Peter, One of the Chosen 12: Shaken by Distraction

Let Us Pray

Our dear heavenly Father, thank you for giving us ears to hear your Holy Word. We pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit to make these ancient words of Scripture relevant and near to each of us this day. Shine your holy light in our hearts so we may share it with others. In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.

From the Gospel of Matthew 14:22–33

Jesus Walks on the Water

Immediately he made the disciples get into a boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning Jesus came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Only by undistracted focus can we achieve anything in life that we value; to be excellent at something requires laser focus.

We will see in our encounter with Peter in this passage that, as he slowly learned to follow Jesus, he would discover what it meant to be shaken by distraction.

Jesus and the disciples had just finished a long day of ministry; Jesus withdrew by himself for some alone time with God and sent his disciples off across the water to the other side in their boat.

The disciples boarded the boat expecting Jesus would rejoin them. He would indeed come back to them, but not before giving them another opportunity to trust Him more.

Meanwhile, the disciples are battling a sudden storm that arose on the water; their boat was being battered by the waves far from land.

What the disciples saw was terrifying. They knew water, having spent their entire adult lives making a living from it, and it is not only improbable that someone could walk on water, but impossible.

So what happens in the disciples’ terror? Jesus calls out to them, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid!” Again, those words we hear so often in the Bible—do not be afraid. Jesus is in control of the situation; God is sovereign over all creation.

Here Peter’s boldness is on full display. What is his response to Jesus’s reassurance?

Peter steps out in audacious faith, abandoning himself to walk out and meet Jesus on the water.

We know how this “walk” of Peter’s will end, but we cannot forget that Peter actually did walk on water. This is Peter at his best—totally trusting in Jesus and then acting on that trust.

As a seasoned fisherman, Peter would never have attempted to step out of his boat to walk on water, but for those few moments, he did it as he kept his eyes on Christ.

There are other stories in the Bible of water miracles—Moses going through the Red Sea with the Israelites to escape Pharaoh and leave Egypt, Joshua moving through the Jordan River to cross over into the promised land—but those are through water, not on water. Only Jesus—and Peter for a short time—walked on water.

Peter was suddenly shaken by the realization that he was walking on the water in a storm.

He became distracted and stopped looking at Jesus.

There are so many distractions in the world that entice us to take our eyes off of Christ:

• Fear—the feeling we have when we perceive that life is suddenly out of control instead of trusting that our lives are in God’s control.

  
  

• Despair—the internal sense of loss that causes us to lose heart and hope because circumstances cloud our view of God’s purposes.

  
  

• Disappointment—the hurt that results from placing our trust in people who fail us.

  
  

• Stress—the pressure that comes into our lives when we try to take on life in our own strength.

Peter was a failure at walking on water, but the bigger failure was the other eleven disciples who did not even get out of the boat.

We are people of purpose, encouraged to look beyond the distractions that surround us, so we can run the race powered by the Holy Spirit.