Our all-seeing God

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake… Matthew 14:22-33

This is just a snippet of a longish story (verses 22-33), but it’s the part that always grabs our attention: Jesus walked on the water!

The Gospels make that statement as a take-it-or-leave-it fact: it’s not provable – or disprovable, come to that. If you are inclined to leave it, all I can ask is that first you ponder its powerful message, and also consider the untold millions of men and women of faith over the centuries who have found it to be almost literally a life-saver. It’s packed with challenging, comforting and thought-provoking ideas…

Jesus has been having a tough time. He has heard the news of the killing of John the Baptist, and feels the need to withdraw “to a private place” – no doubt to pray, to grieve, and to collect his thoughts. But it is not to be. He is followed by a crowd of people seeking teaching and healing – who then need to be fed. This he does with the miracle of the loaves and fish.

It’s getting late, so he virtually shoos his disciples away (he “made them get into the boat”) while he sends the people home. Then, at last, he is free to go up onto the hillside by himself to pray.

Meanwhile the disciples get into difficulty with a sudden storm. So, in the early hours of the morning, he “went out to them, walking on the lake”. At first they are scared out of their wits, thinking he is a ghost. But he reassures them with words that are so beautifully typical of him: “Take courage! It’s me. Don’t be afraid”.

At this point Simon Peter, ever impetuous, declares his wish to go to Jesus on the water. “Come”, says Jesus. At first all is well, but then Peter takes his eyes off Jesus and begins to sink: “Lord, save me!” he shouts. Which, of course, Jesus does, reaching out his hand to him. There’s a little word of loving rebuke – “Why did you doubt?” – and then they are both safe in the boat and the wind has died down.

For me the highlight of the story is in a little detail for which we have to go to the parallel account in Mark 6:45-52. (Why Matthew didn’t include it I don’t know; but I’m very glad Mark did.) He brings the scene vividly to life by telling us that Jesus “saw the disciples straining at the oars”. (Can you see them?)

What’s so special about that? Simply this: it tells us that though they couldn’t see him, he could see them.

The experts tell us this would probably have been a moonlit night. So I imagine Jesus, way up there on the hillside, with a panoramic view of the whole lake. And there, way down below him, is the little boat, “buffeted” by the wind and the waves.

I think this is a perfect picture of us and Jesus in certain circumstances of our lives. We’re caught up in a storm; the winds are howling and we’re afraid, gripped by anxiety over health or money or family concerns or whatever. And Jesus seems to be nowhere. It’s tempting to think we have been abandoned, just when we needed him most.

But… while we can’t “see” him, he is watching over us. And if we hold on to that hope, it’s only a matter of time before it will be proved true.

For Jesus did come. Yes, their rescue wasn’t immediate. Yes, they went through some anxious hours. Yes, no doubt their hands were rubbed raw on the oars and their backs were aching.

But come he did.

And there was nothing to stop him. Yes, they were well out from the shore (John 6 tells us they had rowed three or four miles), and yes, Jesus had no boat in which to reach them. But still he came: the carpenter of Nazareth is also the lord of creation.

If you have been a Christian any length of time you will very likely be able to look back in your life to times when you felt lost and helpless, perhaps indeed close to despair. But now, with the benefit of that wonderful thing we call hindsight, you are able to say, “But he was there! He was watching over me! And he came. And here I am today!”

The events of this story took place in a matter of hours. And there may be situations in our lives when we receive our rescue likewise very quickly. But more usually it is spread out over a matter not of hours or days but of weeks, months or even years: the Christian walk is, after all, a lifetime thing.

It’s during those long periods of waiting that we need to feed on this story, and to remind ourselves of its great lesson: he sees us always, even when we can’t see him.

Lord Jesus, please go today in a special way to those known to me who are “straining at the oars” and “buffeted by the winds”. And if you want me to be the means of your presence for them, show me and so use me. Amen.