Walking on Water, Focus on Jesus

Peter. Walked on water. Many, if not all, of us are familiar with the story.

Basically, the disciples were all in a boat, out in the sea, when they witnessed Christ walking on the water. Peter wanted to get out of the boat and walk on the water too. And, he did.

That is, until he was distracted and starting sinking.

He wasn’t able to save himself but Jesus reached down, grabbed him and pulled him up to safety.

The moral of the story being, of course, there are times in our lives when – regardless of what we do – we cannot save ourselves, we cannot help ourselves, all we can do is cry out to God, “save me!”, and trust He will grab us and pull us up.

This morning, in my prayers, I considered another aspect of this story I had not considered before.

The other disciples in the boat.

Yes. Surely, they could’ve thrown Peter a life preserver – if they had one. Or, they could’ve jumped into the water and swam over to help him. However, they didn’t. Why? I’m not sure but, in any case, that’s not where I was going at this moment.

That’s not the aspect I was considering – though it is a good aspect to consider, and to meditate on.

Rather, I was considering Peter, and the situation he found himself in. Quite simply, he was drowning.

Now, before I go any further, let me say this, I am one who gets greater joy out of serving and helping others. I think most of us are. It goes along with that, “love thy neighbor as you love yourself”, don’t be selfish, kind of narrative. The one where we serve God by ministering to the needs of others.

Thats been my theme as a chaplain all these many years.

But, sometimes, we have our own needs we need to take care of before we can take care of and help others. Sometimes, we need to be a bit selfish.

And, in His Sermon on the Mount, I believe Christ touched base with this idea through the “board in my eye, speck in my neighbor’s eye” metaphor. He said, paraphrasing, “first, take the board out of your own eye, then you can see to take the speck out of your brother’s eye”. In other words, help yourself then you’ll be able to help others.

In Peter’s situation, he was drowning.

At that moment, I’m guessing he probably wasn’t thinking, “gee, how do I help my brothers in the boat”. At that moment, he was crying out, “Lord, save me!”. If he could, he might have added, “help me take this board out of my eye so I can turn and help the others”. Bless me so I can bless others.

Sometimes, in life, we have all we can do to keep our head above the water. It’s in those times we cannot help others until we’re a little selfish and help ourselves first. And, it’s in those times we need to cry out to Jesus and trust He will reach down, grab ahold of us and pull us up to safety – even while our brothers and our sisters watch on.

Even when our brothers and sisters are blessed to watch a miracle happening before their own eyes. I mean, after all, the disciples in the boat were watching Christ and Peter walk on the water – and what happens when we take our eyes off Jesus.