Power over the Fearful Sea

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Matthew 14:27

Out on the lake in a storm, the disciples faced fear. They were in a boat a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. This scene holds everything terrifying to a Jewish inhabitant of the world.

For us in the modern, western world, we read passages of Scripture as people informed by science and reason. But for Matthew’s audience, which was the Jewish population of the Roman Empire, nature held rich symbolism. The physical world personified invisible realities.

First is the water itself, as the Sea of Galilee. A sea symbolizes the continued threat the forces of chaos pose against God and creation. This is because of the belief in an actual chaos monster who lived in the depths of the sea. It continuously stirs up agitation and the inevitable danger.

Psalm 104 refers to the Leviathan. In verse 26, it says, “There go the ships, and Leviathan that you (God) formed to sport in it,” The Leviathan is the chaos monster, and the sea is its home.

Next is the wind. To the Jewish mind, the wind is an uncontrollable force of nature. It symbolized evil threat to God’s people as another agent of chaos against God’s ordered world.

The darkness of night would also give the disciples reason to fear. Darkness was a place of secrecy and danger. It was where evildoers hid themselves. The darkness had a sinister, devious nature due to all that could be lurking around its corners.

And then, added on top of all that, the disciples see a moving figure in the distance, leading them to conclude they had seen a ghost. The Bible doesn’t say any of them actually screamed, but this would have been the moment for that to happen. Scripture does say they cried out in fear, so we know that they were terrified.

But Jewish culture also believed every one of these terrors had one thing in common. The Leviathan and the sea, the wind and the darkness were all governed and controlled by God. He subdued the chaos monster. He kept the sea within boundaries. He directed the wind. And he set the boundary between light and darkness with the sun to govern the day and the moon to govern the night.

When the Jewish culture remembered God’s role in nature and focused on his power, then their world became safe.

When Jesus comes walking out to them on the lake, he is wordlessly making the statement that he holds ultimate control over the uncontrollable. Chaos and evil submit to him. Jesus’ presence on the surface of the deep revealed him as possessing the same power and the same ability God has to manage an ordered world.

After the disciples cried out in fear, Jesus reassured them. “Take courage. It is I. Don’t be afraid.” It is I is an expression Jesus used at other moments of revelation. It is a paraphrase of the divine name God used to describe himself to Moses. “I am who I am.” In this scene with Jesus on the water, Matthew connects the one who has power over the sea to the God who made it and sets its boundaries.

Peter detects the divine identity in Jesus’ words so he says, “Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water.”

Jesus only says one word, “Come.”

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. We have to commend Peter. He actually succeeded in taking a few steps before going down.

Scripture tells us, “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid.” Peter lost confidence. He had faith to begin with, but it was too weak to survive his crisis. The wind and the uncontrollable chaos it whipped up among the waves of the sea held greater influence over him than the power of Jesus did.

Beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Scripture says Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. The hand of power and of saving grace reaches out often during Jesus’ time on earth to heal, to feed, to save, to love, and to guide. He reached out to save Peter from drowning, much like God rescued the Israelites from drowning in the Red Sea. As God’s spokesman, Moses reached out his hand over the water and it parted. God alone saves his people from the depths of chaos and destruction.

In this night on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus displayed the same power. He saves from the deep waters where floods engulf and there is no foothold.