Session 1
Matthew 14:22-33
Memory Verse: Matthew 14:27
This lesson emphasizes several facts about Jesus that leaders should take to heart. First, Jesus sent His disciples out onto the lake-and into a storm. This means that following Jesus doesn’t guarantee difficult circumstances won’t arise. But it’s also important to remember that Jesus is aware of where His people are and what they are facing, including their need for Him to come to them.
Also, Peter’s attempt to walk on the water reveals the importance of keeping our focus on Jesus instead of the surrounding circumstances. As the writer of Hebrews encouraged his readers, we too need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus (Heb. 12:2). We also learn from Peter’s experience that while faith may motivate us, “little faith” will never sustain us in the overwhelming tides that hit us in life.
Matthew left his readers focused on Jesus as the “I am,” the Savior, and “the Son of God.” As you prepare to lead this session, reflect on the storms of your life and what Jesus has taught you through them. Ask God for wisdom as you seek to help the adults in your Bible study learn to focus on Jesus in the face of
every fear.
Fear is a powerful foe that hinders us from progressing in life. Listen to people around you and you will hear any number of fears mentioned. Many people are terrified at the idea of public speaking. Others have fears of heights, failure, the dark, crowds, spiders, and snakes. Personal fears include injury and illness. Our fears impact our thinking, relating, and acting. Fear influences all aspects of life. Dealing with fear correctly is essential for a well-balanced life. (PSG, p. 9)
In Matthew 3, John the Baptist heralded the start of Jesus’s ministry; and after His baptism, Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil (Matt. 4:1-11). By 4:12, Jesus had heard that John had been arrested, and He began ministering in Galilee, specifically the city of Capernaum (4:13). From that point until 18:35, Jesus’s ministry was focused in Galilee.
Thus from Matthew 4-18, the Gospel highlights Jesus’s “Great Galilean Ministry.” In these chapters Matthew did not seek to offer a chronological, step-by-step account of Jesus’s movements. Instead, he grouped his narrative generally around Jesus’s teachings (chaps. 5-7), Jesus’s miracles (chaps. 8-10), and various reactions to Him (chaps. 11-18).
Toward the end of His Galilean ministry, Jesus began a series of withdrawals into the districts around Galilee. Some of this time was spent in special training of the Twelve. Matthew 14:13 records the start of the first withdrawal into Bethsaida. During this time, the events of this session occurred. The second withdrawal saw Jesus take His disciples into the Syrophoenician area around Tyre and Sidon (Matt. 15:1-28). Jesus’s third withdrawal took them from Syrophoenicia to a Gentile area known as the Decapolis on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 15:29; Mark 7:31).
The fourth and final withdrawal took Jesus and the apostles into the sparsely populated and cool northern hill country around Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:13-18:35). Combined, the four times of withdrawals totaled about six months, from the Passover in the spring to the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall.
Jesus’s first withdrawal, covered in this session, was sparked by two significant rejections. The first came in the response to Him and His message in His hometown of Nazareth (13:53-58). The second occurred when Herod Antipas had John the Baptist beheaded (14:1-12). Jesus’s withdrawal took Him outside the Galilean territory controlled by Antipas and put Him into the tetrarchy of Philip, who had shown little interest in opposing Jesus. This is also where Jesus multiplied the fish and loaves to feed a multitude (14:13-21).
After feeding the crowd, Jesus sent His disciples back across the water while He dismissed the people. He also wanted to spend some time alone in prayer. Meanwhile, the disciples had difficulty crossing the sea because of a storm. Jesus then walked across the water and approached their boat. At Jesus’s urging, Peter got out of the boat and also walked on the water briefly. However, when Peter’s distractions and fears kicked in, Jesus rescued him from sinking and brought the boat safely to the other side.
Read Matthew 14:22-33 in your Bible. Identify the variety of fears experienced by the disciples in this passage. (PSG, p. 10)
EXPLORE THE TEXT
22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Well into the night, he was there alone. 24 Meanwhile, the boat was already some distance from land, battered by the waves, because the wind was against them. 25 Jesus came toward them walking on the sea very early in the morning. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and they cried out in fear. 27 Immediately Jesus spoke to them. “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
Immediately is one of Matthew’s characteristic words. In this story, he used it three times (vv. 22,27,31). His first use ties this section to the feeding of the five thousand. In Greek, made often indicates compulsion. Matthew did not state why Jesus sent His disciples away or why He did so before he dismissed the crowds. However, John noted that the crowds wanted to make Him a king (John 6:15). Jesus likely did not want His disciples caught up in that frenzy, so He compelled them to go ahead of him. The phrase other side refers to the western side of the Sea of Galilee.
Matthew never named the mountain where Jesus retreated. Rather, the expression refers to the steeply rising hills near the lake where Jesus went to pray. Matthew also did not indicate the content of Jesus’s prayer, but emphasized that He wanted solitude, stressing it twice with the words by himself and alone.
Meanwhile turns the focus back to the disciples in the boat. Early in the morning (v. 25) provides a timeframe, while some distance from the land provides a location. According to John’s account, they were “three or four miles” out into the lake (John 6:19).
Nothing indicates that these experienced fishermen feared for their lives, but they were dealing with difficult conditions. Matthew noted their boat was battered by the waves and that the wind was against them. The word battered sometimes referred to torture or great distress. The disciples were struggling against the natural elements. By this point they probably were wet, cold, and exhausted.
They also had been rowing for several hours! Jesus had dismissed them around sundown and now it was nearing sunrise. The wording suggests between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. And that’s when Jesus came toward them walking on the sea.
The simple sentence carries a much deeper meaning. The words are a Christological statement identifying Jesus as God. Job testified that God walks on “the waves of the sea” (Job 9:8). In Psalm 77:19, Asaph proclaimed that God makes His way “through the sea and . . . through the vast water.” (See also
Isa. 43:16.) In other words, Jesus was doing what only God can do!
Seeing this, the disciples had three reactions: they were terrified, thought they saw a ghost, and cried out in fear. Terrified is used of both physical and mental anguish, and their cry of fear was a shriek. Meanwhile, superstition held that disembodied spirits haunted the lake and wandered upon it at night.
To calm the disciples’ fear, Jesus spoke to them. This is the second use of immediately in the passage (vv. 22,27).
He told them three things. Have courage is an expression usually spoken by Jesus (except in
Mark 10:49). It is I is more than just a self-identification; it relates to the divine name (“I Am”) in Exodus 3:14. Thus, along with walking on the sea (Matt. 14:25), Jesus also claimed equality with God by using the divine name for Himself. Jesus’s words, Don’t be afraid, were the standard greeting in a theophany or epiphany (Matt. 1:20 17:7; 28:5,10; Luke 1:13,30; 2:10; Rev. 1:17). The present imperative could be translated, “Stop being afraid,” thus forbidding an action already begun.
EXPLORE THE TEXT
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter answered him, “command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Verses 28-31 contain “the story-within-a-story” that is not found in other Gospels. Bible students debate what Peter implied by Lord. In its common use, the term can mean “Sir,” as in Matthew 8:21. In its strongest sense, it is an address to the divine. Based on the audacity of Peter’s request, he likely meant it in this
strongest sense.
The conditional statement if it’s you could be read as a statement of uncertainty, perhaps even doubt. But Matthew used the Greek conditional form that assumes the truth of the statement. Thus Peter’s words could be rendered, “Lord, since it’s you.”
Peter requested Jesus to command him to come to you on the water. Command is the same word Jesus used when He ordered the crowds to sit down in verse 19. Whatever his reasoning, Peter’s request demonstrated courage. In verses 28-29, Matthew switched the term he had used to describe Jesus’s walking on the “sea” in verses 25-26 to “water” for Peter’s experience. Matthew probably did so to indicate that Jesus had walked some distance, whereas Peter took only a few steps on the water.
Jesus responded favorably to Peter and instructed him to come. The word is, as Peter requested, a command. In answering Peter in this way, Jesus was indicating that He not only had the power to walk on the water Himself, but He also was able to share that power with others. This provided more evidence that Jesus is God and that He is the Messiah.
Of course, Peter had to get out of the boat. From there, he started walking on the water. However, the phrase came toward Jesus (as well as v. 30) indicates that Peter’s miraculous achievement was short-lived. Regardless, Peter did walk on the water, and he must have gotten close enough for Jesus to reach out and take hold of him (v. 31).
But indicates a major change in the narrative. Peter became rattled when he saw the strength of the wind. Since one cannot see wind literally, the text suggests that what Peter started to focus on was the effect of the wind. This could include the white caps, the sea surges, the sea spray, and so forth.
Shifting his focus from Jesus to his dire circumstance caused Peter to be afraid. Once his fears overcame his faith, the disciple began to sink. In verse 27, Jesus had told the disciples not to fear, but now Peter panicked because he focused on his circumstances. Once he began to sink, he was living up to his name-“the stone” or “the rock.” He was sinking like one!
To his credit, Peter sought help from the proper Source. Even though he realized he was going down, Peter still believed his Lord could save him. Peter cried to the same Lord who had commanded him to come out of the boat in verse 29. And his cry was simple: save me!
Save means “to rescue” or “to deliver from danger,” whether physical or otherwise. And that is its primary meaning here. Peter was asking to be saved from drowning in the depths of the lake. But “save” also has a salvific meaning, and Matthew clearly used this episode to recall David’s words in Psalm 69:1-2: “Save me, God, for the water has risen to my neck . . . I have come into deep water, and a flood sweeps over me.”
EXPLORE THE TEXT
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those in the boat worshiped him and said, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
For the third time in this episode, Matthew used the word immediately (vv. 22,27,31). Peter’s cry for rescue in verse 30 needed an immediate response from Jesus. In response, the Lord took two actions represented by two verbs: He reached out his hand and He caught hold of Peter. In Psalm 144:7, David also prayed for God to “Reach down from on high; rescue me from deep water.”
Only after Jesus rescued Peter did He correct him. A present tense verb highlights how Jesus responded to His disciple. Jesus called out Peter’s little faith. This is not the first or last time that Jesus rebuked His disciples for their lack of faith in Matthew’s Gospel (see 6:30; 8:26; 16:8; 17:20). Yet, in spite of Peter’s inadequate and insufficient faith, the Lord still saved him. Peter and the disciples’ faith was weak, but it was much different from the total unbelief of others (see Matt. 13:58).
Jesus then asked Peter, Why did you doubt? The word doubt refers to having a divided mind, wavering, or hesitating between belief and unbelief. Matthew used the word again in 28:17 to describe responses to a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus in Galilee. Thus this unique experience ends with the focus more on Peter’s failure than on his singular accomplishment.
After Peter and Jesus entered the boat, the wind ceased. The term ceased literally means “to grow weary.” In other words, the wind tired out! It was the wind that had so frightened Peter (v. 30). Now, even that had died out.
The disciples in the boat responded in a way not recorded in the other Gospels: They worshiped him and confessed Him as the Son of God. Worshiped literally refers to prostrating oneself. Possibly the disciples did that, but based on the conditions in the boat the term may simply mean they gave Jesus honor, praise,
and glory.
As good Jews, they knew to worship God alone (Ex. 34:14); thus, this was a clear affirmation of Jesus’s deity. Truly is a strong affirmation of certainty. So, at this point, there was no doubt in the disciples’ minds as to Jesus’s identity.
In their confession, the emphasis is on God since it comes first in the original text. This is the first full confession of Jesus’s identity in the Gospel, and it anticipates Peter’s words in 16:16. However, Matthew had presented Jesus as the Son of God previously (2:15; 3:17; 4:3,6; 8:29) and would later (16:16; 17:5; 27:54). The narrative ends with the focus totally on Jesus and who He is.
With everyone back in the boat and the storm calmed, the disciples arrived safely at their harbor (v. 34). No matter what circumstances they may encounter, Jesus ultimately brings His followers to a safe harbor.
Spend time praying Scripture using Matthew 14:31. Read the verse, then respond to these questions:
Ask God to reveal areas where your faith might be weak. Confess your doubts and commit to keeping your focus on Christ alone.
Review these points from Apply the Text on page 17 of the Personal Study Guide:
Allow adults to share which of these statements provide the greatest encouragement for them today.
Direct half the group to read and reflect on the first set of questions on page 17 of the PSG. Instruct the other half to do the same with the second set of questions. After a few minutes, review responses from each group. Talk about how the responses to each question should shape their prayers and their daily walk with Jesus.
Help adults remember that Jesus is Lord of every storm and that no struggle is outside of His power and authority. Say: As we walk toward Jesus in our storms, we can believe He has the power to get us where we need to be. Challenge the group to reflect on God’s faithfulness each day as a way to gain courage and to establish hope for the future.
Remind adults to use Pack Item 9 (Handout: Praying Scripture in Matthew’s Gospel) as a way to pray the truths of today’s session back to God. Invite adults to pray silently for the people beside them, specifically that they would know Jesus is with them in their storms.
Send a text or email to the group reminding them of the truths of this session. Note that there are hundreds of verses that urge us to reject fear. Suggest they choose one verse to reflect on this week and to share that with the group. You may also want to share the video to “Fear is a Liar” by Zach Williams from the Engage activity. Challenge adults to trust Jesus and His promises, not the lies of fear.
Christ is the eternal Son of God. (See John 1:1; Philippians 2:5-8.)
Examine and reflect on similarities between two passages.
Look for similarities between the event in Matthew 14:22-33 and Matthew 8:23-27. Then look for differences between the two events. Explain why you can be certain these were two different events.