The significance of the miracle of Jesus walking on water is the same as the miracle of the Israelites passing through the sea unharmed in Exodus 14. In Scripture, the sea is a symbol of chaos and death. It harks back to the original watery chaos that covered the earth in Genesis 1 and the flood in Genesis 6. The message of the above-mentioned miracles then is this: Jesus is leading his people to live a life above the chaos of this corrupt world system. He calls us to ‘walk on water’ just as he called Peter to follow him out upon the water (Matthew 14:29). Jesus walked on water not to just show his disciples an impressive trick but to signify that something very powerful was taking place. Jesus was opening up a way of living in which the disorder and futility of life is overcome. Jesus walked upon the water and was not drawn down into it. Likewise, he is calling his people not to get submerged in the chaos of worldly life but to walk above what others live for. Do you feel that you are submerged in the ‘rat-race’ of life and the concerns of this world? Maybe you have walked above these things at times in your life and have experienced the joy and weightlessness of a life of faith, but subsequently, for one reason or another, you got drawn down into the chaos again. Let Jesus lift you up to live by faith and to walk on water with him.
Ask Jesus to lift you up.
Read John 6:16-24
