shouts out Thank God I am in trouble again, but we should shout out thank God Jesus is mine, and He is with me. No matter what the circumstance you are going through Jesus is there to give you comfort in them. If He chooses to deliver you from them, or if He chooses to deliver you through them, praise God! God will deliver you, either through or from and we are to rejoice that He is with us in our troubles.
Verse 28, 29 “And Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to You on the water’. So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.”
Peter was displaying a weak faith, as he questioned the Lord saying, “if it is you?” A weak faith, demands a sign in order for us to trust. Gideon says the same thing in Judges 6:12, 13 when the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you,” Gideon’s response was, “if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about?” I know we can say if an angel came to us and told us the Lord is with us that would be all we need to trust in Him in our trouble. But than wouldn’t we be just as guilty as Peter was in showing a weak faith? A strong faith, upon hearing Jesus’ voice, would cause us to heave ourselves over the side of the boat and run to Jesus. Ah but you say that kind of faith is rare, and you are right in thinking that, but it is available to us. Look at David when he faced Goliath, he told Saul that God had delivered him from the bear and the lion and He would deliver him from the hand of this Philistine. When David faced Goliath he told him this, “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you.” That took incredible faith to stand before the giant and tell him that I am going to defeat you, and it takes incredible faith to look beyond our troubles and look to Jesus. That kind of faith is available to us to walk with the Lord despite our trouble.
In Mark 9:23and 24 we find one of the greatest statements of faith. “Jesus said to him, ‘If you believe, all things are possible to him who believes.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with fears, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!’” The man’s faith had been shaken because of the circumstances he was in and he was aware of his imperfection. So he asks Jesus to help him with his fear and help him to have unquestioning faith. It takes a lot of faith to look beyond our troubles and focus on Jesus, as long as we keep our eyes upon the Lord and focus on him we can walk with Him in our troubles. Notice Jesus didn’t calm the sea creating a path for Peter to walk on, He only told Peter to come.
Verse 30. “But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’”
Peter did good as he walked out to the Lord until he realized what he was doing. I can imagine Peter saying, “I’m walking on water, I’m walking on water!” till his expression of joy became one of question to one of fear, “I’m wa-lk-ing on wa-ter?” Sometimes walking in faith means walking outside our comfort zone and doing something we do not understand. Jesus knows this and tells us to keep our eyes focused on Him. As long as we keep our eyes straight ahead and off our troubles we can walk with the Lord in faith. When I was working to overcome my fear of heights I went up the tower at King’s Island. As the elevator rose I keep my eyes focused straight ahead not looking down or to the left or right. As the door opened I stepped out in faith, slowly dragging my feet as I forced myself to walk out on the platform. After standing there for awhile I was able to work up enough courage to walk to the edge and look over. When I flew for the first time I wasn’t able to look out the window at first but as I realized that I wasn’t going to die I was able to enjoy the view from the air. When someone is encouraging another to overcome their fear of heights their advice to them is look straight ahead and don’t look down, Peter looked down and began to sink. Satan would love nothing more than for you to keep your mind on your trouble and tell you that there is no hope, you are lost, and there is no one to help you for your troubles are too great. Satan buffets us like the wind and once he has us focusing on our troubles he wants to keep us focused on our troubles. When we look down we see only trouble and our fear wells up in us and causes us to doubt the Lord. Jesus is still standing before us and telling us to come, to look at Him to stay focused on His mercy and grace, so the logical choice is to cry out to the Lord.
Verse 31 “and immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him. “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”
When a loved one calls you and tells you of a problem that is too great for them do you listen and then hang up saying to yourself, “Man they got it bad”, without wanting to help them? I hope you don’t! Do you think that Jesus just was going to stand there and watch Peter sink and drown just because his faith wavered? I can not hear Jesus saying to Peter, ‘Oh, too bad you doubted me, can’t help you.’ Jesus stretched out His hand to catch Peter and lift Him up. Sometimes that is all that is needed is just to be lifted up, to be encouraged to know that someone is there for you and to pray for you. There is a big difference in praying for someone and praying with them. It is hard for me to have the courage to pray with someone at work when they come to me and ask me to remember them in prayer. I have no trouble praying for them once I am in the safety of my own truck, but what kind of witness it would be to come along side them and pray to the Father right there and then! Oh that I had that kind of courage, that kind of faith.
I had always heard Jesus’ statement to Peter and thought it one of rebuke till I began to study it the past few weeks. I could see His brow raised scolding Peter as He said, “O you”. When your child cries out in the middle of the night from a bad dream, do we go to their room yelling at them to be quiet, asking them what they are afraid of? I hope not, but you go to them sitting on their bed and comforting them, letting them know that you are there for them and it will be all right. This is what Jesus did for Peter as He wrapped His arm around him telling him that is was going to be all right I am here for you. Did you think I would let you drown?
Jesus does the same for us as we cry out in fear because of the troubles that seem to overcome us till we fear that we can’t go on one more day, one more minute, one more second, He comes along side us telling us that He is there, He understands. He sends others to come along side us to comfort us and share in our troubles and encourage us to take another breath, another step and live in faith.
Verse 32. “And when they got into the boat the wind ceased” Notice that the winds did not cease until they got into the boat. Jesus did not leave Peter to fend for himself sinking in his troubles. When Teresa and I began riding jet skis we took another person’s Jet Ski out for a ride so that we could ride double. I was on the back, which I think was my first mistake. After riding for awhile I told her we ought to give the nice people back their jet ski, she suggested that we take one more ride. She took of at full throttle turning the handlebar hard to the right. I was not ready for this move and we lost our balance and both went into the water, leaving the Jet Ski upside down in the water. The current was strong that day and she felt as if she was going to drown until she felt my hand reach for her and pull her to the surface. She said she knew she would be all right because I had a hold on her. The Jet Ski was still upside down and after I figured out how to right it and it dried out it ran again and is still running today, but I still won’t ride on the back with her driving. With the current as fast as it was and Teresa not knowing how to swim and top it off that I thought the Jet Ski was going to sink, we thought we were really in for it. Once we were safely in a friend’s boat and the Jet Ski was being towed to shore only then did we feel at ease. What made the difference was that we were there with friends and we had each other.
When Jesus got in the boat He still had a group of fellows there that feared the waves, and He calmed the wind and they continued on their way. They were still in the sea but what made the difference was Jesus was there with them. We may still experience trouble, but the difference is that Jesus is there with us. He is not afraid to get on the back of a jet ski with us and ride the waves, because even though we make mistakes, and show times of weak faith, he remains with us to pull us to safety and comfort us.
Verse 33. “Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
Did the people want to make Jesus king because of who He was or because their need was met? Did the disciples call him “the Son Of God” because he was or because the wind died down? Do we come and worship God because of what He has done for us? Certainly. Sometimes I come to God in prayer telling Him I don’t have anywhere else to go because I have come to trust in Him and in trusting in Him I have come to know that there is no where else to go!