S
urely this man is the Prophet who is coming into the world!” In every group of any size it seems, one will find a small group of political organizers. These men were spirited, aggressive rowdies. To them Jesus represented a new leader capable of things their other leaders were not. It was in their mind to incite this huge crowd and march all the way to Jerusalem (even though they were in Galilee -- fanaticism knows no bounds) and demand that he be made king. Had they succeeded in inciting this crowd, their ambitious intent may indeed have caused a revolt throughout the region. Jesus perceived their ambitions and readily saw the threat it represented to not only his purpose, but to his disciples and himself as well. Fanataticism, once unleashed, is so volatile it can easily devour its own in a moment. Something had to be done, quickly.
“Peter,” he cried. Among us, Peter had risen to second in command. Jesus depended on him to lead the us when he could not. “Things are getting out of hand. Find a boat and take everyone to the other side of the lake. I’ll meet you there.” The issue of just how Jesus might do that was never a thought.
“Lord,” Peter responded, “It is not wise to leave you alone with these people. They might . . .“
”Peter, do not argue. Go! They will not harm me.” And so, while Jesus dismissed the crowd, we got into a boat to go on ahead of him to the other side. Amazingly, the crowds at Jesus encouragement, began to disperse and while they did so, he withdrew once more into the mountains by himself alone, to pray.
He prayed into the night. The wind howled through the trees and Jesus pulled his robe tighter around him. I often wondered what Jesus prayed about at times like this. Did he have specific concerns, or was it just a moment to touch the face of his Father, a moment perhaps, of nourishment and strength. It would be a good thing to know what went on between Father and Son at moments like this. In any case, it was now dark and the sea was getting rough from the wind that blew. Even though the wind was stiff, the sky was clear and moonlight scattered an eerie path across the dancing waves. Sail was struck, the oars came out and we began to row.
Pounded by waves, we continued to row into the teeth of the wind. Hours passed. It seemed we hardly moved. We were only about three and a half miles from land, half-way across he diameter of the lake. With dawn only a few hours away, we were exhausted. Backs and arms ached and headway continued to be almost impossible.
Judas Iscariot was the first to notice him. Eyes wide with fear he lifted his arm and pointed with his finger. “Look!” he gasped. The boat tossed. Rowing stopped. The wind turned the boat broadside and swept it away into the waves. We all looked and what we saw sent tremors of terror through each exhausted brain.
Jesus came to us, walking on the surface of the water.
And while the waves tossed, every place he put his foot was straight and level. It was as if there were an unseen road in the water, unaffected by the waves.
Someone cried, “It is a spirit!” Fear of the spirit-world gripped most of us who took spiritual things seriously. We did not understand what or who they were. We were frightened because it was a relatively new thing. A few years ago, few people spoke of spirits. But in these last months, there seemed to be so much spirit activity. Evil spirits. They could do terrible things. And just as we were about to throw ourselves into the water and swim for it (although we likely would have drowned instead) the spirit spoke to us . . .
“Take courage! It’s me! Don’t be afraid.” It was Jesus. He spoke in such a way that told us it could only be him. He said literally, “I AM.” No one else would have, could have said this. It could only be Jesus. Our hearts instantly lifted in relief.
Peter, excited, shouted back, “Lord, if it is you, allow me to come to you on the water.” And thus I learned why Peter became our leader. He had courage none of us had. He took risks. He took no careful consideration of this. Without regard to consequences, all he needed was permission from his Lord. Sometimes this is just the precise requirement of leadership.
“Then come,” Jesus responded. We were astounded. None of us moved. None of us of course, except Peter. We envied his bravado. I guess we had forgotten that we had seen Jesus feed thousands of people from a boy’s small lunch. Had we thought about it, had we realized its significance, we all would have joined Peter. We could have frolicked among the waves never fearing their peril.
Of course, we would not have dared venture out into the waves expecting them to harden beneath our feet, but Peter jumped out of the boat and amazingly walked on the water toward Jesus. At first he was exhilarated, but the water, however capable of supporting his weight was still wet and slippery. A gust of wind almost knocked him down and he became frightened. He began to sink. “Lord, help!” he cried.
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him and said to him, “Ha!” Jesus actually laughed at him, teasing him good naturedly. “Peter the Rock! Will you now sink like one? The only one with the courage to come to me upon the water? How is it then you are afraid to get wet? How could one such as you have doubted?”
Jesus put his arm around the Peter’s shoulders as they came alongside the boat, and as they did so, the wind abruptly died. We were so excited to welcome them that we didn’t even notice the wonder of the thing. We were so filled with awe that we could only say to him, “Truly Lord, you are the Son of God!”
Suddenly the boat jarred as if it had struck something hard. It had. We awoke almost out of a reverie and realized that we had reached land. The bottom of the boat rested on the beach. We were at Gennesaret. How had this happened? The sails were struck. We were not rowing. We were in the middle of the lake and now we were here. Perhaps we misjudged. Or perhaps . . . no, it couldn’t be.
The sky turned from gray to a brightening blue as the sun ascended from the eastern mountains. Air currents swirled softly around us. Fishermen who early tended their nets had seen us. Some recognized Jesus and sent word to the surrounding country. In a few hours, they started again. Crowds of people bringing their sick and begging to touch the edge of his robe. All who did were healed.
