JESUS WALKS ON THE WATER

Today we discussed Jesus walking on water as mentioned in John 6:15 and we realized that not only are there slightly different versions of what happened, there were two separate events on the lake when Jesus demonstrated a miracle.

John 6:16-21

This references an event that followed Jesus feeding the 5000 and says that the disciples just got in a boat and sailed away without Jesus. About half way across, the sea was rough, and Jesus walked on the water to the boat. The disciples were frightened but took him into the boat at which point they immediately arrived at their destination. A plain and simple review of events typical of John.

Matthew 14:22-33 

This references the same event as mentioned in John 6 but specifically says that Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go without him while he dismissed the crowd. This helps us understand why the disciples would sail away without him. Again, the rough weather is mentioned and Jesus came to them walking on the water. Once more, it terrified the disciples. In this version; however, Peter asked if he himself could walk on the water and he did so briefly until his faith failed him.

Mark 6:45-56

Marks version is very similar to Matthews wherein Jesus told the disciples to leave without him but in this version Jesus was about to walk by them and they thought he was a ghost and there is no mention of Peter trying to walk on the water. Mark also observes that, “They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.” So it would seem that Jesus arranged this to improve their faith.

Luke 8:22-25

As our CBMC brother, Bartt Stevens pointed out, Luke reported on a different miracle in a boat other than the one that occurred after Jesus fed the 5000. In this chapter Luke writes that “One day he (Jesus) got into a boat with his disciples, a storm came up while Jesus was sleeping, the disciples woke him in fear and when he had calmed the storm they were amazed. Luke does not mention Jesus walking on the water in this or any other of his writings. Given what happened in the verses above, this event must have happened earlier.