Walking on Water - Matt 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-56; John 6:15-21

The thousands of people who were miraculously fed by Jesus were not oblivious to the significance of the event. John records them as saying, “Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take them by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.” It is really an interesting concept to think that you can capture and then force someone to rule over you, that doesn’t make any sense, but the IM gives us some context saying, “Following the feeding of the five thousand, the Savior was perhaps at the height of His public popularity. John recorded that some sought to ‘take him by force, to make him a king.’ What was it at that time that elevated Him in the eyes of the people? Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of a long-cherished tradition: ‘There was a tradition, taught by the Rabbis and firmly entrenched in the public mind, that when Messiah came, he would feed them with bread from heaven… It had even become a fixed belief that the Messiah, when he came, would signalize His advent by a repetition of this stupendous miracle. ‘As the first Saviour- the deliverer from Egyptian bondage,’ said the Rabbis, ‘caused manna to fall for Israel from heaven, so the second Saviour- the Messiah- will also cause manna to descend for them once more.’ Thus, when Jesus multiplied the five barley loaves and the two small fishes, it was as though the traditional sign had been given… In their eyes he stood on the summit. He was the Messiah, they reasoned, and must reign as their king.”

There are a couple of points that stood out to me, first is who the Jews considered to be the first Savior. Were they referring to Moses as the first Savior, who called down manna form heaven and freed them from Egypt? Because if they were, that would be blasphemy because they knew Moses to be a prophet and not a god. Second, if they were referring to the God who allowed the miracles and plagues to free them and then sent manna in the wilderness, as the first Savior, then they must have thought that the first Savior and the second Savior weren’t the same being and I wonder how they thought that they were connected. It’s a really interesting concept if the Jews considered the Messiah who would come different from the hidden God who freed and fed them during their time of bondage. And again, how were they going to compel Jesus to be their king, and what kind of raucous would that have caused, Jesus came to earth to establish his church and perform the atonement, not to reign over an obscure and isolated population of people. The word “king” used in John is cross referenced with John 18:36, which says, “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”

After the people had eaten and were starting to desire for Jesus to be their king, Jesus sends his disciples away on a boat to go “over the sea toward Capernaum.” I always wondered why Jesus did this, why send the disciples away? Was it just to provide himself with an opportunity to demonstrate another miracle, to walk to them on water? That was the only reasonable explanation for me until I realized two things. Many of Jesus’ disciples were from Capernaum, and he must have known how desperate they were to see their families. He probably sent them on the boat to get a head start on the journey home and he would catch up with them later. The second reason why Jesus might have sent his disciples ahead of him on the boat was probably because He wanted some peace and quiet to pray. He just found out that John, his cousin and brother in the gospel, had been murdered, he probably needed to talk that out with Heavenly Father, he just needed some space and some quiet. And a third reason he might have sent them away is proposed by JTC saying, “His insistence, that the Twelve depart from both Himself and the multitude, may have been due to a desire to protect the chosen disciples against possible infection by the materialistic and unrighteous designs of the throng to make Him king. By means that are not detailed, He caused the people to disperse; and, as night came on, He found that for which He had come in quest, solitude and quiet. Ascending the hill, He chose a secluded place, and there remained in prayer during the greater part of the night.”

While Jesus stayed in the mountain to pray, the disciples were having a pretty rough time in the boat, as “the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.” Jesus was aware of their situation, apparently even from land because “he saw them toiling in rowing.” I wondered why they were rowing when they surely had sails, but JTC explains, “They encountered a boisterous head-wind, which of course rendered impossible the use of sails; and though they toiled heavily at the oars the vessel became practically unmanageable and walled in the midst of the sea. Though they had labored through the night they had progressed less than four miles on their course… their sole hope lay in their holding the vessel to the wind by sheer power of muscle. Jesus, in His place of solitary retirement, was aware of their sad plight, and along in the fourth watch, that is, between three and six o-clock in the morning, He came to their assistance, walking upon the storm-tossed water as though treading solid ground.” I’m not sure how JTC determined that they had made it less than four miles, but think about it, even if it was only that much, Jesus still would have had to leave the mountain in the middle of the night and walk four miles to get to them. The fourth watch is the Roman way of accounting for time, they had divided up the night time, 6pm to 6 am, into four “watches,” or guard shifts I would imagine. The first watch was from 6pm-9pm, the second watch was from 9pm to midnight, the third was from midnight to 3am, and then the fourth watch was from 3am to 6 am. I’m not exactly sure how they were able to tell the time back then but I would imagine that they had some sort of system set up for time keeping purposes.

As Jesus approaches the boat with the disciples, they saw him “walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, it is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.” Just to be fair, the mortal mind doesn’t comprehend being able to walk on water, we know through a lifetime of our own experience that water will not hold the weight of a human body. In their minds, the only logical explanation for a figure to appear above the water is for it to be a ghost, which is interesting if we consider that seeing a ghost is the reasonable explanation. The IM quotes Elder Jeffrey R. Holland as teaching, “This scriptural account reminds us that the first step in coming to Christ- or his coming to us- may fill us with something very much like sheer terror. It should, but it sometimes does. One of the grand ironies of the gospel is that the very source of help and safety being offered us is the thing form which we may, in our mortal shortsightedness, flee. For whatever the reason, I have seen investigators run from baptism, I have seen elders run from a mission call, I have seen sweethearts run from marriage, and I have seen young couples run from the fear of families and the future. Too often too many of us run from the very things that will bless us and save us and soothe us. Too often we see gospel commitments and commandments as something to be feared and forsaken.” I have experienced this in my own life, I waited a really long time to go to the temple, years longer than I should have, but I wasn’t ready, and I was afraid of the commitment. I have also been terrified to do some of the things that the Spirit has told me that I personally need to do to grow spiritually. It doesn’t make any sense but I resist because I’m scared.

Jesus knew that they were afraid “but straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” They were struggling and he came to help them. The IM quotes Sister Susan W. Tanner as teaching, “I know that (the Lord’s) tender mercies and His miracles, large and small, are real. They come in His way and on His timetable. Sometimes it is not until we have reached our extremity. Jesus’ disciples on the Sea of Galilee had to toil in rowing against a contrary wind all through the night before Jesus finally came to their aid. He did not come until the ‘fourth watch,’ meaning near dawn. Yet He did come.”  Peter is a really interesting guy because he responds to the Savior’s announcement that he is there saying, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.” JTC points out some of the reasons why Peter walking on the water as well is significant, saying, “From Peter’s remarkable experience, we learn that the power by which Christ was able to walk the waves could be made operative in others, provided only their faith was enduring. It was on Peter’s own request that he was permitted to attempt the feat. Had Jesus forbidden him, the man’s faith might have suffered a check; his attempt, though attended by partial failure, was a demonstration of the efficacy of faith in the Lord, such as no verbal teaching could ever have conveyed.” Here is another example of a miracle performed by Jesus that was able to be done by others through their faith. It is truly remarkable what we can do as people if we just believe that we can. I’m going to have to think about this.

As Peter probably shuffles out of the boat and onto the water towards Jesus, I’m sure that he was awed and amazed. I couldn’t imagine what was going on in his head the whole time, there was probably a complete disconnect because a man who had spent his whole life immersed in the principle that water is dangerous and can kill you, was now being suspended on the water’s surface, it probably flew in the face of all of his understanding about life and the world. The water was stormy “but when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” There is no way that Peter’s weight could have been supported by the water, except it be through an act of God, and what should have happened when he began to doubt was that he should have fallen through the surface of the water and been fully submerged within a matter of microseconds, the same as if he would have jumped off the side of the boat. But instead of going from suspension to full submersion, Peter slowly starts to sink, and he’s lowered at such a rate that he still has time to recognize his situation, call out for Jesus’ help, and for Jesus to take him by the hand and pull him out of the water. I’ve always thought that that was a strange part of the story, clearly, once his supernatural ability started to fade, Peter should have been dropped into the water like a rock, (no pun intended). Peter slowly sinking into the sea makes no more sense physically than it does for him to be fully walking on the surface, which demonstrates to me that this whole scenario was under the Savior’s control the whole time, and Peter didn’t start to sink because his doubt negated the special forces that were keeping him suspended, he started sinking because Jesus chose for him to learn a certain lesson. The fact that Peter sank slowly illustrates the Lord’s mercy and long suffering with us. If Peter had been walking along, then started to doubt, and immediately dropped through the surface, into the water like a bag of sand, it would have been instantaneous, and dire, consequences resulting from a moment’s hesitation. Jesus doesn’t do us like that, he gives us time and opportunities to reach out to him, he doesn’t support our doubts, but he doesn’t throw us away the moment we start questioning things either. He is patient, he is merciful, he let’s us learn from our mistakes, but he also helps to teach us the lesson in a way that preserves us and helps us grow spiritually.

The IM quotes President Howard W. Hunter as commenting that Peter sank because he let his focus fall from the Savior, saying, “Peter sprang over the vessel’s side and into the troubled waves, and while his eyes were fixed upon the Lord, the wind might toss his hari and the spray might drench his robes, but all was well. Only when with wavering faith he removed his glance from the Master to look at the furious waves and the black gulf beneath him, only then did he begin to sink. Again, like most of us, he cried, ‘Lord, save me.’ Nor did Jesus fail him. He stretched out his hand and grasped the drowning disciples with the gentle rebuke, ‘O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?’” Another excellent point made is the IM quoting Sister Patricia P. Pinegar saying, “What are the winds boisterous in our lives? What are the things that distract us from the Savior, that turn out hearts and our minds away from Him? It may be thinking more about pleasing our friends or other people than we do about pleasing God. It may be the loud and confusing voices we hear on tv, in videos, in music. Sometimes we just don’t care. Our hearts are hard. There will always be distractions, winds boisterous, but if we choose to turn to the Lord, to believe in Him, to follow Him, we can increase our faith.”