Upon the Water: Peter's Faith

And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:25-31 ESV)

There are a few Bible narratives that always strike me to the core, no matter how many times I've read them. This is one of them, This is a story we have all heard a hundred times. Every time I heard it preached or discussed, it was always framed in terms of Jesus's perfection, Peter's failure, and Jesus saving Peter. The scolding tone Jesus seems to give Peter at the end is the note these tellings typically ended on. I think this does a disservice to the text and what we can learn from it.

Yes, Peter fails at the end and nearly sinks into the water. But let's back up. The disciples are all out on a boat in windy weather when Jesus walks on the water to meet them. After a moment of fear (which I think any of us would have in the same situation), they realize it is Jesus. They see and believe this "ghost" is Jesus. But one of the Twelve goes one step further. He asks Jesus to call him out to the water. He believes not only that Jesus is there, but he has faith in Jesus's power to allow him to do the exact thing Jesus is doing. Yes, he sees the wind and gets scared, yes Jesus must save him, yes he gets a small lecture at the end. We as Christians are generally completely content to stop the story with the lesson that Peter should have had more faith. But here's an interesting thought.

Peter had more faith than you or I have at most, if not all, times in our lives.

You see, all twelve disciples saw Jesus and believed it was Him. They were offered concrete proof through experience and incorporated it into their lives. But one of them wasn't satisfied with that. One of them had the faith to ask for the power to act and walk (literally!) just as Christ was walking. He asked for the power to do what God Himself was doing and he believed he would receive it. And he did. Peter's walk upon the water is not about his failure, as we all will fail as sinful, fallen human beings. It was about his faith and willingness to step out of the boat in the first place. Most of the time, we are the other eleven disciples - people who have had Jesus come and meet them in powerful ways but are content to take that experience and stay in the comfort of our own lives, incorporating Jesus into them where He might fit. Peter, though, stepped out of that comfort in the power of faith. The experience the disciples had affected Peter in a different way than the other eleven: he was no longer content to simply remain in the comfort of his current state, so he asked and trusted Jesus to call him out of it in the power of God. Peter's failure is not the only thing we should take away from this story; we should learn from the way he responded to Jesus.

Shouldn't we all want to be a little more like Peter?