10/20/2026
We heard a great message from Pastor Will yesterday as we continued our series, The Word Made Flesh, talking about Walking on the Water and The New Exodus!
Without a backstory, we can make scripture about us when it's supposed to be about the One who saves us. Jesus reveals himself the way he chooses to do so.
In the Gospels, there are different accounts of Jesus walking on the water. In John’s, it focuses on Jesus walking on the water and leaves out what most of us focus on: Peter walking towards Him. In John 6:16-21, the disciples are on a boat, and Jesus approaches them by walking on the water. They saw and were afraid. But He told them not to be afraid. They let Him get into the boat, and the boat immediately reached shore.
John wants us to see something bigger. But we need to understand the what. By looking into the Hebrew imagination of the deep waters. Because it's not just the water they were afraid of, but the monsters in it. The disciples were afraid because water had a different connotation for them. It was known for being full of chaos and scary things. Throughout the Bible, water is referenced many times, from the beginning of creation to where we are now in John. In the beginning, when God created the earth, it's an origin story for water. It's referenced in Genesis as being the surface of the deep. In the flood, God used the chaotic water to start anew, then tamed it and made it stop. Then He turned the river into blood during the plagues. To Moses splitting the sea to get people to freedom. Performing a miracle, being delivered from slavery. And yet they didn't believe. Even the Philistines were called “Sea Peoples” or sea monsters. These sea monsters wanted to challenge the Israelites with their biggest fighter, Goliath. And in Job 26, we see water mentioned a few times. Water is woven throughout Scripture.
Fast forward to this passage: Jesus coming. He is a sign-maker. But people made an identity of who THEY wanted him to be. So he gets on the water of chaos and scary things. He is revealing himself as the one who treads the waves. The one who tames the sea monsters. This wasn't the king Israel was expecting. He was so much better.
