Peter gets it!

(Matt: 14:25-33)

This is another of those set pieces that everyone remembers: the disciples see Jesus walking on the water, Peter impetuously joins in, but his faith isn’t up to the task and he is only saved by Jesus’ intervention. “Just like us, so often,” we sigh.

Let’s take a closer look. I will spare you a long block of Greek this time, here’s my “as literal as comfortable” version:

The fourth watch of the night, He came to them, walking upon the Sea. The disciples, seeing Him walking upon the Sea, were agitated, saying “it’s a Ghost!” and cried out from fear. Straightaway Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart! It is I; don’t be afraid.“

Answering Him, Peter said, “Lord, if that is you, order me to come to you upon the water.”

He said, “Come.”

Climbing down from the boat, Peter walked upon the water and came to Jesus. But seeing the strong wind he was seized with fear, and beginning to sink, he cried out saying, “Lord, save me”.

But straightaway Jesus extending His hand seized him and said to him, “Littlefaith, what made you hesitate?“

[ἐδίστασας, from διστάζω, is more like waver or hesitate than doubt in the deep and absolute sense the English word ‘doubt’ often conveys]

And as they climbed into the boat, the wind abated. Those in the boat worshipped Him, saying, “Truly you are God’s Son.”

We don’t know exactly how far off Jesus was from the boat, so we don’t know how far Peter walked; but contrary to the way we usually spin this tale, he did get all the way to Jesus. When he started to sink and cried out, Jesus only needed to shoot out a hand in order to grab him. Peter can’t have been more than two or three feet away from Jesus.

So using this as one more rod to beat Peter with is plain wrong. He walked to Jesus, on the water, on a stormy Sea of Galilee, at night. When you and I have done as well, we will have quite a testimony.

But the way we are reading the story – even now, with my correction above – is still plain wrong. And that is why this post is titled “Peter gets it!” instead of – as you might have expected – “Peter gets wet!”

This was a – perhaps the – Red Letter Day in the training of the disciples, as far as Jesus was concerned; better even than Peter saying “you are the Anointed One, the Son of the Living God.”

You see, for the first time, one of His disciples saw Jesus doing something that was seemingly impossible and thought, “if He is doing that, I should be too” – and got on and did it. And when he lost the plot after the hard bit was done, Jesus didn’t rebuke him at all; the question He asks Peter is a coach’s question. It is literally “towards what did you hesitate?” You can hear Jesus as Peter’s coach saying, “you just walked across the Sea, so think about it: what did you allow to distract you at the end, and why? That’s what you need to get on top of.”

Now, it was only Peter who got it on this occasion (and perhaps without fully realising quite what he had done). The rest of the disciples worshipped Jesus and said “Truly you are the Son of God.” Which He was and is, but walking on the water can’t be the proof of that – because Peter walked on the water too.

In John 14, Jesus tells us that “the one who believes in me will do the same works I do, and greater works than these will he do” (John 14:12); but everywhere in the Gospels, He is making the same point over and over again by His actions and in His words (if only we listened with more attention). To give just one example:

“You give them something to eat.” (And yes, who fed the 5000 and the 4000, in actual fact? The disciples did; they provided the raw materials, and they handed out the food until everyone was fed; Jesus provided the instructions and the blessing.). But like the eleven who didn’t get out of the boat, we are so busy saying “Isn’t Jesus wonderful” that we miss the whole point. Yes, Jesus is more Wonderful than we can begin to imagine, but He was training those guys – and us – to do what He does and moreso.

And on this one wonderful stormy night, when the disciples were all terrified, Peter got it: “if He is out there walking on the Sea, that must be what I should be doing too.”

Jesus was forever asking the disciples, “do you get it?” [συνίετε – understand but in the sense of “put it all together”, maybe even “make the connections”]. One of them finally did.