The incident that preceded Jesus’ miracle of walking on the water in Lake Tiberias was the incident of increasing the number of bread loaves. There were many people, and Jesus had to let them go, so He ordered His disciples to go to the other side of the lake in order to let the crowd go. After doing so, He went up on a mountainside to pray.
Jesus, in His human nature, used to pray for God the Father. He always used to pray alone as the Son of the Father, nobody was with Him. His words to the Father are different from people’s words. He didn’t have any needs to ask for.
He stayed alone on the mountain, and the boat sailed while being buffeted by the waves deep through the night because the wind was against it. Lake Tiberias is very big (12 Kilometers in length) and wind is probable there.
Jesus met the boat while walking on the lake. And when the disciples saw Him, they didn’t recognize Him so He called them saying: “Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid”. Tranquility comes from Jesus if we felt disturbed. Only Christ could take us out of fear, because He is the peace.
After the Lord’s words, Peter replied saying: “Tell me to come to you on the water. ‘Come’, He said”. Peter got down out of the boat and walked on water to come to Jesus. Through Jesus’ power, he was able to do like Jesus, walk on water. “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began to sink”. When he was only looking at Jesus, he didn’t feel disturbed by the wind; he didn’t even feel the wind. “Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt”. Jesus made peace enter the apostle’s heart so he was again only looking at Christ’s face. Man fears every wind and every weakness that faces him. Only the Savior can make you unaffected by any case of weakness.
When tranquility came back to Peter’s heart, he walked with Jesus to the boat. “And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down”. This means that when Peter felt that he is under Jesus’ protection, he had no more fear.
When the disciples saw the miracle of saving Peter from drowning, they worshiped Jesus, i.e. they confessed that he is their savior from every fear and every fall. “They worshiped Him”, i.e. they confessed that He is the Son of God.
This is the confession that Peter makes after a while: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God”. This was the disciples’ faith when they were saved from drowning. Peter’s faith is the faith of the community as he is the rock of the Church. Saying that Christ is the Son of the living God is our whole faith. Any other statement is stemmed from it. This is the confession that was adopted by the Nicene Creed in the part that starts with “And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God”.
Translated by Mark Najjar
Original Text: “إيمان بطرس” –Raiati 32- 05.08.2012
