Read: Matthew 14:25-33
Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (v. 33 NIV)
Do you ever feel like your worship just doesn’t measure up? Do you wonder if God is disappointed in your efforts? The end of the account of Jesus’s walking on the water in Matthew seems very natural. If I saw him walking across a storm-tossed lake to a boat that I was struggling to help keep right side up, I think I would worship him, too, and use an exalted title. But this is not the only account of this event in the Gospels.
Mark’s version ends quite differently. Mark 6:51-52 insists that the disciples “were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.” Skeptics have called this a classic contradiction between gospels. Others have suggested that at first the disciples didn’t understand, but then they figured it out and responded properly. I doubt they ever understood how someone walked on water.
I also don’t see any tension between having a somewhat hardened heart and worshiping someone as amazing as Jesus. If I were brutally honest, I suspect that’s my condition more Sunday mornings than not, and I don’t think I’m alone in that. Even Peter, who amazingly got out of the boat and began to imitate Jesus’s miracle, quickly lost faith, and began to sink (Matt. 14:28-30). Let’s never use our sense of spiritual feebleness as an excuse for not worshiping Jesus!
As you pray, confess your belief in Jesus and ask God to help your unbelief.
Craig L. Blomberg is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Denver Seminary. He has written or edited more than 30 books, including a recently revised and expanded commentary on Matthew. He teaches regularly in churches, including his home church of Centennial Covenant in Littleton, CO. He and his wife Fran have two daughters and three grandchildren.
