The Sea of Galilee is no pond, being 13 miles long by 8 miles wide. It was on this body of water and “a long distance from the land” that the apostles found themselves battered by waves and a contrary wind in the middle of the night (Matthew 14:22-33).

Matthew here records that Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. That’s just how he writes it, without any fanfare or embellishment, he just says Jesus was walking on the sea. In turbulent water, wind blowing wildly, in the dark, Jesus walks on the sea (yeah, little things like this tell me that men did not write about these things without the sober, matter-of-fact, word-limiting guidance of God’s Spirit).

The apostles thought they were seeing a ghost and were so terrified they cried out. Jesus simply said, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid”.

Peter, reassured to a degree, says, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Say what you will about Peter, but in the middle of the night on a stormy sea he is asking Jesus to command him to get out of his boat and walk on that sea.

If you’ve read it, you know Jesus does, and so Peter does. Peter walks on water just like Jesus! But then Matthew writes of Peter, “… he became frightened and beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” Jesus saves Peter, but then asks him, “Why did you doubt?”

The gospels show us that Jesus is not of this world. Rather, this world is of him. He is its creator and master. By its very definition, then, faith in Jesus should take us beyond this world as well.

Fear is the result of doubt. Eliminate doubt, and we eliminate fear. I believe Jesus is still asking of us, “Why do you doubt?”

Yes, after all Jesus has shown us about himself, why do we still doubt?