I want to comment on two things from this chapter. First, so much has been said, written, and preached about Jesus’ walking on the water and Peter’s step out of the boat to come to him and then getting distracted and sinking. Something that’s pretty amazing about that is that for a time Peter did walk on the water! How about that. Haven’t we all had situations where our faith was just at a whole new level, only to fall back into a loss of attention, or an old way of thinking? Gratefully, Jesus was there to rescue Peter, just as he is there to rescue us.
The other thing I note is that right after getting the news about John, “Now when Jesus heard this he went away from there privately in a boat to an isolated place.” Mourning, alone time. He’s interrupted by crowds of people. But when he has taught, healed, and fed the crowds, “And after he sent the crowds away, he went up the mountain by himself to pray.” No doubt he had many things to pray about, but I see the depth of Jesus’ love for his cousin in this.
And I understand that need to be alone, and to reach out to God in the aftermath of death of a loved one.
On Tuesday İ attended an online event with my organization about prayer. She used this chapter to illustrate how Jesus heard the sad news and kept trying to get away to spend time with the Father alone. His inclination was to try to get alone and he kept trying. What is my inclination?