what if peter stayed in the boat?

The story of Peter walking on the water (Mt. 14:22-33) is clearly about faith, doubt, and fear. Christ makes this clear by His own words: To all the disciples in the boat, “Take heart! It is I! Do not be afraid”; then to Peter, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

The point is clear: Christ is always with us; we need to keep our focus on Him.

But what if Peter had stayed in the boat? We might think the opportunity to learn these lessons in such a powerful way would be lost, but that’s never true with God. He is always doing His part to work out our salvation.

There are a lot of options here.

If Peter stayed in the boat, he would not have been alone. The other disciples were in the boat, and nothing suggests they had less faith than Peter. Christ was coming to them, so Peter would not have missed the Lord by staying in the boat. But he would have had the fellowship of the disciples.

Peter learned important lessons by walking out on the water alone. He wasn’t trying to work a miracle, he was trying to be with Christ. At least initially, he understood the importance of focusing on the Lord. That lesson was brought home powerfully when he began to sink. Sinking taught him the dangers of distraction. But it also taught him the danger of being on the sea by himself, somewhere between Christ and the other disciples.

Peter learned the lessons he did because of the actions he chose; had he chosen otherwise, he would have learned something different, but equally important. What, after all, do you think the other disciples learned from this incident? At the end, they all worshiped Him as the true Son of God.

Perhaps they learned to wait on the Lord. Perhaps they learned that “where there are two or three gathered together in My name, I am in the midst of them” (Mt. 18:20). Perhaps at least one of them was as distracted as Peter became. Perhaps all of them were doubtful of Christ and full of fear.

Perhaps the lesson is less about being the one who walks on the water – or doesn’t – and more about what is available for each of us to learn in the place we find ourselves right now. You may have Peter’s boldness and be out on the water at this moment, and the lesson available to you may be “keep your focus”, or “don’t doubt”. I may be crouched gripping the gunwale, learning to “wait on the Lord”. Another may be manning the oars, discovering they are called to be a “servant of the Lord”. Someone may be cowering in the bottom of the boat, watching the other disciples and learning that even when we aren’t aware of Christ’s presence He has put us in the company of “such a great cloud of witnesses” who testify to His presence and strengthen our hearts until we are strong enough to see Him ourselves. We’re probably all of those people and in all of those situations at some point in our lives.

Christ meets each of us where we are. One, two or three, brash or fearful. To each of us He says, “Take heart! It is I! Do not be afraid.”