Walking on Water

Walking on Water

C.S. Lewis, describing his conversion, used a very different metaphor from walking on water — he described being 'surprised by Joy' and 'dragged kicking and screaming' into the kingdom. But his life afterward was characterized by intellectual risk-taking of a similar quality: writing openly about his faith in a culture that viewed it with condescension, defending the reasonableness of Christianity in a skeptical university setting, stepping out of the boat of academic respectability. 'The question is not whether the water can hold you,' he wrote in one letter. 'The question is whether you keep your eyes on Christ while you walk on it.'

Peter's water-walking episode is often preached as a lesson about the danger of doubt — and that element is real (verse 30: he saw the wind, became afraid, and began to sink). But the more remarkable element is often overlooked: he got out of the boat. Of the twelve disciples in that boat, only one walked on water. And the only one who walked on water was the one who got out. The others stayed safely in the boat and never took the risk. They also never walked on water. Peter's momentary sinking is not the point of the story; his momentary walking is. Jesus immediately catches him when he sinks. The call of faith is to get out of the boat — to take the risk of obedience — trusting that even if you sink, He is right there to catch you.