JESUS WALKS ON WATER (PART II)

“Truly You Are the Son of God”

By Akin Ojumu

Enough ink has been spilled to turn the ocean black in the retelling of the extraordinary story of Jesus walking on water. If you’ve attended Church long enough, you’ve probably heard one or two preachers sermonize on Peter walking on water ad nauseam, ad infinitum.

This captivating account of the demonstration of the supernatural power of God over nature has been so mangled, preachers of all shapes and sizes have turned it into lyrical tunes with which they serenade self-absorbed audiences with ear-tickling melody of self-glory that satisfies fleshly cravings and satiates carnal desires.

In nearly all the instances that I have heard this story preached, the fixation of the preachers has always been on Peter. Blinded by their fascination with an ordinary man walking on water, they are unable to see the huge forest for the trees. Because of their narcissistic tunnel vision, they completely missed the point of the phenomenal story.

Jesus walking on water is one of five signs in the Gospel of John specifically designed to demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah. It is to show beyond a shadow of doubt the sovereign authority of our Lord and Savior over the laws of nature. This incident happened for the purposes of establishing the deity of Jesus in the eyes of His disciples.

Up to this point, the deity of Jesus was not something these men, who would eventually become His Apostles to the utmost parts of the earth, had fully grasped. They were struggling to come to grips with who Jesus really was.

They understood that Jesus was not your garden variety Rabbi. Unlike the other teachers of God’s Law, He spoke like a man with authority. They saw blind eyes restored, lame walked, deaf and dumb healed, dead raised to life, and demons screeching in terror as they were cast out.

Nevertheless, they weren’t persuaded. It still hadn’t yet registered in their minds that this strange Rabbi from Nazareth was the Son of God and the promised Messiah. Lurking at the back of their minds, it seemed, was the nagging question, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Preceding the event of Jesus walking on water, the disciples had been eyewitnesses to Jesus feeding five thousand men, besides women and children, with five loaves of bread and two fishes in the desert. And they were still trying to wrap their stunned minds around the fact that they had to use twelve baskets to pack the leftovers. And by the way, this feeding of five thousand hungry men by Jesus in the wilderness is reminiscent of YAHWEH feeding the children of Israel with manna in the wilderness. This is another proof that Scripture is all about Jesus.

After getting fed to their full, the crowd was so gobsmacked, they immediately wanted to crown Jesus as king of Israel by force. The crowd, incited by mob enthusiasm, was ready to proceed with crassly political interventions that would have scuttled God’s redemptive plan (John MacArthur’s Bible).

“After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”” (John 6:14-15).

The “Prophet” the people had in mind is the same Prophet whom Moses had told the children of Israel back in Deuteronomy that YAHWEH would send them.

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers – it is to Him you shall listen.” (Deuteronomy 18:15).

And this Prophet, of course, is the Messiah, Jesus the Christ. But the people were not looking for the King of kings who would save their soul from eternal damnation, they were looking for a king who would meet their material needs.

As for the Jesus disciples, they were not all that different from the masses in their thinking. Even after such a miraculous feat, they still did not understand that the man they called Master was the promised Messiah. At this point, their eyes were blinded, and their hearts hardened.

“For they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.” (Mark 6:52).

In order to bring them to that full understanding, Jesus had to show them another mighty sign. That sign was Him walking on water. It was the definitive proof that would get them to believe that Jesus was, indeed, the Son of God.

“Christ’s walking on water was a revelation of His deity. In the Old Testament, only God can control the wind and the sea. By walking on water, Jesus showed that He shares the same abilities as God Himself and is therefore a true deity. Furthermore, the English phrase “It is I” spoken by Jesus (Mark 6:50) translates the Greek phrase egõ eimi. That is significant because God uses egõ eimi to describe Himself in Exodus 3 (in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), and the same phrase is used repeatedly by Jesus in John’s Gospel. Mark 6:47–52, therefore, shows us by recording Jesus’ actions and words that Jesus is the incarnate Creator.” (Source: Ligonier Ministries).

When Jesus’ disciples saw Him walked on water, the light bulb was switched on in their minds. Suddenly, their eyes were opened and the light of revelation flooded their understanding. And they came to the realization that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, was indeed God.

“Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”” (Matthew 14:33).

Being contemporary Christians who are not familiar with Jewish culture of Jesus’ days, we tend to gloss over Matthew 14:33, and we fail to appreciate its weightiness. 

Traditionally, the Jewish people would never bow down to or worship any man. Jews only worshiped YAHWEH. So, it’s quite spectacular to see the disciples of Jesus, all of whom were Jewish men, worship Him. For them to bow down before Jesus and call Him the Son of God, was an inflection point in all their lives; it was a pretty big deal.

And this is the whole essence of the story and it is what it’s all about. The lesson of Jesus walking on water has got nothing to do with Peter or the other disciples. Because Scripture is all about Jesus, the point of this miracle is and has always been all about proving that Jesus is equal with God.

So, when you hear pastors preach sermons about this miraculous event, and they go on and on talking about Peter and him walking on water and him sinking because he saw the waves, they’ve completely taken their eyes off the Lord Jesus, just like Peter did, who is the real hero of this story.

Next time we’ll discuss some of the various ways in which preachers have twisted this incredible story to make it all about you stepping out of the boat of limitations, or you walking on the water of your destiny.