Matthew 14:22-27: a reflection

22Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. 23After he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into the mountain by himself to pray. When evening had come, he was there alone. 24But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, distressed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It’s a ghost!” and they cried out for fear. 27But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Cheer up! It is I! Don’t be afraid.”

The disciples are alone in a boat in the middle of the sea, battered by waves and a contrary wind, straining against the storm, while Jesus is up on a mountain praying. And in the darkest hours before dawn, Jesus comes to them, walking on the very sea that is tossing them. At first they are terrified, thinking it a ghost. But immediately Jesus speaks: Take heart; it is I; do not be afraid. He comes to them across the storm, and his presence is the answer to their fear.

Notice how Jesus comes. He does not first still the storm from a distance and then approach on calm water; he comes to them across the very waves that are battering them, walking on the storm itself. The thing that terrified them, the tossing sea, is the path on which he comes to them. And his word to their fear is not first an explanation but a presence: It is I. His nearness, more than any change in circumstances, is what he offers against their fear.

That is a picture of how Jesus meets us in our storms. He comes to us in the midst of them, often in the darkest hour, and often across the very waves that frighten us. And what he offers, first of all, is not the immediate calming of the storm but his own presence: Take heart; it is I; do not be afraid. When you are battered by a storm, straining against contrary winds, hear Jesus coming across the waves with those words. His presence in the storm is the deepest answer to your fear. He comes to you in it; take heart, for it is he.

Lord Jesus, when the disciples were battered by the storm, you came to them across the very waves that frightened them, saying, Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. When I am battered by my own storms, straining against contrary winds, come to me in the midst of them, and let your presence be the answer to my fear. Help me hear you coming across the waves, and to take heart, not because the storm has stilled, but because you are near. It is you; help me not be afraid.