In addition to being one of the most well-known stories in the entire Bible, Jesus' walking on water has even made its way into our popular vernacular. "I don't walk on water" is an oft heard way of expressing ones’ human limitations. How ironic is it that people with no discernible religious conviction, who wouldn't claim any advanced level of Biblical literacy, even they see walking on water as an identifying characteristic of divine person-hood. All the while, Jesus' devout disciples fail to recognize in Jesus what the prophets of their own Jewish tradition had proclaimed from the beginning. Jesus' didn't walk on the water as a means of providing some cool parlor trick. In fact, I would argue that Jesus' walking on water wasn't actually a miracle at all, at least not so far as we consider miracles to be unnatural things. What happened when Jesus walked on the water was actually quite natural, at least if you truly understand who He is.
The text says that the disciples failed to recognize Jesus' walking toward them. I don't think that Mark means that they didn't catch a good glimpse of His face. Seeing someone's face on a wind-whipped, storm-tossed sea was probably next to impossible that night. The disciples’ failure was on a much deeper level, and because it had nothing to do with Jesus' physical appearance, it is a failure that we can find ourselves guilty of as well. People were able to recognize Jesus' as the Messiah, God's Son, not because He bore a resemblance to photos they had seen of King David. It also wasn't because He donned the trappings that we associate with royalty. His hand never clutched a scepter, and the only crown He ever wore was a crown of thorns. He clutched the hand of the ill, the paralyzed, the sinner, and even the dead. He wore on His face the marks of love and compassion that can only be found in the eyes of our Creator. Recognizing Jesus' has nothing to do with what He looked like, and everything to do with seeing God at work in human flesh.
If the disciples had remembered what they had undoubtedly heard from their own scriptures about who God was, their eyes surely would have recognized Jesus in a powerful way that night. Job describes God as the one “who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea.” (Job 9:8) The psalmist would describe the works of the Lord, saying “He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.” (Psalm 107:29-30) In case in the heat of the moment they don’t pick up on the subtle connection between scripture and Jesus’ actions, He even speaks to them saying “I AM”, invoking the divine name that we first hear used by Yahweh when speaking to Moses in Exodus 3:14. (In my opinion, many translations miss the mark here by simply translating it “It is I”.) The point is, Jesus actions and words come together to provide a powerful witness to His identity.
I mentioned earlier that recognizing Jesus has nothing to do with His physical appearance. That’s why we can’t simply chide the disciples for their failures, while breathing a quiet sigh of relief that it was them and not us who was thrust into the spotlight of history. The question comes to each person, in every generation, just as it came to the disciples on that stormy night. Our answer is determined not by our eyesight, but by whether our hearts have been molded so as to be able to discern the image of God. Do you recognize Jesus? Do you see working in Him the very power of God? The answer to our questions about Jesus and His identity are there in plain sight, but we must look with more than our eyes if we ever hope to see them.
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