Read Matthew 14:22-36

²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, ²⁴ and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

²⁵ Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

³⁴ When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. ³⁵ And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him ³⁶ and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Let’s Pray.

I don’t know about y’all but the words from this passage have haunted me almost my entire Christian life. It is this very story that actually makes me connect with John Wesley so much because Wesley was plagued with concerns about doubt his entire life and just like him, my biggest fear has always been that at the end of my life when I’m standing before the Lord to be judged that instead of hearing those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” I’ll, instead, hear the words, “Why do you doubt? Ye of little faith…”

And I think it is because doubt is so much easier than faith. We have faith in very particular things, but we have so much doubt in this world. We have doubt in our leaders, people have doubt in their church and its leader, we carry doubt about our safety in as simple a situation as going to the Houston Zoo; doubt plagues us in this world and sometimes it feels impossible to NOT let it creep into our faith life as well. So yes, I admit that I – sometimes – find myself facing a moment of doubt or questioning in my mind on a drive or while I’m laying in bed or spacing off while my kids watch another episode of Bluey. And that doubt makes me think about James telling us that a person who holds doubt is like a wave tossed in the sea, and that ultimately leads me back to another set of troubling waters where the very man that heard the words “my church will be built upon” also hear the words, “Ye of little faith…” and I. Get. Scared.

Has anybody else ever felt that same fear? Have you ever wondered, “Is my faith sufficient?” Because, I think, one of the most common concerns Christians have that is rarely discussed because it brings on a sense of shame is whether or not our faith is sufficient for Christ. I think it’s this concern that is the main reason for so many of our silly theological debates: once saved always saved, predestination, what is sin, what isn’t sin. It all really boils down to: what is faith and how am I assured that I have enough of it to not hear those same words that Peter heard when Jesus pulled him from the ocean.

And, on top of this story being a clear talking point for doubt, I also believe that this story causes more doubt amongst believers and non-believers alike than just about any other miracle other than the resurrection and, maybe, the feeding of the 5,000. And I think that’s because all of the other miracles we have modern day answers for. We’ve seen somebody healed. It’s been by medicine and occasionally in a way that medicine can’t understand, but we have a context for healing. We have a context for wrestling with and ridding ourselves of demons. We call it psychology or leaning into the Lord in prayer depending on how you approach it. Maybe both. We even understand what it looks like to make a little bit of food go much further than we could have originally imagined. Don’t believe me? How about beef stroganoff because that was the definition of stretching meat in my childhood. That steak became fajitas the next night and beef stroganoff the next night and that’s how you stretch an $8 steak into three meals! And, I haven’t seen anybody turn water into wine, but I know I’ve turned plenty of powder into Kool-aide in my day, so I at least have a frame of reference for that in my brain as well.

But walking on water? That’s a tough one for us to comprehend which, I think, is why it stands out so drastically in people’s minds. And, I don’t know about y’all, but I’ve definitely put it to the test in my lifetime. I’m pretty positive that I tried to walk on water at least once at the pool every summer from the time I was about 5 or 6 until I was, probably, about 16 years old. I wouldn’t tell anybody because I remembered what Jesus said in Matthew 6:6 – keep your prayers private. But I would step off that siding and I never even felt so much as a viscous resistance under my foot, and it makes you think to yourself, “Wow…. Just…. Wow. I have no context for reference on how to, really, even comprehend it.”

So, to me, this is the perfect story for us to talk about doubt because not only is it a story about that moment of exposure before the Lord where your faith is laid bare and your doubt is found wanting, but it is also a story that can create some question and doubt in our hearts to begin with.

So, let’s start by answering that very first question: Did Jesus really walk on water or is this an allegory or, as many a magician have tried to recreate and wow us all, a trick? Maybe if we can answer that question, we can at least knock a little bit of that doubt out of our system and see where we go from there.

Jesus walking on water is documented by Matthew, as we read today, Mark, and John. Luke doesn’t mention it and Matthew is the only one who talks about the episode with Peter out on the water. But all of them line up and support each other pretty seamlessly. All of them agree on the fact that this event took place and that it took place directly following the feeding of the 5,000. So, for context, Jesus and the disciples feed the 5,000 and John tells us that the people are so amazed by this feat that Jesus can tell in their hearts that they are about to try and take Jesus and force him to be their king. Jesus, being the ever-humble servant that he is, doesn’t want this so he has the crowd dispersed and, on top of that, we get the opening words in Matthew and Mark that Jesus “Immediately made the disciples go away from him in a boat out onto the water.” Jesus knew that the disciples would be tempted to join into the fervor of the crowd and join in with them to try and make him King and, if you think about it, that really does check out with what we know about the disciples. They thought the Messiah was going to be an earthly king all the way up until Jesus’s death, they were his most loyal followers, and they didn’t shy away from getting caught up in big moments. In fact, they excelled at this.

So, Jesus tells them to go away and while they are doing that, He heads up onto a mountain to go pray. Again, all three agree on this, and he prays and recenters himself upon his father most likely recovering from the miracle of the fish and preparing for the miracle that was to come. But things are about to start getting interesting. A squall spins up off of the mountains and over the water and those very disciples that Jesus told to go on the boat now find themselves rowing and rowing as they fight against the storm. And still, Jesus waits until just before dawn – sometime between 3 and 6pm, the darkest part of the night to go check on them and he does so by walking on water.

Now, skeptics have stated that this is a way of saying that Jesus swam out to them, was treading water next to them, or that he was merely walking along the shallows of the shore as they were just off the side, but John makes it very clear: these men were 40 stadia or about 3-4 miles offshore. And all three of the gospels note that Jesus walked 3 OR 4 MILES OFFSHORE and was close enough to them that they could hear him calling to them over the storm.

Have y’all ever been on a boat in a storm? Have you ever been near the ocean when there is a storm? It is loud! So, yes, I believe we can say that these men were convicted in their witness that Jesus walked on water. Not that it was a trick, an allegory, or a technicality, but that he was standing above fathoms-deep water and talking to them so closely that all three gospels are almost in exact alignment with what he said, “Be of good cheer! It is I, do not be afraid.”

That is a powerful witness and the fact that it is supported by John’s agreement is even more assertive as John is the “oddball” of the four gospels. But what about Matthew? What about this moment with Peter that is nowhere to be found in Mark or John?

In response to Jesus’s presence on the water Peter cries out “If it is you then call me to come to you on the water.” And Jesus responds simply by saying “Come”.

The first thing I want to point out here is that Peter typically comes off as being the weak one in this scenario, but we should remember that Peter is the only one that is documented to have even had the faith, zeal, or courage to ask Jesus if he could meet him on the water. So, as far as fear and doubt go, think about the fact that Peter stepped out of the boat moments later when nobody else would. And because of that, he got to experience something that nobody else did and his experience on the water is made even more miraculous as he was standing purely upon the power of his faith in Jesus while Jesus was standing on his own power, the power of God. So, maybe this isn’t a story about doubt. Maybe it’s a story about how powerful faith can compel us to do more.

Not only that, but we need to understand why Peter asks for this. It is not from a place of doubt or wanting to be like Christ or perform a miracle to see if his faith or power would allow it. He did it out of a heart of wanting to draw near to Jesus. Heck, it might be that very reason that make sit why Peter was able to walk out towards Jesus while I fell into the pool every single Summer. I wanted it to be about my faith and Peter desires nothing more than to draw near to Jesus in that moment. He wanted to be out on the water so he could be nearer to Christ and so he steps out of the boat at Jesus’s invitation and begins to walk…

But then that fateful moment occurs. That moment where Peter stops focusing on Jesus and, instead, hears to roar of the waves, feels the boisterous wind all around him, and that fear comes back and doubt creeps in and he begins to sink.

He begins to sink just like all of us have the capacity and tendency to do when faced with adversity. When you’re faced with adversity, with a situation that is beyond your comprehension, psychology has shown us that your brain goes back to default mode, and you operate out of what you know. That is why SEALS and Special Operators train as hard as they do. Because when they hit a fearful or doubtful situation, they want their training to be so ingrained that they can still operate and do what they need to do.

In this moment, Peter, when faced with adversity and fear, defaults from looking upon Jesus back to a moment of trying to figure out how HE is going to get HIMSELF out of a situation.

That is just how easy doubt can creep in. That is just how easy it is to sink in a difficult situation. And if the story ended there, if Peter sank into the water and swam back to the boat, we probably wouldn’t talk about this story very much or we would have a very different set of teachings that come from it. But this isn’t a story about doubt. It is a story about faith.

Because as soon as Peter started to sink, he did what all of us SHOULD do. He cried out to Jesus and said, “Lord, save me!”

How many times have you, when faced with a difficult situation, immediately cried out or even prayed silently, “Lord, save me!” As soon as that doubt crept in, Peter fought over his default of doubt and cried out to Jesus.

Far too often I feel like I wish I was as good as overcoming my default as Peter was in this situation. Far too often I continue to try and figure out how I’m going to get myself back in the boat and then pray to Jesus and thank him for letting me get there safely on my own…

But the lesson hear is that Peter cries out to the Lord, he resets himself in the midst of troubling waters and as soon as he does it says that Jesus IMMEDIATELY reached out and grabbed his hand. Jesus meets him in this moment of adversity, in this moment of doubt, and pulls him back out of the water. The wind is still blowing, the storm is still raging, but now Peter is pulled up and supported by his Savior.

And I think we read the next part with far too much shame. See, Jesus helps Peter before he edifies him. He doesn’t let Peter keep sinking and yell the words at him while he stands upon the waters. No! He pulls him up there with him and then admonishes and encourages him, “You of little faith, why do you doubt?”

Jesus didn’t tell Peter, “You have no faith, go away from me! You have doubt, you are no longer mine!” No! He says, “You of little faith.” His faith is still there, he just allowed the doubt the overwhelm him in a moment before he recentered on Jesus. Jesus knows what it is to be human. He knows what doubts look like. He may not have had doubt in his Father, but I wonder if Jesus ever had doubts about other humans. He also knows that doubt can be debilitating, which is why he reached for Peter so quickly, and he knows that doubt can be overcome which is why he edified Peter by reminding him that there is no need to have doubt. That faith is sufficient for all!

So, are you going to have doubts? Yes. Will Jesus abandon you in those doubts? No. Do your doubts mean you have no faith? No. In fact, if we put together different sayings of Jesus, we get a pretty incredible picture of the power faith holds over doubt. Even in this moment of doubt where Peter starts sinking Jesus pulls him up when called upon. In this moment of doubt Jesus doesn’t shun or deny Peter or tell him he has no faith. He tells him he has little faith. Jesus also teaches us that faith the size of the mustard seed can move a mountain. Even Peter’s little bit of faith is much more powerful than his moment of doubt.

And, finally, we need to realize that Jesus never leaves Peter again upon those troubling waters. He leads him back to the boat hand-in-hand and as they enter the boat together the storm subsides, and all is calm. Jesus leads him out of the storm just as he is there to lead us out of life’s storms. Especially the ones he commands us to go into in the first place. So, when you find yourself on troubling waters, when you find yourself defaulting back to doubt, remember that you have the opportunity at any point in time to cry out to Jesus and he is there with you, walking on the waters together until you return to calmer sees. Your faith is stronger than your doubt when you put it in Jesus.

Let’s Pray.