Like a Rock
Among the three New Testament versions of the Lord’s walking on the water (Matt. 14:22–33; Mark 6:45–52; John 6:16–21), Matthew’s is perhaps the most unique and distinctive, because he alone tells of Simon Peter attempting the same thing.
The apostles’ boat, going westward across the Sea of Galilee toward Gennesaret, about five miles away, encounters strong head winds that stir the tossing waves. Hour by hour the boat’s progress is very slow, and by the fourth watch of the night, between three and six o’clock in the morning, the apostles are still a great way from land.
Suddenly Jesus appears, walking on the sea. The startled apostles, conjecturing the figure before them to be an illusion [ phantasma], but nonetheless frightened at the sight, cry out in panic. In response, the voice of Jesus comes to them through the darkness, borne on the whirling courses of the wind: “Take heart, it is I. Be not afraid.”
In the Gospels of Mark and John, the drama of the scene ends at this point, and Jesus enters into the boat. Thus, these two accounts climax with Jesus’ self-identification: “It is I,” or more literally, “I AM” [ ego eimi]. Indeed, in John’s Gospel, this is one of several places where Jesus utters those very words that resounded of old from the Burning Bush (cf. John 8:24,28,58; 13:19; 18:5). The theophany on the sea involves words as well as vision.
All of these theophanic components of the story are likewise found in Matthew’s account, but in this Gospel they do not form the story’s climax; they are but the first half of the scene. In Matthew, when the voice of Christ calls to the apostles out of the darkness, someone in the boat replies to him. Here the Lord’s proclamation, “It is I,” is not answered with silent acquiescence, but with an expression of doubt, or perhaps even of challenge. “Lord,” says the ever surprising Peter, “if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” said Jesus, and Peter in obedience stepped over the side of the boat. Still looking at the Lord, he planted his foot solidly on a wave and began to walk across the sea. We are not told how many steps Peter took, but as he moved away from the boat his attention became diverted by the storm. “But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,” we are told, “he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried out saying, ‘Lord, save me!’”
“Stretch out your hand from above,” prayed the psalmist, “rescue me and deliver me out of great waters” (Ps. 144 [143]:7). The prayer was heard. “And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him.” Jesus and the embarrassed apostle climb into the boat.
Peter’s name means “rock,” and it is ironical that his sinking in the water was the only occasion on which he demonstrated a truly rocklike quality. This man “of little faith” serves in Matthew’s version as a symbol of every believer who walks toward Jesus in darkness and turmoil. Even in his failure, he is not condemned; he is saved by the extended hand of Jesus.
Although Mark and John tell this story as a theophany, it is curious that neither of them ends it with an explicit act of faith on the part of the apostles. Indeed, in Mark’s account we are told that “their heart was hardened.”
In Matthew, however, the story ends with the confession of faith by the apostles in the boat: “Truly you are the Son of God.” That confession of the apostolic faith, towards which the whole narrative builds, seems to call for three further comments.
First, it is substantially identical with Peter’s Christological confession at Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:16). The two stories, both of them about Peter, are bound by that same confession of faith.
Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor emeritus of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and the author of numerous books, including, most recently, Out of Step with God: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Numbers (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2019).
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
33.2—March/April 2020
on How Bodily Resurrection Informs Social Justice by W. Ross Blackburn
28.2—March/April 2015
Neo-Pagan Family Policies Doom Any Recovery by Allan C. Carlson
19.1—January/February 2006
on Death & Seven of the Last Words of Socrates by Graeme Hunter
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
