He said, “Come ahead.” Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. Matt 14:29 (MSG)
PART 2 – Peter's Leap of Faith
Go to PART 1
When Rabbis chose an apprentice, they chose one they believed could learn well, succeed, and could eventually become a leader alongside them. They chose someone they believed in.
Peter dropped his nets at the sound of belief. Jesus wasn’t just saying, “Come follow me Peter…” he was saying, “I believe in you, you can do this, you have what it takes to learn my ways.” Included, accepted, believed in.
Many months and experiences later, Peter takes another leap of faith (story found in Matthew 14).
“If it is you Jesus; if you rule the natural world and can override its laws; if you can walk tall and strong in the midst of turmoil, if you really command the oceans and you're not consumed by its tantrums, then I want to learn that. I want to follow you there. I want to be where you are, side by side… If it is you, tell me to come to you…” (expanded).
“Come. You can do this, I am within you and before you.” Jesus replied. (Expanded.)
So Peter leapt over the edge of the boat and onto the water. And didn’t sink.
He walked.
On water.
Like it was hard, solid ground.
There was no mistaking it was Jesus he saw on the water in front of him. Peter could see him and he believed what he saw. Jesus could walk on water.
But then he started seeing something else too. The waves. The storm was raging about him, the swell rose and fell with messy anger, ocean spray filled his eyes and lungs, and he began to falter. The waves were so large and he was so small. Fear crept up from the souls of his feet that only moments before felt secure even upon the water but were now starting to slip on the wet surface, unable to catch a foothold. He started to sink.
“JESUS, SAVE ME…” He spluttered and hurled his voice at Jesus desperately hoping to be heard above the storm…
He still believed Jesus could save him. He believed Jesus was still standing, was still capable to command the oceans and save his life even though they were out to sea with nothing to hang onto but each other… Belief in Jesus was not the problem.
He doubted himself. He doubted whether or not he was chosen. Whether or not he was fit to walk the path. He had been rejected before, would he be rejected again?
Belief in God is a two-way street. We believe in God, and he believes in us. It’s a divine partnership. God in me, me in God. What can separate me from the love of God? Nothing. This is what Peter doubted.
Close enough in Peter's terror to touch, Jesus reached out his hand, grabbed hold of him, and lifted him up. We can only assume that Peter stood on water again at the moment, or that Jesus held him up. Perhaps both. He looked into Peter's eyes, as he always did, and asked,
“Faint-heart, what got into you?”
Sitting on my rock out at the point at Soldier's Beach, watching those young boys leap off ‘Jump Rock’ and into the ocean's deep (read part 1 of this devotion), I felt God whisper the same thing to me.
“I believe in you, so should you.”
Those boys jumped in faith (from Part 1) – faith that the ocean would tenderly receive them, and faith that they could jump. A two-way street. A hope for what they could not predict or see until they did it.
Jesus still walks on water. He sings through the wind, calls to us through the trees, shines through the sun, and glows from the moon… as we tread upon the hard ground, he beckons us to climb higher, to go further. To tread upon impossibility knowing that in him joined with us, we can walk the path he calls us down.
He calls because he knows you can follow. So take that jump, start walking, dive in.
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