Yeshua Walks on the Sea
by Darrell Godinez

Among the ancient Jews of the Mediterranean area, the danger of seafaring was well known. It was considered a miracle to sail across the open sea and arrive safely at one’s destination. Without divine intervention, it was said, “every man who goes down to the sea would die at once.” (1) Matthew chapter 14 tells of a night full of divine intervention—a procession of miracles that join together to show the divinity of Yeshua. They all take place on a night when Yeshua walked on the sea. The scripture from Matthew 14:22-34 tells that after Yeshua had fed the multitude of five thousand, he dismissed his disciples and prayed alone on a mountaintop. The disciples were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, fighting a storm when Yeshua came to them walking on the sea. Peter himself got out of the boat and walked on the water. At last Yeshua climbed into the boat, and the wind died down. Then “those who were in the boat worshipped him saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’” (v. 33, New International Version) Finally, they did arrive safely at their destination. It is relevant to ask if Yeshua was walking on the sea or on the lake. The question refers to the Greek word “thalassa” which some versions translate as “lake” in Matthew 14: 25, 26, and in the parallel passage in Mark 6:48,49. Also in Matt. 8:24, Yeshua slept during a storm on the lake.

However, the same word “thalassa” can be translated as “sea,” as in Matt. 15:29, “Sea of Galilee.” Matthew 18:6 speaks of offenders “drowned in the depths of the sea;” also Luke 17:2, “thrown into the sea.” If we affirm that Yeshua was actually walking on the sea, we open ourselves to profound images and associations. As in the rest of the New Covenant, here we find Yeshua doing things that only God can do. The passage is a powerful witness that Yeshua is God in our midst to save us and bring in his kingdom. To begin, Yeshua walks on the sea. This is striking, since “(God) alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea” according to Job 9:8. God again asks Job, “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?” (Job 38:16). Immediately Yeshua, walking on the sea, is revealed as a divine being, doing what only God can do. When the disciples saw this, they actually worshipped Yeshua, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God” (Matt. 14:33). (2) Also, Yeshua comes in the disciples’ great need. The disciples were obviously in deep distress after battling the storm until the fourth watch of the night, which ran from 3:00 to 6:00 AM. (3) How reminiscent of the psalmist in Psalm 69:1-3. Beset by a host of enemies, he cries out:

If a ship at sea were caught in a storm, everyone aboard would pray to his own god. The book of Jonah illustrates this (Jonah 1:5). A story recorded after Yeshua’s time tells of a Jewish child who reminded the gentile sailors to pray not to their idols but to “Him who created the sea.” (4) The disciples’ appeal to Yeshua plus his walking on the sea point to his divinity. Next, when Yeshua heard the disciples’ plea for rescue, he answered them. Peter, in faith, actually went to Yeshua, walking on the water. Here the Greek word is “hudata” meaning “waters,” not “sea.” One can say that a different word is used, because Peter walked only a short distance. (5) On the other hand, the different word reminds us that only Yeshua walked on the sea. When Peter began sinking and called out , “Lord, save me!” Yeshua “reached out his hand and caught him.” David said this was the LORD’S salvation in time of trouble, “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.” (Psalm 18:16)Again Yeshua hears the plea that is offered to God.Indeed Yeshua is shown to be the master of the seas, doing the deeds that are attributed to God in Psalm 107:27-30:

Sailors resisting a storm at sea.would appeal to God in various ways. At times they would blow the shofar to stir up God’s compassion. (6) When Paul endured storm and shipwreck, the sailors apparently fasted to arouse God’s compassion (Acts 27:21,34). It was said that Satan does his worst on three occasions: “when a man walks alone on the roads, when he sleeps alone in a dark house, and when he sails on the great sea.” (7) The power of the sea faced off against the power of God, according to ancient legends and the scriptures. The Red Sea was an obstacle that Israel could not cross until God “rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up.” (Ps 106:9) Nahum noted that “He rebukes the sea and dries it up; he makes all the rivers run dry.” (1:4) God subdued the sea and placed it under his control, but it was a continual threat, pushing against the shores that held it back. (8) The ancient Hebrews and the nations pictured a primeval confrontation in which God had to conquer the sea before he could perform his work of creation. (9) That night, to the wonder of his disciples, it was Yeshua who conquered the sea and began a new creation among all people who will confess him as Lord and Messiah. When Yeshua came walking on the sea amidst the wind and storm, he demonstrated that he came with the power of God to claim all creation, to overthrow the power of Satan, and to establish his kingdom on earth.

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(1) Patai, Raphael. The Children of Noah: Jewish Seafaring in Ancient Times. Princeton
University Press (Princeton, N.J., 1998), 64.
(2) Hagner, Donald A. Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 33B, Matthew 14-28, Word Books (Dallas, 1995), 423.
(3) Hagner, ibid, 423.
(4) Patai, op.cit., 93.
(5) Hagner, op. cit., 424.
(6) Patai, op.cit., 69.
(7) Patai, ibid., 64.
(8) Freedman, David Noel, ed., et. al.., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 5, “Sea,”
Doubleday, (New York: 1992), 1058.
(9) Patai, ibid., 112.