Jesus Walking on Water proclaims His Divinity

by David Lins  |  08/13/2023  |  (Being) Catholic Matters

This week, our Gospel speaks of Jesus walking on water. It is another example of Jesus proclaiming his divinity.

Some might say, he was merely walking along the shore or on a sandbank. Those people are either ignorant of scripture or geography. Scripture tells us they were 3 or 4 miles from shore. In this part of that sea… that’s the middle. And at its center, the Sea of Galilee is over 140 feet deep.

Jesus said, “I AM,” while walking on water. He wasn’t saying, “I AM a good guy.”

Jesus needed his followers to know who he was. So he did. And because several of them were professional fishermen, they thought he must be a ghost. (That made more sense to them than a sandbar in the sea they knew so well!)

Jesus calmed them so quickly and so completely that Peter volunteered to walk across the water to him—an act so filled with Faith, few of us would do the same.

He took several steps of his own before taking his eyes off the Lord and subsequently sinking.

But he called out to Jesus.

This gave Jesus—who had just demonstrated his divinity—the opportunity to reveal his heart. But, how?

Jesus immediately reached out and saved his friend. (To see the most beautiful depiction of this I’ve ever seen—from the perspective of Peter, do a search for “The Hand of God” by Yongsung Kim.)

When you and I reread this well-known portion of scripture, we must not forget the key themes:

Jesus is truly the Lord.

He has control over the elements of our life.

And even when our eyes lose their focus on him, he is never distracted away from us.

This is Good News.

And ours is a Great God.