Paul and I visited the Holy Island of Lindisfarne long ago. By pure chance we arrived when the water was receding and the causeway was emerging. We managed to take photographs that looked like we were “walking on water.” (Paul has a couple of pics if you want to have a look!)

Our gospel reading is titled (in many of our bibles) “Jesus walks on water.” I think that reduces the power of the story! I think the title should be “Jesus walks on a turbulent sea” because it wasn’t a calm stretch of water but a tempestuous one. We have tamed Jesus, and our faith often reflects that. This miracle, or sign from the gospels, should compel us to ask ourselves anew, who do we really think Jesus is.

There is something about the uncontrolled elements of our world and universe: the sea, the forces of the earth – volcanos, floods, tsunamis – and the skies, that creates awe in us, even terror. We recognise how helpless we are in the face of these uncontrollable forces. The night sky and the sea fill me with awe, and sometimes fear. The sky with millions of stars, galaxies, black holes, and the unknown it contains. The stars we see may no longer exist, because the light from these stars has taken millions of years to reach the earth – that freaks me out. My love and awe of the sea was heightened by watching David Attenborough’s wonderful Blue Planet. A part of my childhood was beside the sea and though I loved it, I was also terrified by it. During violent thunderstorms, waves crashed with fury on the rocks and shore; and sometimes awful tragedies happened – fishermen in small boats died during these storms. The tsunami of 2004 was a magnification of this unstoppable power of the sea. If you have been on the ferry during bad weather, or in a boat, you will understand the gut wrenching anxiety that grips you. The waters, for people in ancient times, were a source of Chaos. They still can be today. They were – and are – feared as dangerous. The hymn we still sing today: “For those in Peril on the sea,” captures this danger.

This aspect of a raging sea is important to our gospel reading. The Sea of Galilee was a lake but was called a sea because of its vastness and its own turbulent weather patterns and sudden violent storms. We are told that the disciples’ boat on the sea was “battered by the waves;” it was “far from the land,” and that “the wind was against them.” Jesus walks steadily towards them, through the turmoil of the violent waves and wind. The scene is so eerie – that vision of a figure moving smoothly through the turbulence – that the disciples think it is a gliding ghost. They are frightened, until Jesus speaks to them and says, “It is I, do not be afraid.” As Jesus, reaches the boat, together with Peter, and gets in, the wind ceases immediately. Notice the disciples’ instant response –t hey worship him declaring that He is the Son of God.

Somehow this miraculous act of Jesus shows them something of his divinity.

You see the disciples, unlike us, saw through Old Testament eyes. They filtered what Jesus said and did, through this understanding of the God of the Old Testament. Jesus’ miraculous walking on water would have triggered many associations. The majestic opening words of Genesis 1 – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” The Creator God hovering over the unformed waters of Chaos. The Psalmist declares “the waters tremble when they see God,” and in the story of Job, “God tramples the waters of the sea.” God creates and subdues the storm that entraps Jonah; and in Exodus, He parts the waters of the sea.

To the disciples only Almighty God, Creator and Sustained of the universe, had control over the elements of water.

In 2006, Rageh Omaar, presented a BBC series entitled “The Miracles of Jesus,” (We have a copy of the series, and maybe it might be worth watching together sometime). The first episode focuses on four miracles – the raising of the widow’s son, the calming of the storm, the feeding of the 5000 (which was the gospel reading last week), and Jesus walking on the sea. In it we discover how people of Jesus’ time viewed him. Jesus’ deeds and miracles were associated with Old Testament prophets and leaders: God raising a widow’s son from the dead through Elijah; God feeding the Israelites with manna – the bread of heaven, and the parting of the sea during Moses’ leadership. People were beginning to realise that Jesus was sent by God. In the gospels Jesus is called Rabbi, Master, Prophet, Teacher; people didn’t know what to believe, but they knew the hand of God was on Jesus.

When Jesus walks on and through the stormy waters, as the winds stilled, the disciples see an act of God. As in the miraculous feeding of the 5000, they realise this was an act of God. Jesus’ miraculous control over the seas gives them a realisation of his divinity. Only God could control the waters and Jesus was doing what God could do.
And so they worship him.

But what of the rest of the story?

Peter with his daring desire to do the impossible. Peter with his belief that with Jesus everything was possible. “If it is you, command me to come,” he says. The word “command” is not an accident. In using it, Peter is declaring “I believe that when you command something, it happens.” He is saying, “I am unable to do this, but if you command it, as you have command over the sea, I can.” And so he does. He walks on the water – because he believes that Jesus was in command of wind, gravity and the waters. But as he suddenly feels again the strong wind he panics, doubts and begins to sink. As he cries out, Jesus immediately reaches out and holds him.

We often see this story as an encouragement to keep our eyes on Jesus and trust him in the storms of life. That is important because Jesus is with us through all the turbulence of our lives and reaches out to stop us from sinking.

But this is, I believe, fundamentally a story about a moment of belief. A dawning understanding. A special revelation of who Jesus really is. A moment of epiphany – that brings forth a response, “truly you are the Son of God.” And so, it is also a moment of worship.

This story and last week’s story of the feeding of the 5000 are often called Signs. They point to who Jesus is and reveal him to us. We need them for we are like the disciples. We doubt from time to time. We say we believe in Jesus, but sometimes we don’t know what we believe. We declare the Creed and say, as the disciples say in the story today, He is the Son of God.

But what we say we believe is not always the same as what actually believe or understand. And so these Signs of Jesus are there to re-kindle our faith. To give us a fresh vision of Jesus – of who he is and what he did. They remind us that Jesus is the Son of God who did the works of God.  

So, before we declare the Nicene Creed in a few moments, let me invite you to enter this vivid story of Jesus walking on the turbulent seas. Put yourself in Peter’s shoes and acknowledge that deep kernel of faith we have, and that seed of doubt we often carry. And let me invite you to see afresh the Jesus who stilled the elements and tamed the chaos, who was and is the Son of God.