This Week In Recovery Lesson
Walking on Water in Recovery
Now immediately Jesus had His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side. And when He sent the multitudes away, He went up to the mountain by Himself to pray. By evening, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea tossed by the waves, for the wind was opposing them. Now in the forth 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. And immediately Jesus spoke to them, “Cheer up, it’s Me! Don’t be afraid.”
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. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Jesus, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.” Matthew 14:22-33 (NKJV)
I love this story. What a moment in the relationship Jesus had with Peter. We can all agree that Peter was the one that had enough faith to get out of the boat. There were two people in the Bible that walked on water. Jesus, of course, but the other person that walked on water was Peter. We often focus on the fact that Peter doubted and began to sink. We tend to forget that Peter’s faith in Christ was quite impressive. Peter did indeed walk on water—an impossible feat.
Peter recognized that Jesus was doing something that was impossible for him to do. He could admit that it was outside of the realm of his own ability to walk on water. Peter shouted out to Jesus, “If it’s You, Lord, command me to walk on the water.” Peter believed that only Jesus could command the water to support his body so that he could walk on it. Jesus responded to Peter, “The water’s nice, come on in!” Peter committed to trusting Jesus. He got out of the boat and walked on the water. Peter did well trusting Jesus until he realized he was walking in the middle of the sea surrounded by waves blown about by boisterous winds, and he became overwhelmed by his circumstance and wavered in his commitment to trust Jesus to help him with his problem.
Gripped by fear, Peter dropped like a rock, but Scripture assures us that Jesus was right there to catch him. As soon as Peter began to sink he reached up and Jesus caught him. He would not let Peter drown in his circumstance.
Here is something else to think about. How far was Jesus from the boat when Peter got out and began walking on water? Jesus was far enough away that the disciples were not sure they recognized him. Remember, Peter said, “If it’s you…” Wherever Jesus was in the sea relative to his distance from the boat, Peter walked on water to within an arm’s length of Jesus. I don’t know but Peter may have walked some distance before he sank and was caught. While it was definitely a teaching moment, I tend to think Jesus had a smile on his face when he said to Peter, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
I imagine that Jesus displayed a grin, as if to say to Peter, “What’s the problem, big guy, you’re only walking on water?” Peter walked on water! The Bible says Jesus was received into the boat, but what about Peter? Peter walked on water together with Jesus back to the boat. I’m sure Peter was still quite frightened even as he walked with Jesus back to the boat. I’ll even guess that Peter hung on for dear life to the arm of Christ as they walked.
- What was the circumstance when Jesus appeared out in the middle of the sea?
- What would you say was likely the prevailing thoughts and feelings of the disciples before seeing Jesus?
- What would you say was likely going through the minds of the disciples when they saw what looked like a ghost as Jesus appeared to them?
- What would you say was Peter’s motivation for asking Jesus to command him to go out to him?
- Think deeper (no pun intended) and ask yourself, what did Peter really ask Jesus to do, and what did Jesus really ask Peter to do?
- What do you think the other disciples were thinking as Peter amazingly seemed ready to enter into the water? Do you think anyone imagined he would walk on it?
- What would you say Peter was considering as he stepped out of the boat?
- What do you imagine Peter was thinking and feeling those first few steps as he actually walked on water?
- Why would you say Peter began to doubt as he ventured further into the sea walking on water?
- If you can imagine it, what can you imagine you might have been thinking if it was you getting wet as you walked on water?
Continue this activity by clicking on this week’s TWRAC 017.
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