Introduction: I think one of the biggest questions out there is “Where in the world do I begin?” Because seriously, when you walk on this road following after Jesus there’s like a bajillion things you can do right? I mean do I need to read my bible more? Do I need to learn how to have a “quiet time”? Is it prayer…or what? And look, I can’t answer that for you…probably because there’s no formula for these things. You and I operate differently. However, there are common things we all can do to push us a little further along. And you’ve guessed it – reading your Bible. And it’s not like ok you read it and then you’re super Christian. I think we begin to read it to understand how God really works, who he really is, what he’s really like and not what people want to make up about him. Reading – easy enough right? My 3 year old can do that. Well good for them…but what about you? We all say that we should be reading…but do we? That’s the first question…but then how should we be reading it? This is where I come in. And no, I’m not a professional by any means…but someone once took me and sat me down and taught me the tools that I shall pass on to you. It is my goal that this might fuel your thirst to read the bible differently; to engage the words of God and perhaps gain more life.
All I’m going to do is just walk you through what has helped me and we’ll start there alright? So I figured we go to a very familiar story – Jesus walking on water. I’m pretty sure you’ve at least heard of it right? But do you remember what it talks about? What was the main point of the story? Uhhh…walking on water? Sorry, guess again. Who were the characters? Ummm…Jesus? Peter? Moses? Allllrrriiigghtt, let’s look at it and we’ll move on.
Matthew 14:22-32
Context: This is probably the first thing I tell people to do when they decide to study a passage. We often like to take one verse here and form some kinda theology about God that’s like way out of context. For example, in this story people remember Jesus saying to Peter “You of little faith” and they go “Man…Peter should have had more faith in Jesus. What a loser!” Yeah…that’s an example of taking something out of context. You’ll see in a bit. You want the full story…so ask yourself “What happens before and after this passage?” What you’ll realize is the Bible is to be read as a whole. You’ll understand that the Bible all connects together in ways that will blow your mind.
Alright so let’s see what happens. Go ahead and on a sheet of paper write down your main passage of study and you can even use the Bible’s subheadings if you want. Next write down the last main thing that has happened: Matthew 14:13-21 “Jesus Feeds Five Thousand” and jot down a quick note about it. “Jesus had compassion on the people from the towns and healed their sick (vs. 14) He performs a miracle by feeding the large crowd with just 5 loaves and 2 fish.” You might wanna ask yourself “What is the main point of this passage?” Hmmm…what is the main point? Well you see in verse 15 and 16 that the disciples are getting kinda worried about food – maybe their lack of faith. Now do the same with the story that follows your passage of study – Matthew 14:34-36 “Jesus Heals All Who Touch Him”. “People are coming in great faith to be healed by Jesus because they just wanna ‘touch’ the edge of his cloak (vs. 36)” It kinda gives you some perspective as to what might be the main point of your passage…but we’ll see.
Exegesis (“drawing out”): I think when I study a passage all I do is just go really slow and start observing and really just trying to find stuff. Trust me…the more you do it, the better you get. I would talk about Bible versions because believe it or not, it does play a big deal (like you want more a word-for-word translation – i.e. NASB or ESV) but for now I’m pretty sure you have a NIV bible so we’ll use that.
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.
I find it interesting that the author (Matthew) uses immediately here at the start of 22. I’m trying to figure out why Jesus made the disciples go off into the boat. What were they doing before? Well…I figured it was because the disciples had just spent like the whole day feeding what – “five thousand men, besides women and children (vs. 21)”? Oh yeah, look out for the verb tenses also like how I underlined “made”. It gives weight behind the action and action moves the story. Eh…you’ll see.
23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone
“After he had dismissed them” Who’s them? The disciples? Nope…look right before this verse…after Jesus dismisses the crowd. Now let me ask you – how long does it take to dismiss the crowd? Well it depends on the crowd right? What if the crowd was “five thousand men, besides woman and children”? Ok…keep this in mind. It takes a long time to dismiss all those people and where are the disciples now? Well they’re in a boat going to the other side apparently. I’m guessing it takes hours upon hours right? But then what does Jesus do? He goes on a mountainside by himself to pray. Here’s a side note…when you’re reading verses always look out of “key words” I would venture a guess and say “mountainside” is a key word. And this is just me thinking…biblically, what happens on “mountainsides”? I remember Moses and Ten Commandments; The Configuration; Calling of the Twelve…so something important usually happens. And Jesus goes up there to pray to God – uhhh, who is Jesus. Well that might be something to note. Why in the world does Jesus need to pray? And what is he praying for? But that’s not your main point yet I don’t think. The author says Jesus had prayed so long that when evening came, he was there alone. This is odd because well of course he’s alone…earlier it said “after he had dismissed the crowd”. So why did the author write this? Hmmm…look at verse 24
24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
So the end of 23 was to set up verse 24. What boat is this? It’s the boat that the disciples are on. What’s the setting right now? I’m guessing it’s kinda crazy right now – the boat was buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Remember to pay close attention here because you might just gloss over it. This is some weird language because it’s odd to say the wind was “against” something…the author is letting us know that there’s a storm and some nasty weather. Probably wanna keep your pets and children at home. Which leads me to remind you - you probably wanna note the physical setting in these narratives. Ok…so the boat is nowhere near the shore because it is a “considerable distance” and weather.com says its crazy outside. Remember this…trust me.
25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.
What in the world is the fourth watch? Well for those who aren’t really accustomed to ancient biblical language you might want to get some help here. A good bible dictionary/encyclopedia is a good investment. Also bible commentaries like NICOT, Fortress Press, or Word Biblical are some of my favorites. But if you don’t have the time or resources check out blueletterbible.org or biblegateway.com and you’ll usually find what you’re looking for. Anyways I saved you some time and the fourth watch of the night is 2:30am. Why is this important? Well…you’ll see in a second. And now the narrative gets a little nutty…at 2:30am Jesus walks to the disciples on the lake. We already discussed that the boat was already far off but also…there’s a storm going on. Crazy! But have you ever stopped and considered what he’s walking on? Sorry the NIV says Jesus walks on the “lake” but if you read all the other translations including the Greek text all of them say he walks on the “sea”. Jesus is walking on the sea…not your 4 feet deep pond. Wikipedia says that the Mediterranean Sea is about 5000 ft. Good job Jesus.
26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried in fear.
Alright, what time is it again? 2:30am What’s the weather like? There’s a storm going on outside. Where are the disciples? Pretty far away from the shore. Yeah I would be terrified too. Could you imagine? Its dark, the boat is rockin’ and all of the sudden you see some dude walking to you ON THE SEA? Do you see why they said “it’s a ghost”?
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
So the disciples are freaked out BUT Jesus. Always look out for conjunctions (But, and, then…) they’ll tell you the shift in the story. You want to see something cool though? “Jesus immediately” is a repeated phrase…from where? Yup, verse 22 when he was talking to his disciples. Just note that and we’ll catch that later. Now Jesus talks to the disciples and he says “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid”. Why is that weird? Well because Jesus never says “Hey, it’s me Jesus!” all he says is “It is I”. Honestly, if I were the disciples and it’s late and there’s a storm I would be like “what? I who?” Oooh, but then where have you heard “It is I” before? Perhaps back when Moses asks God “What is your name?” and God responds “tell them ‘I AM’ sent you”. Maybe Jesus is identifying himself with someone here…interesting huh?
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
So out of all the disciples in the boat Peter is the only one who speaks out. I use to give Peter a lot of junk for sinking in the sea or denying Jesus but in this narrative, he’s the only one who is willing to put his words into action. And look at what he says “Lord, if it’s you…tell me to come to you on the water”. That’s weird on several levels. First off he hears Jesus’ voice and recognizes it and calls him “Lord” while everyone else called Jesus “a ghost”. Secondly, Peter wants to go out there on the water. He doesn’t ask Jesus to hurry it on up and climb into the boat or questions his safety.
29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
And now Jesus replies “come” – short, simple. And then Peter gets down out of the boat. I don’t know if this has any weight at all but I just found it interesting. I always imagined for some reason that the disciples were all in a canoe or something. But he has to actually climb down off the side of a boat in the middle of the storm and actually put his feet on the water. Can you stop and think about this real quick? You’re coming off of the boat and you reach the end of the ladder and you feel for the floor and instead of a floor it’s the sea. And what’s crazier is that Peter “walked on the water and came toward Jesus”. What do you think is going on in that head of Peter’s? I’d be like “this is craazzzzyyy” and like shuffle my feet ever so softly.
30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
There’s another one of your conjunction words. Peter is walking on the water towards Jesus BUT. Here’s another thing that puzzled me. The verse says that Peter sees the wind and that causes him to be afraid right? But all throughout this narrative the wind is there, why now Peter? Hummm…anyways, this leads me to remind you that asking questions isn’t a bad thing. Actually, the more questions you ask the deeper you’ll get into the text. Watch what the author does with the narrative. Peter is “beginning to sink” and cries out “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Jesus doesn’t let Peter sink to the bottom and go “um, alright…I better go get him”. He, for the third time, immediately (look out for repetition) reaches out and saves him. Notice that Jesus saves him first and then makes the comment, not the other way around. I think a lot of us think that Jesus wants us to do this or do that first and then he’ll save us. Profound. Well here’s what most people will blame Peter for. Jesus says “you of little faith…why did you doubt?” And we go “that’s right…Peter should have more faith in Jesus”. But wait…is that right? Peter trusted Jesus enough to call out and go to him on the sea…Peter had enough faith in Christ to call out to him and trust that he’ll save him. So what is it? Peter heard the call of Jesus and started off strong…but somewhere between the boat and Jesus he saw that it was tough if not “impossible” and perhaps thought “this isn’t supposed to happen to someone like me”.
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.
Do you realize that the entire story occurred mainly in a storm and it wasn’t until both Jesus and Peter climbed into the boat the wind died down? I don’t think you can say “Well, if you climb in the boat with Jesus…the wind and storms of your life will die down”. Why not? Because the focus wasn’t directed mainly on the storm. If you continue to think about location in this story…Peter walks out to Jesus on the sea right? And when Peter starts to sink Jesus is there to reach out to him. And this is just me thinking and this is not in the text…but could it be possible that Peter and Jesus after the whole ordeal walked back to the boat? Just a question.
33 Then those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
You want to see something interesting? The disciples who, at the beginning, claimed “it’s a ghost” now claims “truly you are the Son of God”. They saw it all – the wind, Jesus walking on water, Peter going out there…and now they believe. But they only saw it. Peter was the only one who actually got to experience it all. It leads me to ask the question “Do you live vicariously through other peoples’ interaction with God?”
Main Idea: Every time you study a passage or you listen to a sermon you gotta ask yourself “what is the main idea of the text?” In this passage there are a lot of good points you can draw from – i.e. Jesus prays – we should all pray; Living vicariously through others. Those are good…but what is the main idea of the passage? There are a couple of hints you can look out for. Once you’ve studied the mess out of the passage figure out what is it that the text screams out? Also, from earlier we talked about context…does the story flow from the surrounding themes? The story of feeding five thousand talks about faith…so does the one about Jesus healing all who touch him. Another interesting technique (though it might not work for all texts) is that of a chiastic structure.
Chiasm: try this with me…on your piece of paper write down all the quotes and who they’re given by. So like in verse 26 the disciples say “It’s a ghost” and on the next line write “take courage, it is I. Don’t be afraid” – Jesus and so on and so for.
At the crux of all the action usually hints at the main idea. It is Jesus calling out to Peter, to you…to me to “come”. In the middle of the crazy will you go out? The story of the five thousand was directed at the faith of the disciples; here the story singles out Peter; right afterwards people flock to Jesus just to touch the “edge of his cloak”.
Your application then flows from your main idea first and then from your sub points. And I think this is where you need to do something real thinking and self reflection. Do you have the faith to listen to Jesus’ call? Are you personally investigating whether or not Jesus is some kinda ghost or Lord…or are you just going to stay in your boat? Don’t miss out on the fuller life that comes when scripture finally reads us and we respond. I think too many times we know the stories, we get good at studying…yet we’re not doing anything about it.
*Well…I hope this “short” little brief gave you some insight into how to treat the text of God. I think a lot of it has to do with reading slowly and carefully. You just get a lot more out of it right? I encourage you to keep on digging into what God has to teach us…hey, nobody wakes up one day and knows all of this…you gotta put some effort into it.
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