The Jesus We Trust When The Going Gets Tough

Jesus was having a pretty demanding day. That morning, Jesus heard the tragic news that his cousin John the Baptist had been killed. King Herod had him executed in prison. It was a terrible injustice. That morning Jesus intended to get away by himself to pray. He needed to know from his Heavenly Father what this meant for him without John preparing the way. But when he got to his retreat location, the whole countryside had found out where he was going. And so, being the Savior he was, he had compassion for them and spent the whole day praying for them, healing them, delivering them, and then when it was dinner time, he decided to feast with them. He miraculously changed a few loaves and a few fish into an abundant feast.

Even though Jesus was at a very low point emotionally, he accessed the abundant provision of his Heavenly Father to bring life and community and comfort into a difficult day. Jesus did the impossible despite the difficult circumstances.

Jesus was experiencing what I call headwinds. Delays, or unexpected changes in plans. For Jesus it was not getting to do, what he wanted to do, and needed to do, when he wanted to do it. Sound familiar?

Headwinds are simply a part of living in a fallen world with sinful people. We don’t bring headwinds upon ourselves. It's the stuff that happens to us.

The prophet Isaiah said the Messiah would be a man of sorrows, well acquainted with grief. In other words, Jesus experienced headwinds all the time. Nevertheless, Jesus can do the impossible despite the circumstances.

Our story in Matthew 14:22 picks up at the end of that challenging day, when the disciples encounter headwinds of their own.

“Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.

Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. At about three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” “

Literally, the disciples ran into headwinds. But since several of Jesus disciples were experienced fishermen, they would have known ahead of time whether a trip across the lake is going to be easy or hard. They look at the clouds on the horizon, they test the direction of the wind, and they look at the size of the waves. In good weather, it would take about 2 hours - smooth sailing. In bad weather, it would take most of the night, 6 or 8 hours. As we see here, it’s 3 o'clock in the morning, that’s at least 6 hours from when they left shore. That means that the 12 or so people on the boat would have taken turns rowing, and rowing and rowing, hour after hour after hour. Talk about laborious. Talk about tiresome. Talk about a difficult situation.

And after that long delay, Jesus comes to them walking on the water. Again, doing the impossible in difficult circumstances.

First lesson to remember is when we experience headwinds, Jesus is on his way to us. You aren’t doing anything wrong. Headwinds are not your fault, life is hard. But don’t give up. Take courage. Jesus says to us, I am here. I am doing the impossible and coming to you.

Jesus doesn’t at this point stop the waves or the wind. Yet, he is above it, moving through it.

How can Jesus do this? It’s not a fairy tale. Nor is it a magic trick.

This miracle of walking on the water and the previous one of multiplying fish and bread shows that Jesus has the authority and the power to change the physical characteristics of the material world according to his will. Whatever Jesus wants to do, he can do it.

He changes the physical characteristics of water so that it is solid when he steps on it. He changes the physical characteristics of the waves so that he doesn’t get knocked off course, nor does he get wet. He changes the physical characteristics of the wind so that his hairdo is perfect. If that’s what he wants.

Jesus has the authority and power and will to change anything in all of creation, because he is the creator in the flesh. Whoever makes something is in charge of it, right?