<p>14:27&nbsp;<em>But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: Be of good cheer</em>!- They had at least twice heard the Lord comfort others with those words before healing them (Mt. 9:2,22). According to their recollection of His words, so their comfort would have been. And that principle applies to us today.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>It is I-&nbsp;</em>The&nbsp;<em>ego eimi</em>&nbsp;construction could be understood as an allusion to the Yahweh Name. They were to understand Him as the fulfilment of the Old Testament language of Yahweh walking upon the raging sea. &ldquo;It is I&rdquo; could be a quotation of the Divine Name from Is. 41:4; 43:10. It is used in that context of not fearing the power of Assyria / Babylon. The Lord wanted the disciples to perceive that the huge waves were to be met with the same faith that the faithful remnant had in the face of the opposition of superpowers against Israel. However, it needs to be asked how else the Lord could have said &ldquo;It&rsquo;s Me!&rdquo;. There are alternatives, but this is the phrase used. And yet on the other hand, the use of&nbsp;<em>ego eimi</em>&nbsp;is not necessarily an allusion to the Divine Name, because it is found on the lips of men in 2 Sam. 2:19 LXX; Mt. 26:22,25; Jn. 1:20,27; 9:8 and Acts 22:3 (see too Lk. 1:18,19). The question is: Did the Lord really expect the disciples to perceive such Scriptural allusions in the midst of panic and crisis? And if so, what was the point? For surely they were not in the midst of a quiet Bible class evening. The point likely was and is that in the heat of crisis, the spiritually minded will unconsciously perceive spiritual nudges from the Father and Son- and thus be strengthened to endure and decide rightly in the heat of crisis.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Be not afraid</em>- A phrase so often on the Lord's lips to the disciples. They so often feared (Lk. 8:25; 9:34,45; Mk. 4:40; 6:50; 10:32); despite the Lord repeatedly telling them not to be afraid (Lk. 12:4,32; Jn. 14:27). Despite His high demands on the one hand, on the other, He was and is ever assuring His people of His total and saving love for them. Peter uses the same phrase when he in his turn urges us to not be afraid nor 'troubled'- the very word used about the troubled disciples on the water that night (1 Pet. 3:14; Mt. 14:26). The Lord likewise leads each of us through situations in order that we might then strengthen others in those situations. Paul's teaching in 2 Cor. 1:4-8 would seem to go as far as saying that in fact&nbsp;<em>all</em>&nbsp;we experience is in order that we might later give strength to others in similar situations. And this enables us, in broad terms at least, to attach meaning to event in a way which the unbeliever simply cannot.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Qumran&nbsp;<em>Thanksgiving Hymns</em>&nbsp;are full of reference to the true Israel being saved from drowning in the sea of Gentile nations (1 QH 3:6,12-18; 6:22-25; 7:4,5). The&nbsp;<em>Testament of Naphtali</em>&nbsp;6:1-10 speaks of &ldquo;the ship of Jacob&rdquo; almost sinking in a storm, but Jacob himself walks on the water to save her. Clearly the Lord has these popular images in mind, and is recasting them- Jesus is the founder of the new Israel as Jacob was of the old, his 12 disciples are as the 12 sons of Jacob. And the faithful Israel in the boat are in fact not very faithful, they are secular, non-religious very human Jews who have come to believe in Jesus as Messiah.</p>
<p>How exactly was Peter motivated to walk on water? We want to know, because it&rsquo;s the motivation that we so urgently need. We read that the Lord &ldquo;passed by&rdquo;. This is the very language used in the Old Testament concerning theophanies, i.e. those times when God &lsquo;passed by&rsquo; before His people, accompanied by earthquake, rain, wind, fire etc. These ideas all recur here in the account of Jesus &lsquo;passing by&rsquo; before the fearful disciples. In Mt. 14:27 the Lord tells them: &ldquo;It is I&rdquo;. This was a reference to the &ldquo;I am&rdquo; of the Yahweh Name. Peter&nbsp;knew that it was Yahweh who walks upon the waves of the sea (Job 9:8), and so he asks that if Jesus is really &ldquo;I am&rdquo;, God manifest in flesh, then He will bid Peter also walk on the water. It was Yahweh whose way was&nbsp;<em>upon&nbsp;</em>the sea (Ps. 77:19 Heb.; Ps. 29:3). Indeed, the whole incident on the lake is almost prophesied in Ps. 107. The people are hungry in desolate places (:4,5), they are filled by Yahweh with good things, as the Lord Jesus fed the multitude (:9); some go down to the sea in ships (:23); a storm arises, sent from God (:25); they are troubled and cry out (:27,28); and then Yahweh delivers them, bringing them to their desired haven (:28-30). Peter, I think, perceived all this. He saw that this Man from Nazareth was indeed manifesting Yahweh, and he is asking that he too will be a part of God&rsquo;s manifestation; he perceived that what was true of Jesus really could be true for us. If Jesus, manifesting Yahweh, walked upon the sea, then so could Peter. When Peter asks Jesus to &ldquo;bid me come unto thee&rdquo;, the Greek word translated &ldquo;come&rdquo; is also translated &ldquo;to accompany&rdquo;. He wanted to walk with Jesus on the water. He wanted to do what Jesus was doing. This of itself explains how the fact Jesus did what God did [e.g. walk on waves] doesn&rsquo;t mean He is &ldquo;very God of very gods&rdquo;- for Peter realized that he too could have a part in that manifestation. If Jesus was a man of our nature and yet God manifest, then, Peter reasoned, I too can manifest the Father. And the same is true for us, today. The reality of God&rsquo;s manifestation in the human Jesus should inspire us too to leave our comfort zones and enter the adventure of living Godly- living like God- in this present world. Peter &ldquo;came down&rdquo; out of the ship to go walking on water (Mt. 14:29). He is described as &ldquo;coming down&rdquo; [s.w.] in Acts 10:21, where he came down from the roof top and said: &ldquo;Behold I am he whom ye seek; what is the cause wherefore ye are come?&rdquo;. &ldquo;I am he&rdquo; uses the same two Greek words as in Mt. 14:27, when the Lord says &ldquo;It is I&rdquo;. Three Greek words occurring together like this is surely not incidental. Peter recalls when he &lsquo;came down&rsquo; out of the ship- and now, he really is Christ-manifest. He speaks as Jesus did; and further, &ldquo;I am he whom ye seek&rdquo; and &ldquo;wherefore [are ye] come&rdquo; are the very phrases of Jesus in Gethsemane. The record is showing us that consciously or subconsciously, Peter is Christ-manifest now. The words and person of Jesus have all had such impact upon him that now for him, &ldquo;to live is Christ&rdquo;. To &lsquo;come down&rsquo; and manifest Him is what life is all about; Peter&rsquo;s coming down out of the ship is a cameo of a life lived like this, time and again manifesting Him, overcoming the fear, the cowardice of our brethren, the distractions of the life and world which surrounds us&hellip;to walk out unto Him. &nbsp;</p>