The disciples had just reported to Jesus that John had been killed and was now buried. John, as you recall had gone to Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, and told him he was sinning by marrying his brother’s wife. That might be why he was known as “John the Baptist”.
At a birthday party for Herod, the daughter of Herodias danced and Matthew 14:6 says she greatly pleased Herod.
According to Josephus, a Jewish historian says the girls name was Salome. After her dance, Herod told her that he would give her anything she wanted, and her mother told her to ask for John the Baptist’s head on a platter. So in verses 10 and 11 of Matthew 14, we read that John was beheaded and the head given to the girl. Then the disciples took the body and buried it, verse 12.
The daughter, who danced, has been labeled by different commentators as either an older child or an older teenager. The Greek word korasion (ko-ra.se.on) is only used twice in the New Testament. Once speaking of Jairus’ daughter, whose age is listed as 12 years and Salome whose age is not listed. Also one says the Greek word for dance, orcheomai (or-khe-o-my) is used 4 times in the New Testament: two of these refer to the occasion with Herod, and the other two say, referring to the men of Jesus’ day, “They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not weep.’
Regardless of the type dance, it cost John his head.
When the disciples relayed this to Jesus, Matthew 14:13 says, that Jesus got into a boat to go to a deserted place, most believe to be alone. You recall John was His cousin, as well as the one that God sent to be the front runner for Him.
In Luke 7:28 Jesus had this to say about John: among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist;
When Jesus left this area he got into a boat and went to Bethsaida, and according to Mark, Luke and John the large crowd that was following him, ran around the north end of the lake and met up with him in Bethsaida. This is where Jesus fed them, perhaps 15 to 20 thousand, with the 5 loaves and two fishes..
After the crowd had eaten they proceeded to take Christ as their king. You see, that was the thought of the Jews that a messiah would come and free them from the bondage of Rome. After this miracle they said, “: This is he! This is the one!
John 6:15 says that Jesus knew the multitude were about to take Him by force to make Him king
Jesus knew what would happen if the disciples confronted the crowd so he
told the disciples to leave and he went upon the mountain to pray.
As the disciples were rowing the boat a storm arose and regardless how hard they tried they couldn’t get the boat to straighten out.
Then they see a figure walking on the water, and they
became afraid.
I. These men were fishermen! They had been on the water many times, and in storms before.
A. They knew how to steer a boat.
1. When I was a teenager I was invited to go fishing with a cousin to
A large lake in Florida.
2. It turned out that two other men were going.
3. When we got in the boat, which didn’t have a motor, I learned why I had been invited.
4. I tell that to tell you I didn’t know then, and don’t know now how to steer a row boat.
5. They accused me of reckless driving.
B. But these disciples were good drivers, but the winds and waves were greater than they.
C. It was only a mile and a half from Bethsaida to Capernaum, but the scripture tells us they had rowed between 2.9 and 3-1/2 miles and were in the middle of the lake. (John 6:19).
D. When they saw this figure coming toward them on the water,
1. Matthew and Mark say it was the forth watch of the night. The day was divided into 12 hours, 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM
2. The night was divided into watches.
a. The first watch was 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
b. The second watch was 9:00 PM to 12:00 Midnight
c. The third watch was 12 Midnight to 3:00 AM
d. The forth watch was 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM
3. In Mark 6:48 it says: He “ would have passed them by”
a. The Greek word used here means “I desire”
b. The words Passed by’ in Greek could mean several things depending on how it is used. One use could be “Jesus went to them” as Matthew has it.
c. Jesus had no intention of passing them by: His purpose was to Come to Them.
E. Matthew says: they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. (Matthew 14:26).
1. Can’t you just see these grown men? Scared half to death! Screaming and crying! Shaking so bad the boat was probable bouncing.
2. But then, the voice!! “Be of good cheer, It is I
1. Remember that voice was recognized later by Mary.
2. When she was at the empty tomb and Jesus was there but she thought it was the Gardner, until He spoke.
3. The voice that can calm fears: can reveal His presence!
F. It is I be not afraid (Matthew 14:27).
1. John 14:1 Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me”
2. John 14:27, Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
II. Peter heard and knew the voice, and said: “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
A. Peter is in the boat with his brother Andrew, John and the others.
B. The disciples perhaps tried to keep Peter in the boat!
1. Don’t you go out there: you don’t know who that is!
2. Man, you’re crazy: you’ll drown.
C. Why do we continue to stay in our boat?
1. Fears! Fear of criticism: What will people think?
2. Fear of failure! What if it doesn’t work?
a. People will laugh at me.
b. I’ll be embarrassed, so I’ll stay in my comfort zone.
D. Failure is not “falling down,” failure is staying down when you could get back up. Proverbs 24: 16a says, “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again …”
E. If we are in bondage to our fears, then we will never succeed because we never attempt anything “different” or “new.” We must take some risk in life if we are ever to accomplish anything significant!
1. Babe Ruth set a record of 714 home runs in his baseball career . . . Did you know that he struck out 1, 330 times on his way to that record?
Jonas Salk discovered the polio vaccine . . . he failed two hundred times before he found the right one. Henry Ford went bankrupt five times before he finally succeeded.
Thomas Edison failed over ten thousand times in his attempts to find the right filament for the light bulb . . . When an aide encouraged him to quit after several hundred failures, he replied, “Why quit now? We now know of at least a couple of hundred things that won’t work!”
None of these people could have accomplished what they did if they had stayed in their comfort zones because they were afraid they would fail! Neither will we accomplish for God those things we should accomplish if we are afraid we will fail!
2. Peter didn’t hesitate; he stepped out of the boat! Both feet on the water, not half-way.
3. He stepped out of the boat because he had his eyes on Jesus!!!
F. As humans we tend to want to know what we’re getting into “before” we get out of the boat.
1. But . . . occasionally we must step into the unknown . . . fully on faith in God!
2. Many want to figure out God before they embark on a relationship with Him.
G. We can almost hear those in the boat: look at that fool: we’ll never see him again: he’s history: the idiot jumped in the water.
1. But wait!! They can’t believe it! Peter’s walking on the water.
2. But then, Peter begins to look at the waves and the wind…looked at what he was walking on.
a. Hey! Does that sound like you or me?
b. Remember when Lot’s wife look back? (Luke 17:32)
c. Genesis 19:26: But his wife looked back from behind him, and
She became a pillar of salt.
d. She looked with a longing to be back where she was.
e. She longed for her old life back. She liked her life of the world.
3. When Peter looked at the waves and the wind, he began to sink.
a. How do you begin to sink?
b. Every time I have stepped on the water I sank immediately!
c. The reason—Peter took his eyes off of Jesus!
d. Jesus said this would happen Matthew 6:24. You can’t serve two masters.. you will love one and hate the other.
H. Oh those in the boat now had their laugh
1. How many times has the world laughed when one who had started to look on Jesus and then sank?
2. No wonder the world is laughing! Just read the newspapers: look at the internet; Almost every day the news about another pastor who sank by the wayside. WHY???
3. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
1 John 2:19
I. Notice, When Peter cried out, Lord, Save Me” Jesus reached out and pulled him up.
1. Some may say, well Peter didn’t walk on the water!
2. He was too far from the boat to reach back and grab it
3. Matthew says they had to get back to the boat.
I. Notice all it took was three words, “Lord, save me”!
A. Christ didn’t push him on down in the water because he lost his faith.
B. Christ held Peter and they both got in the boat where they had a prayer meeting.
1. Matthew says all those in the boat began to worship Christ, believing.
2. Peter’s boldness of getting out of the boat, even though he slipped once, resulted in the others worshiping Christ.
3. The question to us today is, are we willing to get out of the boat?
4. Are we so comfortable that the lost don’t matter?
CONCLUSION:
Later in time we see Peter again. His time he is in the courtyard of the house of the high priest where Jesus was being tried in a mock trial. One of the others recognized Peter and asked, “aren’t you one of His followers?” and Peter denied it. Later another asked and he again denied that he even knew Jesus. Peter tried to leave the place and as he reached the doorway another said, “Surely you’re one of his followers, your voice betrays you!”
Then Peter began to curse and swear that he never knew the man.
At that time Peter heard a rooster crow, looked up and saw Jesus being dragged across the yard, and then he remembered what Jesus had said:
Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” (Mark 14:30)
Later after Jesus has risen and Mary was in the garden, remember what the angel told her? “But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” (Mark 16:7).
Once Jesus even called Peter a devil: Jesus was explaining his mission and Peter contradicted him. Mark 8:33: Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
But notice Jesus forgave Peter when he repented, that is confessed and asked for forgiveness, just as He will forgive us when we repent!
Let me ask, do you think when Peter heard a rooster crow, he thought of his denial of Christ? Now the Bible teaches that Peter never denied Christ again but he went on to be a great vessel for God.
But let me ask us this same question? Do we ever hear a rooster crowing?
Our boat might be any place, a home, a job, a gathering with friends, or anyplace. There is nothing wrong with these places and they serve a real purpose. But there comes a time when we have to get out of the boat so that we can serve the One that loved us so much He gave his very life so that we might live. After he rose from the tomb and ascended back to heaven, he sent us the Holy Spirit to live within us, so since the Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity, we can really say, I have Jesus living in me! When we realize this, then we have to consider whether we are serving Him or something else? Are comfortable in our boat, or walking toward Jesus?
