Jesus Invites Us to Get Out of the Boat

Bible Commentary - Matthew 14:22-33

Jul 25, 2023

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Here is a Biblical passage where Jesus explicitly encourages a mortal to do the same miracle that he does.

“Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’ When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’” – Matthew 14:22-33

Jesus begins this story with prayer, connecting with the fullness of God. He is “recharging his spiritual batteries,” as all of us who are in a material existence must do daily. Whether Jesus speaks to God, or meditates in silence, or both, is not made clear in the passage, but the importance of this connection with God to set the stage of the story is.

In the meantime, his disciples are on a boat in the sea where the wind and waves have become rough. The first thing that Jesus does after prayer is take a stroll on top of the water! He walks towards the disciples in their rocking boat, but this unbelievable action frightens the disciples. It defies the laws of nature, as they understand nature, so they try to come up with an explanation. They come up with the idea that they are seeing a ghost, because a material being would be too heavy to walk on water. But Jesus assures them that it is he, the material Jesus, the one that they have known all along. Jesus is able to manipulate the energies of his physical body and that of the water so that he can take this stroll.

Watching Jesus, the disciples become aware that walking on water is, in fact, a possibility for a material human. Peter leaps to this realization faster than the others and, in an effort to confirm that it is Jesus and not a ghost, courageously decides to also walk on water. In other words, Peter has a thought as to the potential of what he can do. He then has an intention to do just that, and he asks for Jesus to confirm that Peter can do this. Jesus says, “come.” Peter has faith in Jesus when Jesus says Peter can do this. And sure enough, he does! Peter walks on water! Thoughts, intention, and faith are all forms of energy which we can use to manipulate other energies, like our physical bodies and water. Peter’s faith in Jesus comes from the trust of “noetic seeing.”

Faith is the “evidence of things not seen.” - Hebrews 11:1

Last week we noted that faith is the evidence, knowledge, of things which are beyond the material realm. Peter has experienced miracles in the presence of Jesus, of things beyond the material realm; this is evidence of a direct knowing of God. He doesn’t just blindly guess that Jesus can be trusted with this new miracle, he knows it. Jesus says, “Come,” and Peter does so. Given his prior experience, he has faith he can do it.

But then the wind frightens him and Peter’s faith falters. His thoughts change, which cause his energy to change, which means he no longer trusts he can do this. Peter begins to sink.

As was discussed last week, unbelief, negative thoughts, and lack of faith all contribute to a failure of accomplishing healing, or, in fact, anything. Jesus calls him out on this very thing, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Faith here does not mean “faith that Jesus is the son of God,” but “faith that Jesus’ confirmation that Peter can walk on water is true.” Jesus is letting Peter know that it is Peter himself who is causing himself to walk on water. Jesus isn’t doing anything, otherwise Peter’s faith would be irrelevant to the outcome. Peter is manipulating energy all on his own because of his faith and is able to walk on water just like Jesus. But as soon as he gets scared, he reverts to his old mindset, that this is impossible, and he begins to sink.

Jesus calmly and fully expects Peter to do the same miracle, on his own, that Jesus does. Although he doesn’t complete the walk, I think Peter gave it a good first try. Unfortunately, at the conclusion of the event, the disciples don’t say, “Wow! Look what Peter did! Can I take a turn now? Maybe I can go farther. Can we have walking on water lessons? Can we do other miracles?” They don’t look at Peter’s partial success and get curious about what is possible. Rather, the disciples offer the same response that most Christians make to Jesus’ miracles – nothing, except to worship Jesus. Now worship is a perfectly fine thing to do, but that isn’t what Jesus is going for.

Jesus is clearly calling us to greatness, right there in the Bible, and we don’t see it. We fear being miraculous. We fear claiming our birthright.

Jesus is calling us to embrace the fullness of who we are created to be, to use the energies at our disposal, to engage all dimensions. He models us and coaches those around him, but all we do is say, “we can’t do anything and you are great, so we’ll sit passively, worship you, and not work on our awakening, allowing our spiritual lives to remain static.” Worship permeates the journey, but it isn’t the destination. As though saying the words, “I accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior” is some magic incantation which is enough to make us good with God, or going to church every Sunday where we sing how great Jesus is, is sufficient for our spiritual growth. They aren’t.

What struck me as I was searching for a picture for this post is that almost all depictions of this story show either Jesus walking on water or Jesus saving a sinking Peter, both moments implying passivity on the part of the disciples and us. But there are almost no pictures of the crux of the story, which is “Jesus invites us to get out of the boat.” Our response and growth is the point. Jesus is clearly calling us to greatness, right there in the Bible, and we don’t see it. We fear being miraculous. We fear claiming our birthright.

Remember, we are on a spiritual journey, and the journey isn’t about how much we can worship Jesus, it is about going inward to the Divine, dwelling in and embodying the Reign of God, resulting in an overflowing love outward to everyone and everything, including God, including our enemies, including ourselves. And as we move deeper into that love, and understand it as the unifying material of all reality, the energy of which all is composed, even the physical world, we can use this energy in profound ways to heal and grow ourselves and the cosmos around us.

Jesus and the Enchanted Cosmos

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