It is just like a contract.  One of the requirements of a contract is mutual agreement.  Two parties must agree on a certain matter or condition in order to achieve something.  The willingness to agree is powerful.  Such a decision, where two people agree, whether on big things or even very small things, is the driving force behind so much in the world.

Two people decide together to have a child, and new life comes into being – it is remarkable.  Any child has the potential to make a great impact on their community and even the world.  Two people decide together to start a business that changes lives, develops medicine, or explores new territories. The greatest revolutions and upheavals began when two people agreed on a cause.

We pray this in the Lord’s Prayer: Hallowed be Your Name, Your will be done.  This is our mutual agreement with heaven.  We declare that if God’s will be done on earth, it will be like heaven here.  Heaven is the place where God’s will is perfectly carried out, and our desire is for all the goodness and beauty that it brings about.  We also know well that heaven is not far and unreachable – it is the unseen realm where God resides.  It is near, just as Jesus said.  Let Your kingdom come is our prayer for the place where God’s will is done to come and reside into our lives and homes.

Did Peter know this when he said those great words: Lord, if it is really You, command me to come to You on the water? (Matthew 14:28)

It was a very special day in the lives of the disciples.  It follows the death of John the Baptist, where we saw Jesus wanting to be alone for a bit, but the crowd not allowing it.  He felt compassion for them, the Jewish people who endured in their suffering and clung to their hope for the Messiah who would come to deliver them from all their oppression and panic.  They sensed something in the wandering preacher from Galilee.  His compassion outweighed his own sorrow over John’s murder at the hands of a fickle despot, Herod Antipas.

The crowds followed Him without thinking about food.  They would have surely packed something for lunch, as was the custom, but the midday meal was small and often eaten on the go.  It became late, and the disciples noticed the people were hungry.  As they had already learned, they brought the problem to Jesus, and His answer was entirely against their practical solution: Send the people away to get food themselves. Jesus had long perceived the crowd’s spiritual and physical hunger.  His instruction to the disciples was simple: You give them something to eat. They brought what they had – their own ridiculously small contribution – and witnessed the miracle.  Everyone ate – a whole stadium full of people – five thousand men.

After the miracle, Jesus went off on His own.  He was human and needed His time alone.  Somewhere during the night, He walked around the lake to see where the disciples were.  He had sent them off in a boat to the other side of the lake.  The lake had one of its characteristic storms, and the boat was caught in the raging waters.

That’s when they saw Him.  What grace to see Jesus in the middle of the storm.  It was surely a relief – but no!  It was so unexpected and impossible that they screamed in terror, shouting, It’s a ghost!

Jesus calmed them, just as He calms us in our panic and fear.  Take heart; it is I! Do not be afraid.  Precious words in any situation.  That is where we see Him.  The storm is around us, and our eyes and ears are open – a good place to be.  Jesus walks on the water, and we are in the boat, which is supposed to be our “salvation” in the storm.

What drove Peter to step out?  Had he already realized that the boat didn’t necessarily guarantee his safe passage?  He must have known that being on the water with Jesus was safer than being in the boat with the raging waves.

It sounds brave, but perhaps it was desperate.  His experience, just that day, confirmed for him the wonder of Jesus’ person.  After all, he himself had distributed the bread.  He had seen the little portion they brought to Jesus and he was part of the clean-up comprising twelve baskets leftovers.

Based on the testimony of the day, he spoke words of deliverance over himself.

Lord, if it is really You, command me to come to You on the water. (Matthew 14:28)

The essential words are: command me.  Powerful submission to the Word of God, the words of Jesus – it is One, like the Father and the Son.  

Jesus said: “Come!” … and Peter walked toward Jesus.  We will never know how far, but he walked on the water with his eyes on Jesus.  It was only when he looked down at the waves that he began to sink, and then he knew well to cry out.  His heart was right.  Jesus was the deliverance in everything – in the boat, on the water, and in the stormy waves.

Peter literally walked on the Word.  He walked on the word of Jesus – Come.  That is heavenly mutual agreement.  Peter acted on the word of agreement.

When he sank, Jesus reached out His hand and saved him.  He spoke, as He always does in our storms.  In His question was His answer:

You of little faith, why did you doubt?

“Little faith” is different from “unbelief” or “doubt.”  It means rather undeveloped faith, unformed faith.

But this is not the end of the story.  Peter was saved, the storm subsided when Jesus got into the boat.  That is all wonderful, but the miracle continues. 

What about the rest of the disciples who didn’t step out?  They witnessed a dramatic display of power before their eyes.  It didn’t leave them unaffected.  Just as with every divine intervention in our lives where we witness God’s miraculous deliverance, thanksgiving and worship follow. 

This is the power of testimony – the powerful work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the listener.  Here, the other disciples shared in the miracle that unfolded before them.  Their hearts were moved to fall in worship before Jesus.

The men in the boat knelt before Jesus and said, “Truly, You are the Son of God.”