Be of Good Cheer

Peter's walking on water incident is quite  frequently used as a motivational illustration. It is found recorded in Matthew 14:23-32 after a great day of  healing and feeding 5000 people from 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish! Afterwards Jesus went to a mountain top to pray. The apostles set out to sail across the sea of Galilee.   As they set sail a big wind caught them.

But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

When they saw Jesus walking on the water, they were scared as if he were a spirit they did not want to tangle with.  Jesus told them to be of good cheer. The greek word for 'be of good cheer' is the word 'tharseo', which means have  have courage!  Fear is a very real emotion. At times it is valuable in that it warns our human system of something dangerous so that we either fight or flee. In this dialogue, he tells them to take courage, and identifies himself and then he tells them be not afraid. The order of words is interesting.  So many people have used this passage to get people to do things they ordinarily wouldn't do and focus the response on themselves. Instead he said "it is I" and gets them to realize he was on the scene.

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

Peter's response was interesting. He called Jesus 'Lord' ,and said 'if it is you", and asked if he could come to him on the water.  Jesus beckons him.  Peter didn't just say, "I am going to walk on water", he asked if he could walk out to him. Humans cannot normally walk on water, it is a supernatural ability which is given by God.  Man does not appropriate things like this. The next time Peter went fishing, he still would have to use a boat.

Peter trusted the Lord and hopped out of the boat. He looked at Jesus and started walking toward him. When the wind got boisterous, he got side-tracked by seeing its force and he started to sink.  Jesus pulled him out, but it is clear that he was to focus on the Lord and not his ability to walk on water in the middle of a storm.

Too often, we as humans take on life's storms with the 'no fear' attitude first. It is where we focus in times of challenge that really counts. Our courage comes in acknowledging God as our sufficiency and keeping our eyes in the right place. It is not about our own ability to make something happen on our own volition.  

Peter is the one who asked so Peter was the one who got to walk on water. His goal was to get to Jesus, so despite the fear, he was eventually successful because of what he looked at and walked towards. Later on Peter, who was no stranger to fear, would deny Christ, but eventually he would stand for him because he kept going in the right direction. Peter was the one who stood up and delivered a bold, confident sermon on the day of Pentecost after he received the powerful holy spirit right smack dab in the middle of the Jerusalem temple for everyone to hear and see!