The main point: Moving water represented chaos to the people of Israel, and certainly the disciples were caught up in both the chaos of the storm, and the chaos of the people who wanted to force Jesus to be King. In the midst of this chaos, Jesus walks across the water, bringing peace and order, and revealing his identity again as the One who has power over Creation.
After the feeding of the 5000, Jesus left to be alone in the mountains. This would have caused a fair amount of confusion amongst the people who had just witnessed a miracle, and amongst Jesus’ committed followers. His actions seemed like a sign: he fed people bread from heaven, at the time of the Passover, in the wilderness. The people there took it to mean he should be King, and were ready to force this issue. But this was not what the sign was pointing to, as we will see later on in the chapter. So Jesus takes off, leaving his disciples uncertain as to what to do next.
As Jesus does not come back to them, they get in their boat and start making their way back across the sea. So it is that this miracle takes place on the water, still around the time of the Passover, and with only Jesus’ committed disciples as witnesses. The disciples are caught in a storm, and though some of them are experienced fishermen, this still would have been a terrifying event. Jewish people did not typically spend much time in open waters; moving waters, in fact, represented chaos and fear throughout the Old Testament. Their physical environment would have matched their emotional and spiritual environment as well. What did the last miracle truly mean? Is Jesus going to declare himself as the Messiah? Is he going to lead a rebellion? And where has he gone? Jesus’ followers were caught in a chaotic storm in more ways than one.
This is when Jesus is seen walking across the water, terrifying them even more. It would be very easy to see a reflection of God parting the waters at the Exodus in this miracle. Certainly people would be thinking along these lines, given that he had just performed a very Passover-like miracle at the time of the Passover. Jesus could be seen as the new Moses, ready to lead his people again as a Prophet and King, bringing bread from heaven and walking through the water towards their deliverance. Maybe the people had it right?
But Jesus is not simply a new Moses. He is greater than Moses, as will be made very clear later on in the gospel of John. And this is not just Jesus walking through water that God has moved for him; this is Jesus demonstrating his own mastery over the chaotic waters. This is more like Job’s description of God in Job 9:8 as the One who “trampled over the waves of the sea.” This is more like the Psalmist’s account of God commanding and raising the stormy wind, lifting the waves of the sea, making the storm be still and hushing the waves of the sea from Psalm 107:23-32. This is not a sign pointing to Jesus as a prophet like Moses. This is a sign pointing to Jesus as the Divine bringer of Order and Peace. It is the disciples, strangely enough, who fit into the role of Moses here, as they are witnesses to his divine glory ( a few times after miracles in John it is said that the disciples “beheld his glory”).
Jesus’ words speak into this reality as well. His statement: “It is I; do not be afraid”, prepares us for the incredible “I AM” statements to come. The Divine Name (usually translated now as Yahweh) is a declaration of being, of complete and true reality, and it is a name that Jesus takes on for himself. He is the true, the ultimate reality, and he shows this by his power over the chaos of the storm. And, like in most divine appearances, he urges his followers not to be afraid. He has come to bring them peace in the storm. They can trust his presence, though they cannot control it.
We too can trust the presence of Jesus, though we cannot control him. Those who believe in him have been given the Holy Spirit, which is the water of life that flows out of us into the world. We do not know what each storm will bring to us, nor even if we will survive them. But we know that the Lord is always with us, and that his reality is the true and final reality. We can only submit our lives into his care, trusting that he is willing and able to bring peace into our chaos.
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