By Collin Ross
Who is Jesus? I struggle to think of a more important question that one can ask. Some say that He is a gifted teacher, and so we should listen to what He has to say. Some respond that He is a revolutionary, and so we should take up His cause. Still others say that He is a fraud, and so we should ignore Him altogether. But what do those who follow Him say? We join the disciples and confess that He is the Son of God, and so we must worship Him (Matthew 14:33).
Of course, confessing that Jesus is the Son of God is the easy part. Far more difficult is actually believing it. As Jesus walked on the water toward His disciples, they grew terrified. When Peter was standing on the water with the Lord, he also grew fearful. We can sympathize with the disciples because we know what it is like to be afraid. Fear is universal.
Knowing this, how comforting it is to see Jesus respond to His disciples’ fear. Jesus calls out to those in the boat, “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (v.27). And to His sinking disciple, He reaches out His hand and catches hold of Him (v.31). What’s more, on both occasions Jesus responds “immediately.” The disciples’ fear does not cause our Lord to hesitate or delay. He acts to deliver them from their fear immediately.
If Jesus is the Son of God, we have nothing to fear. The challenge is to never lose sight of Him. Peter becomes distracted by the wind and the waves, so he begins to sink (v.30). The strength of the wind blinded him to the strength of the Son standing before him. And that is how it so often goes. Our troubling circumstances capture our sight so that we can see nothing else. The world shrinks to the size of our hardship, and so we sink into fear.
If we want to live and serve alongside Jesus, we must keep our eyes fixed on the Son of God. This is why Christians for centuries have adopted daily rhythms of prayer and Scripture reading. The more eyes our hearts are fixed upon the glory of the Son, the harder it will be for the wind to turn our gaze. But even still, there will be times in our lives when our eyes fall away from the Lord and we are caught up in fear. May we never forget that Christ’s hand is ready to catch hold of us and more than capable of lifting us out of the swirling waters. Who is Jesus? He is the Son of God who saves.
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