Jesus Walked

What Did Jesus Do?

Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee.
Matthew 15.29

Hardly a startling discovery, that Jesus walked. It was not as if there were many transportation options available. A few might have traveled on horseback. Some might have had a cart or wagon available to be pulled by horse or oxen. But most people just walked. Of course, if one was crossing the sea, rather than walking beside it, one would travel by boat. But Jesus, He walked!

Matthew, Mark, and John (Matthew 14.22-33; Mark 6.45-52; John 6.16-21) tell of a windy night, when the apostles struggled to make their way across Galilee by boat. In the “fourth watch” (Between 3 and 6 a.m.), when it was darkest, the apostles looked across the waves to see Jesus, or was it a ghost, striding across the water as on dry land! That was some walking; their conclusion, “Truly you are the Son of God,” was inescapable. But could only the Son of God walk on water?

Peter wanted to try it himself. So, begging the Lord’s command, Peter stepped out of the boat at the invitation of Jesus, “Come.” It was not, of course, the first time that Peter had responded to Jesus’ call to “come.” Like the other apostles in the boat, Peter had left everything behind and walked boldly after the Lord to take up the new vocation of fishing for men when Jesus had simply, but commandingly, said, “Come, follow me.”

Did it take more courage to step out of the boat than to walk away from one’s livelihood? Only Peter can answer that question, but whatever courage he had quickly left him, along with his faith, as the wind whipped the waves about him. And the instant he faltered, Peter began to slip beneath the water, only Jesus taking him by the hand saved him.

Jesus walked, so we should be walkers too, perhaps not on water, but you never know. As Christ’s disciples we respond, as Peter and the other apostles did, by walking after the Lord who walked. The feet of Jesus walked down into the Jordan when the Lord was baptized by John. The feet of Jesus walked into the homes of sinners where He ministered to those who were sick spiritually. The feet of Jesus walked in desolate places where famished crowds followed, needing to be fed. The feet of Jesus walked into sickrooms where, by a word of authority or a touch the Lord healed the lame and the sick. The feet of Jesus walked up the steps of the Temple Mount and boldly into His Father’s House, there to stampede the money-changers. The feet of Jesus walked the Via Dolorosa bearing the awful weight of the cross, and our sins. And the feet of Jesus walked out of the tomb early on the day of Resurrection. And every step He took, Jesus walked by faith in the Father.

When Jesus calls to us, “Come, follow me” we never know where He will have us walk, maybe even on water! The only thing that matters, really, is that we walk by faith. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4