Matthew 14:22-31 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Why did you doubt? How easily this walking on water would make any one of us doubt. Peter was doing something that no man had done from the beginning of time, walking on water, a substance less dense than his body. This event surpassed the natural law of gravity. Peter would doubt the reality of what he was doing, but others too would doubt what they were seeing. Jesus tells Peter that he is a man of little faith. Jesus’ comments to Peter indicated men have little faith in the God who can do new things. Our reality is that men do not walk on water—this is an evidentiary reality. But the Lord hooks up Peter’s failure to walk on water with a lack of faith. You of little faith! What is faith and how does it relate to reality? When we consider faith, what is Abraham’s faith that we see in the Old Testament? Today, what is faith in Jesus Christ and his works? Why could Jesus proclaim quite accurately that Peter had little faith, implying in that statement that men have little faith in God’s supernatural ability? In Paul’s discussion of Abraham’s faith, he states, Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. (Romans 4:17) Abraham believed God could do new things that seem beyond rationality. He could make new things OUT OF NOTHING. No man, no doctor, no wise man would have predicted that a very old Abraham and Sarah would birth a baby boy. This whole event exceeded what man thought was possible because this event surpassed what humans could imagine. As in Peter’s experience, Abraham should have recognized men do not walk on water. But he believed in the words of God, the promise to him that he would be a father of many nations. How can you be a father of anything if you cannot produce a baby given your circumstances? Even though Sarah laughed at the idea she could have a child, Abraham had faith in a God who created this universe, making our existence out of nothing. (See Genesis 18:12) God spoke everything into being. When Peter walked on water, he was experiencing the creative God, doing something only God could make happen. Men did not sit around campfires talking about walking on water, such an experience was beyond their imaginations. Isaac’s birth was beyond imagination, the known reality of human experience. When Peter realized he was doing something beyond what was possible, he began to sink. The truth of drowning quickly permeated his mind: Lord, save me! His faith in a God of new things dissipated. Jesus did not congratulate him on the few steps Peter took; instead, He emphasizes Peter’s lack of faith: You of little faith. He could have said, Wow, Peter, you have so much faith that you tried to walk to me across the water. But he knew mankind has very little knowledge of the God they serve: the God who created all things out of nothing, a God of new beginnings.
In the beginning, the Spirit of God hovered over a chaotic existence, a dead, unfruitful place. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2) We see in this description, an earth unable to display life or anything new. Darkness, a dead planet, existed there. But the Spirit of God was hovering, was present across the waters. God spoke transformation to the earth and new life arose from the deadness. Creation was set in motion. What could not happen, happened. A NEW CREATION CAME INTO EXISTENCE. When God moves upon the waters, He changes things. As Paul talks about Christians, so was it from the beginning, If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17) A new creation was made on this dead planet, a new beginning. If ANYONE is in Christ, a new world is possible. Abraham believed in this God of creation, and the result of his belief is that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. (Romans 4:9) He believed unreservedly in the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. (Romans 4:17) Abraham did not laugh with Sarah in agreement with her unbelief. He put his faith and trust in the promise of God that she would have the son of promise. As Peter was walking on water, he faltered in believing the Lord could bring into being what had never been done. He could not believe wholeheartedly in the God who creates new things: a new earth, a new Isaac, a new manna, a new fountain of water, and the like. Peter hesitated in fully trusting God, the Creator of new experiences, new victories. He sank because his faith was too human, to caught up in the knowledge and wisdom of this world with all its limitations. However, Peter is not alone in this unbelief. Mankind struggles with the thought of God, struggles with creation, and with the God of creation who supposedly makes all things new. Our imaginations whither when we try to imagine a new heaven, a new earth, a new eternal creature. We are as Adam and Eve in the Garden. Satan comes to tempt us, and we find ourselves repeating their doubts, “Did God really say, we are a new creation?” The Lord easily could say to all of us, You of little faith!
This theme of newness runs throughout the scriptures. We see events in the Old Testament that are beyond rationality. Our minds try to appreciate and understand them, but the narratives of the stories usually stress our belief in their reality. How could these things happen in this world of physics, of natural laws? When we fall back on logic, doubt creeps in. Yet as with the creation story, the power of God, the Holy Spirit, is evident in most of the scenes. He is the One who leads the children of Israel through the wilderness. He is the one who conquerors the land of Canaan. He is the one who overwhelms the enemies of Israel. He provides food for the widow woman who houses Elijah. He raises her dead son. The Holy Spirit, the power to make all things new, is in the storyline from the beginning to the end in the Bible. This story of faith in the God who makes all things new is part and parcel of the life of Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God. He does miracles and healing(s) that no man from the beginning of time has done. His resurrection runs counter to man’s understanding of the finality of death. Jesus is an anomaly to everything that is known to man. Jesus claims to be the Son of God, following the Father’s will on earth. He said, Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:9) He did new things, miracles that were beyond explanations. His Father is the God of new things, of new beginnings. We are part of that new beginning. We who are IN CHRIST are the product of this God, made completely new. We are known as the born again. Nicodemus could not understand what Jesus was saying, for he knew no man could be born again, just as Sarah, dead in body, could not produce an Isaac. How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. (John 3:4) But Jesus served a God of new beginnings, Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (John 3:3) The story of faith is a continuum from creation to the end of time. Jesus was raised from the dead to newness of life by the Spirit of God. We also will be raised from the dead to a new beginning: one that is beyond our imagination, our logic, our knowledge of what is. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. (Romans 8:11) The question is, can we believe that God is doing a new thing in our lives and that he is not finished with us. He was not finished with the Israelites in Egypt. He was not finished with the widow woman in Zarephath who thought she and her son were going to eat their last meal before she met Elijah. He was not finished with Elizabeth and Zechariah, the parents of John the Baptist. And He was not finished with Jesus after his crucifixion. God is in the business of making new things beyond our imaginations. Abraham’s faith is that kind of faith, a faith believing God’s words regardless of the realities of this world. Peter, after his first steps on the water, realized the realities of what he was doing and his faith faltered. We are new creatures only because we have complete faith In Jesus’ intervention into our lives. We are saved because He came to us on our road to Damascus and in his time element. We are now new creatures, but as Peter, we still need to walk on water in this life, and that takes faith in what God has said to us. We do not quit, but keep walking. God is not finished with us yet. Behold, I make all things new. (Revelation 21:5)
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