Meditations on Matthew 14:22-36

Meditation #12

A Conclusion and A Challenge

Peter was changed. Jesus had taught him how to walk on water. More significantly, He had taught Peter that he could NOT walk on water without Him. Peter was changed. His world had been turned upside down, and now, in Christ, Peter and his fellow disciples were destined to turn the world upside down for Christ. The disciples’ lives and perspective had been altered by their encounter with Jesus on the water. They had gone before Him as He commanded, and that made them more faithful followers.

But how can we who are few in number turn anything upside down? Who are we? We are so small and insignificant. Yet, we know that God took 12 insignificant men from a rural setting within a tiny nation living under foreign occupation, and turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). God changed the world through 12 disciples, men who learned obedience, and who trusted Jesus to carry them through the storms of life. We may look around us and say that things are different today, that the world is out of control like never before, and that the Church is losing her focus and abandoning the faith. But God can and will use a remnant of the Church, if we trust Him. He is looking for those who put their faith in Him, not in the safety of the boat—the things we have trusted in the past. He wants men and women who are not afraid to step out of the boat and onto the waves; those who will keep their eyes on Jesus and walk on the water.

Throughout history God has used the least and most insignificant people to accomplish His greatest acts. Just look at Mary, a virgin girl from Nazareth. And as Nathaniel asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). In 2 Chronicles, we read that in the midst of the series of unrighteous kings of Judah, God raised up Hezekiah. He cried out to the people to return to the Lord. He sent messengers to all of the cities of Judah and Israel saying, “O people of Israel, return to the Lord…that He may turn again to the remnant of you…Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord…and serve the Lord your God…For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.” However, sadly, many would not heed God’s call. When the messengers came to them, “they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.” But to those who heeded the call, “the hand of God was upon them to give them one heart to do what what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord” (30:6-12)

As I noted in the introduction to these meditations, we are living in uncertain times. Moving forward from here we must move together in Christ. Change is inevitable, and much of it is out of our control. But how do we navigate through these confusing times? We need direction—we need to keep our eyes on Jesus. The disciples’ world was turned upside down. The world needs to be turned upside down once more. The world needs Christ, though they do not know it. And the world needs the Church to be that transforming presence to bring light and truth to our culture and society that has gone off the rails. We don’t have the answers, but Christ does! Will we listen? Will we seek to be obedient to His direction?

It matters not how small and insignificant we think we are. In Christ we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). Think of God’s heroes in the past. Moses was a stutterer, and pleaded with the Lord to “send, I pray, some other person” (Exodus 4:13). David was the youngest and smallest of his clan (1 Samuel 16), but he felled Goliath (1 Samuel 17). Jeremiah was “but a youth” (Jer. 1:7), yet God “set [him] over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant” (1:10). Isaiah was “a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5), and the greatest of Messianic prophets. Paul was a persecutor of the Church (Philippians 3:6), and the Apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 11:13). But all of these “lesser” men were used by God to bring the Lord’s reign and rule to mankind. And today, God is looking for those lesser saints who practice obedience and walk in faith in Christ Jesus. He will equip the weak to minister in His strength. Will we listen? Will we seek to be obedient to His direction? If we keep our eyes on Jesus we will walk on water through the coming storm.

God is looking for you, and if you will obey His will, you, too, will walk on water and turn this world upside down.

Meditations on Matthew 14:22-36

Meditation #11 — verse 33

“When [Peter and Jesus] got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘Truly You are the Son of God.’”

Are we in the boat again? Yes! And the storm, has it ceased? Yes! Praise the Lord! What a wild ride. It’s over! No. We are in the boat, and the boat continues to sail. Yet, there is still a pilgrimage ahead for us. Matthew says, “those in the boat worshiped Him…” The reality of who Jesus is began to dawn on the disciples: “Truly You are the Son of God.” They were only halfway across the sea. There was much more in store for them in their discipleship. And there is much more in store for us. This encounter with Christ in His Holy Word is only an interim step—it is only chapter 14 of 28 chapters of our life in Christ. If you will, we have only begun to walk on water.

Worship is the key. Worship is “giving worth” to Jesus. It is an acknowledgment of His divinity, His reign and rule in our lives. But all too often, when the storms have passed and the quiet comes again, we let down our guard and take our focus off of the Lord. We fail to take the time to “give Him worth”. We take control again of our own lives, and our relationship with Him cools. The thrill of recognizing the Lord’s presence in those moments of need, or the love and the excitement we had when we first met the Lord begins to wane when the moment passes. We find ourselves vulnerable to passivity or lukewarmness. And the Lord warns us against such. In Revelation chapter 2, Jesus tells the church at Ephesus, “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance…but I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” And to the church in Laodicea (chapter 3), Jesus says, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.” Then He exhorts them, saying, “Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous…”

This calling of Jesus to walk on water is not a one-time event. It is a way of life. To keep our eyes on Jesus is to show Him worth—it is our worship. When we walk in intimate relationship with Him we WILL walk on water. Truly He is the Son of God. Truly He is the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Our life is in Him. We need to reclaim that life, not abandoning the love we had at first, and not settling for lukewarmness. But let us embrace our Lord’s exhortation to be zealous for Him. To worship Him.

Yes, we are back in the boat. We are safe. But this boat is still under full sail. We are many furlongs from land and sailing over the open seas. There will be storms. The winds will be against us. We will be beaten, and it will be very dark from time to time. But if we persevere and keep our eyes on Jesus we will prevail. We will walk on water.

Meditations on Matthew 14:22-36

Meditation #10 — verse 31

“O man of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Doubt is not death. Doubt can be an impediment to progress, and a stumbling block to faith, but it need not be fatal. As has been noted, even at the Resurrection of Jesus, “when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted” (Matthew 28:17). And the apostle who is affectionately known as “Doubting Thomas” was the first to proclaim Jesus as “my Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). We worship the Lord, yet even in our times of intimacy with Him doubts can niggle their way into our minds. We make mistakes. We have doubts. We stumble. We fall. We are learning how to walk. Jesus is teaching us how to walk on water, to keep our focus on Him.

When Jesus rescued Peter he said, “O man of little faith, why did you doubt?” What doubt did Peter express, and when? Was the doubt when Peter said, “If it is you?”, or when he “saw the wind”? Maybe it was when “he was afraid”. We are all guilty of doing these things from time to time. We question—is it You, Lord? We see the wind and storms about us and fear for ourselves and our loved ones. Why do men and women of faith suffer? Or as the Jewish writer, Harold Kushner, asked, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”. But there is hope! King David reminds us that “Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19). And even in his time of doubt, as he was sinking beneath the waves, Peter cried out, “Lord, save me”, and “Jesus immediately reached out His hand and caught him.”

It is easy for us, wandering through this troubled world, to fall into anxiety and fear. But, like Peter, when the storm threatens to overwhelm us we can call upon the Lord. Isaiah gave us God’s promise saying, “Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). And St. Paul reminds us to “have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). Though doubts and fears can occasionally rear their ugly heads, the Lord is always near. The good news is that when we cry out, “Lord, save me”, He does!

So, let us, like Peter, not be afraid, nor too proud, to cry out to the Lord in our distress and say, “Lord, save me.” Or like the father of the child whose son was possessed turn to Jesus and cry out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). There was much work that Peter had yet to do for the Kingdom. And there is a world beyond the doors of our church which is dying for the ministry of the Kingdom. The enemy would want to sow doubts into our minds and spirits, but let us, with Paul stand firm in the assurance of our Lord that we “can do all things in him who strengthens us” (Philippians 4:13).

Meditations on Matthew 14:22-36

Meditation #9 — verse 30

“When he saw the wind, he was afraid…”

Can you see the wind? Jesus told Nicodemus that “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going…” (John 3:8). We can’t see the wind. We can see the effect of the wind on our environment. We can feel it. But we can’t see it. The presence of the wind is made manifest in how it affects the environment. Jesus finished His observation on the wind to Nicodemus, saying, “you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going, so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.” Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. Did Peter see the wind—its effect? Or did Peter witness the power of the Holy Spirit at work in Jesus? Whichever it was that Peter witnessed, “he was afraid”.

As was noted in the sixth meditation, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). Peter could not understand what was happening, and he made a rash decision. Now he was on the water and having doubts. What was it that motivated him to make such an irrational request of Jesus? Peter may have remembered that when he first met Jesus, the Lord climbed into his boat and convinced Peter to go back out onto the lake and cast his net (Luke 5:4-11). He remembered that Jesus did a miracle that day. He remembered that Jesus calmed the storm on this very sea. He had seen Jesus cast out demons, heal the sick and paralyzed. But Jesus hasn’t calmed this storm. He can feel the wind and see the tumult that it is causing. Peter was looking at everything except Jesus who was standing on the water directly in front of him.

There is a very real temptation for us to not only focus on the current storm, but to focus on what the Lord has done for us in the past. We want an encore. But Jesus said, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). He is not into encore performances. Moses made the mistake of expecting an encore, and it cost him dearly. In Exodus 17, as the people were wandering in the wilderness, there was no water. And the Lord told Moses, “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so…” (vs. 6). Then later in their wilderness trek they came to a waterless place. The people thirsted. This was familiar. The Lord told Moses, “Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water; so you shall bring water out of the rock for them; so you shall give drink to the congregation and their cattle” (Numbers 20:8). But Moses, remembering what the Lord had done for them at Horeb, says to the people, “‘Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?’ And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his rod twice; and water came forth abundantly…” (vs. 10). Moses didn’t give God the credit or the glory for this miracle. He said, “shall we (Moses and Aaron) bring forth water…” So, God rebukes Moses, saying, “Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them” (vs. 12). Moses had seen what the Lord had done at Horeb. Then at Kadesh, in similar circumstances, he expected God to do it again. He took his eyes off of the Lord, and failed to hear the Lord’s clear directive.

It is not a matter of remembering how Jesus has worked in our lives and expecting Him to do it again. If we are going to walk on water, we will do it in Christ. We will walk in a living relationship with Him, in this moment, in the present. We can learn from the past, and look to the future with anticipation and expectation, but we must live in the moment. We must walk our walk in Christ.

Meditations on Matthew 14:22-36

Meditation #8 — verse 29

Jesus said, “Come.”

Jesus said, “Come.” “So, Peter got out of the boat…” Yes, the safety of the boat, the bulwark against the storm, the comfort of the familiar, “…and [he] walked on the water…” But what if he had not? What if he had stayed in the boat? That is not an option in the Lord. If the Lord calls, we must follow.

If Peter had stayed in the boat, would the Lord have continued on by? Would provision have been made for the other 11? Or would Peter’s disobedience have doomed the others? Our disobedience affects not only ourselves but the whole Body of Christ. We see evidence of this truth in the Book of Joshua. After Israel’s triumph over Jericho they were told to destroy all of the “devoted things” they found in the city (Joshua 6:18). But “Achan the son of Carmi…took some of the devoted things; and the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel…The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant which I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, and lied, and put them among their own stuff’” (Joshua 7:1-2,10-11). It wasn’t ALL of Israel that transgressed, but only Achan. Nevertheless, one man’s sin doomed the Body. Thirty-six men of Israel were killed in the attack on the city of Ai, and their army was repelled (Joshua 7:4-5). But Peter stood firm in the Lord. He put his eyes firmly on Jesus and stepped out on the water. With his eyes on Jesus, he was able to stay above the storm. He wasn’t walking on the water so much as walking in the Lord.

I want to believe that the worst of walking through the stormy seas is over for us as a parish, but I know that’s not true. The closer we come to the Lord, the easier it will be to focus on Him, but the greater the threat to the devil. He is a deceiver. He is a liar! He will do all he can to distract us and try to draw our focus back onto the things of this world and the storms raging about us. And Jesus is there, in the storm. He says, “Come”. It is always tempting to stay in the relative safety of the boat. And the enemy would want us to believe that Jesus would desire us to be “safe”. But that is deception. That is the lie! Jesus would have us crucify the doubts, and cast off the sin of disobedience. When He invites us to come, He provides the support to stand, even on the water in the wind and waves.

It is interesting to note that St. James equates doubting with stormy seas. He says that when a person petitions the Lord, “let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6). Our doubts and disobedience make the storm more severe. The Lord knows what it is to walk on water through the storm. He understands our doubts and fears. And He knows what we need to walk through the difficult times. If we keep our eyes on Jesus we too can walk on water. Let us stand firm in Him. Peter doubted, but the Lord turned his doubt to faith. The Lord called. He said, “Come”. Peter responded. “Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus…” (Mt. 14:29). Will we?

Meditations on Matthew 14:22-36

Meditation #7 — verse 28

“Lord, if it is You, bid me come to you…”

Now the story takes an interesting turn. The disciples were in a boat sailing across the Sea of Galilee to the other side. They ran into a storm. Jesus appears to them, walking on the water. We’ve seen a similar scenario before. But this time He doesn’t get into the boat with them. He doesn’t calm the storm for them. He simply speaks a comforting word, “Take heart, it is I; have no fear.” When He doesn’t still the storm doubts begin to rise. Peter, in all of his bravado and bluster replies, “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.” Why would he do that? Does He not know that it is Jesus? “If it is You…?”

This is the challenge for us. When bad things happen and storms are raging around us, Jesus comes. But what if the storms fail to subside, do we believe His comforting words? Do we recognize Him? Can we believe that God allows bad things to happen even if Jesus is standing right there in front of us? And when these bad things happen why would Jesus appear to be a passive observer? Why doesn’t He make it all go away? It is easy to see how Peter might have doubts.

“If it is You…” Was Peter testing the spirit? St. John teaches that we are to do just that: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God…” (1 John 4:1). So Peter tests the spirit: “bid me come to you on the water.” What a puzzling test. Why call for a test that puts yourself at risk? There are other Biblical characters who put God to the test. Gideon asked for a sign. After God called Him, he said, “I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that thou wilt deliver Israel by my hand…” (Joshua 6:37). To be sure, Gideon reversed the test, “Then Gideon said to God, ‘pray, let it be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew’” (6:39). A very safe test. When Elijah asked for a sign in his battle with the prophets of Baal, he told them, “you call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” (1 Kings 18:24). But the fire fell on the altar not on Elijah. Again, a very safe test. Peter asks to walk on water. If this ghost is not of the Lord, he’s going to drown. In a storm. In front of friends.

But it was Jesus, and Peter did walk on water. Then he failed because he took his eyes off of Jesus. It wasn’t so much that Peter was walking on the waters of the sea, he was walking in his relationship with Jesus. The Lord was carrying him over the waves, the winds, and through the relentless storm. When the storms are raging around us, can we see Jesus? Are we looking for Him? And seeing Him, can we keep our eyes on Him? Is He actually there? God wants us to walk on the water—to walk in our relationship with Jesus. Can we believe that God might actually be calling us to come through the storm instead of rescuing us from its ravages? Would God actually ask us to walk on water?

“If it is You…” Too often, like Peter, we have our doubts. But Jesus is there with us in the midst of the storm. Yes, He can still the storm. But He can just as surely quieten our souls. If we keep our eyes on Jesus, we too can walk on water.

Meditations on Matthew 14:22-36

Meditation #6 — verse 25

“In the fourth watch of the night He came to them…”

The Sea of Galilee is really not much more than a large lake. It is only thirteen miles long from north to south, and only 8 miles wide from east to west. But it is almost 700 feet below sea level, surrounded by mountains and prone to unpredictable weather. The waters of Galilee tend to be very warm. The heavier, cooler air of the surrounding mountains cascades down, particularly at night, and meets the warm rising air from the water. As the two clash, the result is often a sudden and violent storm. This is what the disciples faced that night. They had been on the water almost all night, and though it should have been a short trip, they were facing unfavorable winds. They were exhausted. Then Jesus came to them. He came to them as He had promised. He had sent them, not without Him, but before Him. He did not expect them to finish the course without Him. “He came to them, walking on the sea.”

And yet, everything was wrong. They were geared to fear. They were not looking for Jesus. The disciples had left Him behind. When He appeared they were surprised. They thought He was a ghost and were terrified. “They cried out for fear” (vs. 26). Jesus’ appearance to us can be very frightening when we are not looking for Him. If we are concentrating on the storm and darkness, then when Jesus comes to us we are not prepared to greet Him. His presence, His power becomes a source of fear, not comfort. “It’s a ghost!” Yes. It is the Holy Ghost—the Spirit of God present in Jesus. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

Our Lord’s appearance need not be frightening. If we have eyes to see, and ears to hear, the Spirit of God is the “Comforter” (John 14.26). Jesus said to the disciples (and to us), “Take heart, it is I; have no fear” (Matt. 14:27). The disciples knew His voice. Some were comforted, “but some doubted” as they did at the Resurrection (Matthew 28:17). But we must watch and wait for Him. Jesus warned His disciples just before His arrest and Passion, “What I say to you I say to all: Watch” (Mark 13:37). And the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews said, “Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear…to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (9:28). We are to watch and wait, to eagerly expect the Lord at any time.

The words that Jesus said in a parable in Luke’s Gospel give us a nice, comforting summary for this meditation. “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour” (Luke 12:37-40).

Meditations on Matthew 14:22-36

Meditation #5 — verse 24

“The boat was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves;

for the wind was against them.”

“When evening came, He was there alone, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land…” Jesus sent them ahead. It was necessary that they go. In obedience the disciples departed and began to sail across the Sea of Galilee to the other side. Then they ran into a storm. It had been brewing on the horizon; they knew it was coming. Could they not have sailed around it? Could they not have somehow avoided it? Why were they beaten? “The wind was against them.”

The winds are against all who call on the Name of the Lord. The foul winds of this world inevitably clash with the wind of the Spirit dwelling in all who seek to be obedient to Christ. The winds were against the disciples. The disciples were way out there, and were being “beaten”. These were not unfamiliar circumstances, but this time Jesus was not with them. Earlier in his Gospel, Matthew records that Jesus had been in a boat with His disciples, and “there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, ‘Save, Lord; we are perishing.’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?’ Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?’” (Matthew 8:24-27). But Jesus was not with them this time, either awake or asleep. What to do?

They had options. They could turn around and go with the wind back to where they had left Him. But Jesus had said, “go to the other side”. They could have dropped sail and ridden out the storm. But that was not what Jesus had commanded. They could have abandoned ship. No, they stayed the course. The night grew long. We don’t know what time they departed, but we do know that they were on the water in the darkest hours of the night—the fourth watch (vs. 25). It was dark, it was stormy, and they were frightened.

The disciples did not bring these unpleasant circumstances onto themselves. They were obedient and followed the Lord’s commands. The matter of the weather and encroaching darkness were things over which they had no control. But now, what to do? Persevere. Give thanks. Rejoice! Following Christ often brings us into conflict with the world, and the opposing winds of the world buffet us. This is not something we bring upon ourselves, or something over which we have control. We obeyed Christ and sailed into the storm. What do we do now? St. James promises us that, “he who…perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing” (James 1:25). St. Paul exhorts us to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18). And Paul says to the church at Philippi: “Rejoice in the Lord always…” (4:4). We are called to be attentive to God with an attitude of gratitude and a joyful heart. His Spirit abides with us. We are never truly alone. And he who perseveres to the end shall be blessed.

It was not easy for the disciples, but they persevered. It is not easy for us when the storms and darkness of the world surround us. What will we do?

Meditations on Matthew 14:22-36

Meditation #4 — verse 23

“After He had dismissed the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.”

Jesus “went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.” Jesus is the Son of God. He is God Incarnate. Why would Jesus need to pray if He is God? Prayer is conversation with God. It is both our way of talking to God and the way we open ourselves to hear from Him. Jesus was praying to the Father. He was talking to His Father, and He was listening to Him for direction in His earthly ministry. He was interceding for His disciples. The Scriptures tell us that Jesus did only what the Father told Him to do (John 5:19; 8:28). How did He know what was the Father’s will? He prayed. He listened. The ministry that Jesus performed on earth was the extension of His Father’s will. It is from the Father that we have separated ourselves. It is to the Father that He seeks to reconcile us. It is the Father whom we seek. Jesus was leading His disciples and all of the world to the Father. He needed to keep those lines of communication open. He needed to talk to His Father about the disciples and the struggles they were experiencing.

Jesus sent the disciples ahead while He dismissed the crowds. “When evening came, He was there alone” (Matt. 14:23). Jesus needed time alone. The disciples were not the only ones experiencing exhaustion. Jesus was undoubtedly tired having expended Himself in ministry to the crowd. He needed His quiet time. He needed to be “by Himself” on the mountain. He needed to hear the voice of His Abba Father. Once He was quiet, alone, and focused, then Jesus could pray to the Father for His disciples. Before reconnecting with His disciples He sought the Father, and the Father’s will, and He lifted up His followers for God’s abundant provision and grace.

How can we know that Jesus was praying for His disciples? The Epistle to the Hebrews assures us that “…because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save for all time those who come to the Father through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (7:25). He is the Great High Priest who continually lives to intercede for us. And as St. Paul says, “Christ Jesus…is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). And St. John assures us that “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous…” (1 John 2:1). Jesus knows when we are burdened, lost, sick, or in any other need, and He talks to His Father, interceding and advocating on our behalf.

This verse from Matthew’s Gospel reminds us, too, that in the midst of the chaos of this world, and the demands of life and ministry, it is important for us to take time to go “up on the mountain by [ourselves] to pray”, to distance ourselves from the hectic pace of life, and to cherish the quiet time with our Father. Jesus, God incarnate, needed that quiet time Himself. He knew the value of coming apart alone with Abba to be rejuvenated, and to lift up His concerns and lay them down at the foot of the throne. Our quiet time with God is a precious gift. Jesus needed that time alone, apart from the world. How much more do we?

Meditations on Matthew 14:22-36

Meditation #3 — verse 22

“Jesus dismissed the crowds”

I am an introvert. I do not like crowds. Crowds make demands on me. People in crowds usually want to talk, or they want me to try some food or drink, or they expect conformance to the norms of that particular crowd. SIGH! I don’t like crowds. I do wonder if any of the disciples liked crowds. It would be fun to know if any of them were introverts.

The crowds made demands on the disciples. The disciples sought to send them all away, but Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat” (Matthew 14:16). So the disciples were forced to enter into ministry mode. They prepared places for everyone to sit. They distributed the bread and fish to all. And after all had eaten and were satisfied, “they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over” (Matthew 14:20). They did clean-up duty. The crowd was satisfied and the disciples were bushed.

Jesus had provided food, the Word, and fellowship for the crowd. And if anyone was willing to accept what He offered, they could follow and be His disciple. But most of those in the crowd were not interested in following. They wanted healing, food, and the other things that Jesus could offer to them. The majority of them were consumers not ministers. They went with the crowd, and now they needed to be dismissed.

The disciples were commanded to Go! Jesus would dismiss the crowd. He told His disciples in essence, “You go. These people are Mine.” As noted in the first meditation, Jesus knew that it was necessary for the disciples to go before Him, because there were matters at hand that were His responsibility, not theirs. The crowd was our Lord’s responsibility. The disciples either had to go, that is be obedient, or stay with Jesus and the crowd, and thus be disobedient. How can staying with Jesus be disobedient? Jesus said, “Abide in Me”. But He also said, “if you love me, you will do what I command.” Had any of the disciples stayed they would have been “dismissed” with the crowd!

Too often we are told by well-meaning evangelicals that it is our responsibility to convert those we know and meet, i.e. the crowd. But as Billy Graham said at his crusade in Charlotte in 1996, “I have never converted anyone to Christ. I have just pointed the way.”Jesus Himself said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you…” (John 15:16). And Isaiah prophetically declared, “thus says the Lord…I have called you by name, you are mine” (43:1). The crowd belongs to Jesus, and He will choose who will be His disciples. We have an obligation to minister as He directs, to love as He loved us, and to bear witness to Christ—to point the way. But the decision of who is chosen and who is dismissed belongs to Jesus alone.

In that period of transition before coming into the CEC, I found it hard to experience the joy of the Lord. I worked hard to proclaim the Word to the parish, the diocese, and to those living in the world. And I was frustrated. There was no joy in that endeavor. Coming before the Lord I asked Him why I could not find joy in my calling. I was proclaiming His Word boldly, and failing. And in a moment of divine insight I heard Him say, “I did not call you to proclaim the Word boldly, I want you to live the truth joyfully.”

Our greatest witness to those wandering in the darkness is to live in the light and joy of Christ. We need to be like the disciple Philip when he came to his doubting friend Nathanael.

“Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, ‘We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’” (John 1:45-46). We don’t have to convert the crowd, we simply need to live the truth joyfully and invite others to come and see. Jesus will take care of the rest.