Ghost Walker on the Water

I see a strong parallel between Peter's experience walking on the water in the storm with Jesus and the larger story of Peter's life overall. I believe that Jesus gave this experience to Peter to prepare him for the intense pressures he would experience during the final days of Jesus' life. But while Peter failed to apply the lesson he could have learned from getting soaked in the sea, Jesus never gave up rescuing Peter and finally Peter learned to really “walk on the water” for the rest of his life. The story is found in Matthew 14.

Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.

By the end of this chapter things had apparently reversed in a way from what happened here right after the feeding of the 5,000. What we see just a little later is that because of the intensity of His words and the faith required to believe them the crowds were leaving on their own instead of being sent away and Jesus queried the disciples whether they wanted to leave also. The crowds were eager to “believe” in Him when the blessings were temporal and benefited them externally, but when it came to responding to heart conviction and being asked to trust in something that seemed strange to what they were accustomed to they choose to stay with the familiar. (Read the context to get a feel for what was going on here.)

But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear.

This storm was an external analogy of the internal condition of their spirits. At the time of this event the disciples were very upset because Jesus would not allow the people to make Him king over Israel, and in their irritated state of mind Jesus sent them to the sea to receive some parallel turbulence to the stormy attitude they were cherishing on the inside. The key element in their heart that underlay all of their problems and that betrayed which supernatural spirit they were obeying was fear. This whole story, not only in its context but in its long-term application as a powerful analogy of how we relate to life, is a clear demonstration of the opposite effects of living under one spirit or another. We are either living in fear or in faith based on love. There are no other ways to live. Jesus was living in perfect love and submission to His Father's will for Him. In this event He was strongly resisting the temptation to accept an offered “shortcut to glory” offered to Him by the people and by Satan. The reason He became so forceful in His methods was because that was necessary in order for Him to defeat the intense temptation to His own soul.

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." And He said, "Come!"

It is interesting to note that Jesus did not require a boat to cross the water but the disciples apparently did. That is because the spirit inside of them was so out of harmony with the spirit of heaven that Jesus cherished. Jesus pointed out the difference between their present condition and His desire for them very clearly in His invitation to step over into the courage of faith instead of dwelling in the shadowlands of death and fear. Peter was the only one to think outside the box far enough to let his imagination carry him away to Jesus. Jesus was eager to seize on any hint of faith and fan it into full flame as quickly as possible. In His response to Peter's question Peter could hear the echo of the first time Jesus had challenged him to step outside his comfort zone as a fisherman with his father and boldly leave the familiar for the thrilling terror of risking himself on God.

And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!"

I see a strong parallel between this experience in Peter's life and the events surrounding Gethsemane and Jesus' trial. If Peter had learned this first lesson of faith that works by love more solidly he could have been spared the humiliation of his denial of Jesus and all its regrets. At Jesus' trial He again found himself in a life-threatening storm and needed to keep his eyes unblinkingly fixed on Jesus. When there is no storm we might be able to live in His presence without constantly staring at His face, but when the intensity is ratcheted up we have to learn that our only safety is an unswerving fixation on the face of God without caving in to any distractions no matter how threatening or dangerous they may seem to be. For all of those distractions are designed to do one thing primarily – cause us to be infected with the spirit of fear. And fear has torment which is never God's will for us. Fear will destroy our ability to walk on top of the water in a storm and will always result in dropping us into the depths of despair.

Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and says to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

But Peter was following Him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in, and sat down with the officers to see the outcome. (Matthew 26:58)

The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, "Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly. (Luke 22:61-62)

Peter had forgotten the lesson of the storm and so was compelled to repeat it. But again, the face of Jesus was there to convey to him the compassion and love that God ever has for all of His children whether they are trusting Him or not. Peter had again looked at the “wind” and thereby had become victim to the power of fear which dis-empowered him to live the bold life of faith that he had briefly enjoyed while walking in the storm on Galilee. But just like his rescue from his lapse of faith on the water, Jesus was there to save him when he was sinking in fear and shame after denying the closest Friend he had ever grown to love.

When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "You are certainly God's Son!" When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.

While Jesus does not need a boat to handle traversing across water like humans do, He has chosen to get into the boat with us instead of insisting on us always walking on water. I believe He would prefer that we walk with Him on the water and I believe that that is His ultimate goal for us and will finally be realized in every respect. But in the meantime, God chose to get into the limiting, restrictive boat of humanness with us so we could learn to relate to Him and respond to His love and grow in faith until we were ready to live in full faith and confidence in His power within us. As a result of this faith He has in us while condescending to live at our level, we can respond by worshiping Him and realizing His awesome superiority beyond all of our meager capacity. We realize that we are totally dependent on Him for everything including life itself and we can enter into the relationship with Him that we were created to enjoy in joyful worship and awe. For terror is simply the counterfeit of the awe which we rightfully need to experience in the presence of a pure and holy God. Perfect love casts out all fear, but does not remove our awe of His power and greatness.

And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick; and they implored Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were cured. (Matthew 14:22-36)

When Peter and the other believers finally recognized the truth about Jesus after the resurrection, they were filled with the Holy Ghost (just like the Ghost on the lake) and became little “Christ's” (Christians). They began to work and walk like He did in many respects and people began to respond to them as they had to Jesus. More believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. They even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mattresses, so that as Peter came by, at the least his shadow might overshadow some of them. Multitudes also came together from the cities around Jerusalem, bringing sick people, and those who were tormented by unclean spirits: and they were all healed. (Acts 5:14-16 WEB)