22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
Sometimes Jesus fascinates us, sometimes He amazes us, and sometimes He scares us.
In your study of Scripture—in this study of Matthew—have you ever stopped reading and thought, “Huh, Jesus is weird…”? Or have you ever just let your jaw drop, shook your head, and said, “Wow”? Has anything Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew scared you? I think, if we let Him, Jesus will do all of those things to us. And I definitely think that in these verses, Jesus is fascinating, amazing, and terrifying.
Let me explain…
Look back at verse 23. Jesus went away, alone, to pray. Think about that for a second…and then scratch your head with me. Jesus, who was God, went off to pray…to God. Jesus, who came to seek and to save what was lost, went away to be alone. You can’t look for people and be alone at the same time. Jesus, who was perfect and powerful, prayed—an act which essentially says He was dependent on someone else. Jesus was dependent? Really? Oh, and did I mention that He was dependent on God? And did I also mention that He was God?
Yeah. Weird.
But let’s try to get over all the weirdness of it, past the semantics of God Himself praying to God, and the fact that He was neglecting other people to spend some time alone. Get past that, and take it for just what it is: Jesus carved time into His schedule to pray. Probably for a couple of hours. Even Jesus prayed. It doesn’t have to be this way. He doesn’t have to pray. I don’t know if He “needed” to, and I don’t know what He said, but I know He prayed. That’s fascinating.
Ready for something even better? Read verse 25.
Wow.
Do you ever forget that Jesus did things that are actually impossible? I can’t walk on water. You can’t either. Jesus did.
Here’s one of the dangers of being a Christian for a while: Somewhere along the path, you can stop being amazed. It’s really easy to get used to Jesus’ miracles and to read over them like you read the subtitles on your TV when the volume is on—it’s all stuff you’ve heard before. And before you know it, Jesus isn’t amazing anymore. Something I do sometimes is write the word “Wow!” in the margin of my Bible when Jesus does a miracle. The next time I read that passage, it helps me to not forget that it’s…well, miraculous.
In verse 26, the disciples are terrified. Now, we need to remember the “Wow” of what just happened because it’s easy for us to start picking on the disciples right here. “Why are they scared? They just watched Him feed 5,000 people!” “Don’t they get it?!” “Where is their faith?” But what Jesus is doing is not normal, and that scares the disciples. And I, for one, don’t blame them.
If I was on a boat in the middle of a storm in the middle of the night and someone came strolling out to me I would be scared, too. Because Jesus was doing something that had never been done before, appearing in a way the disciples had never seen before. He made them think about possibilities that were impossible before. That’s scary.
When was the last time you were fascinated by Jesus?
When was the last time He amazed you?
Has He ever scared you?
Have you ever wondered why He does things the way He does? Does it make you curious when someone can read the same passage of Scripture as you and have a completely different reaction? Do you ever scratch your head when someone you don’t think you know very well tells you how much you mean to them? Is it interesting to you that you can listen to a sermon at a church and feel like the preacher is talking directly to you? It doesn’t have to be that way. Jesus could do things differently. There are other things that might make more sense. But Jesus is fascinating.
Have you ever heard those stories of people who were told by doctors that they had no chance to live, but they do anyway? Have you spent some time reading about missionaries who have had encounters with local authorities and come out unscathed with no explanation but the miraculous? Have you ever been there to hear the testimony of the drug addict who turned their life around and is now ministering to people whose lives are in shambles? Do you know what it’s like to see your budget for the month and know that you don’t have enough income to cover the expenses only to reach the end of the month somehow in the black? That’s not normal. That’s not how life is supposed to work. I can’t do that; you can’t do that. Jesus does that. And that’s amazing.
Have you ever felt called to be generous beyond what you thought you could afford? Has a conference or church camp ever inspired you to move overseas to a place your family thought was too dangerous? Do you feel led to adopt a child? Does the Bible seem to demand things of your moral life that would make you leave a group of friends or a relationship? Does your being a Christian make your family angry or disappointed with you? That’s not fair. That’s not fun. That’s not possible. That’s impractical. That’s illogical. That’s scary.
And that’s Jesus.
Ben Cross
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